|
|
Editorial
We Need A Movie
|
I love movies! It's not your everyday movie that I love, though. I like clever movies, insightful movies, and historical dramas. I like movies that are deeply thought out and very accurate in representation. I also like old movies.
Old movies are great in that they offer a look at what life was like at a particular time. They also provide a look at what the creators thought the future would hold. Some movies made subtle political statements and showed bleak futures. Others showed grand forthcomings.
Some movies projected national threats. Interestingly, some of these movies have outlived the very nations they portrayed as the aggressor! How many cold war era movies showed the 1990s with massive conflicts between the US and the USSR? Today, there is no USSR.
Well, what I would like to see is an accurate railroad centered movie. The background would be 1940s railroading while the plot could be about a man not taken off to war while his brothers were. He was left behind to operate his train. All the while, his home life is stressed due to long hours and a loss of a brother; a brother who held brighter prospects than he. This leads him to be ridiculed by those that don't understand the importance of his job with regards to the war.
Anyway, the supporting cast should be a conglomeration of most all the large steam still operable today. Yes, real steam engines to represent the real railroads of the day. I think enough still exist to easily pull it off. They could use computer graphics to recreate the time period but use real steam engines, and plenty of 'em, to get a real sense of the life.
It's just a thought; an idea. I'd like to see the surviving steam, and maybe a few others resurrected (read N&W 611, for instance), brought together and captured on celluloid for all time and for all to see. Of course, the NKP should be the central railroad to the plot! Hey, it's just a thought.
|
|
|
Feature
No 765 Trip for TrainFest?!
It's true! The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society announced last month that Nickel Plate Road Berkshire 765 would not be making the fan trip from Cinncinatti to Dennison, Ohio, to celebrate both the 765s return to service and the TrainFestival. However, you can still attend and enjoy many steam and diesel engines.
|
The Great Paint Debate
How should the tender's NKP logo be painted? "That's easy," you say, "faux-gold lettering that says 'Nickel Plate Road'."
But there were several styles of that on herald. And that was at the heart of one such discussion. Most wanted the standard logo that the engine has worn for years. However, a few wanted to see 765 emerge with her original "rocking 'R'" logo.
It would seem that 765 was delivered with the little seen logo that gave the 'R' the same swooshing tail that the 'K' has. So which should it be?
Torn at first, I've decided that I'd like to see the "rocking 'R'!"
|
NKP 765 will not be participating due to restoration delays. I know this has become habitually repetative. But this restoration is being completed by volunteers with only one or two work days a week! Hats off to them. And if the final product is anything like it was in 1979, we are in for a wonderful treat!
But it won't be. By now you are asking youself, "Why not!?" It won't be as good as the 1979 product because it will be better! It will be as good as the Conneaut, Ohio, product. The attention this engine is getting is something it has not seen since it was last shop by the NKP in their Conneaut shops.
Because of the complexity of some of the work being done, some work has been outsourced. Therefore, the society cannot entirely control when these items will be returned to the shop. And this is the cause of the delay. A visit to the shops will reveal that much of the engine is waiting for reassembly. The drivers are ready, the connecting rods are there, the cab is waiting, and so on and so on. A few key elements are holding up the rest of the process.
This does not, however, mean that work is suspended. Just a couple of weeks ago, the tender was being sand blasted in preperation for what will be a beautiful gleaming paint job. [See the side bar for "The Paint Debate."]
Plans now project for some indian summer running. It is the hope of the society that she'll be making trips in September and October. We can only hope. I'd hate to see this site welcoming another new year with the same "765 to be operational this year" banner headline. I'd be much happier to welcome in the new year with 765 steaming and blasting her whistle as the new year comes in. Maybe the society should host a New Years Eve party. We could all warm around the heat of the boiler and watch the ball drop.
And don't forget, 765 turns 60 years old this September 8, 2004! Hopefully we'll all be able to celebrate her milestone with her under full steam! Here's to looking ahead...cheers!
|
|
