I was wondering that when operating timetables become outdated by new issues for employees, why railroads which have company stores do not offer them for sale as, say, the Wheeling and Lake Erie does, and to a limited extent, Union Pacific does in its steam program store? These could generate additional income for the railroads,especially when purchased by railfans,and/or historians. That is how I got my Chessie System timetables when they were then current, purchasing them directly from the railroad. In addition to additional income, this could be a good public relations tool as well. While the railroads have been thriving of late, they could use the best public relations they can get. The better the goodwill between railroad and the public, the better it is for everyone concern and I thought this would be one good way to accomplish this.
Caseyjim wrote:I was wondering that when operating timetables become outdated by new issues for employees, why railroads which have company stores do not offer them for sale as, say, the Wheeling and Lake Erie does, and to a limited extent, Union Pacific does in its steam program store? These could generate additional income for the railroads,especially when purchased by railfans,and/or historians. That is how I got my Chessie System timetables when they were then current, purchasing them directly from the railroad. In addition to additional income, this could be a good public relations tool as well. While the railroads have been thriving of late, they could use the best public relations they can get. The better the goodwill between railroad and the public, the better it is for everyone concern and I thought this would be one good way to accomplish this.
Timetables often contain information that the public has no bussiness knowing about. In this day and age of security scares, a railroad selling any type of document that reveals very detailed information about track locations, industry switches, electric locks, DCS territory limits and all sorts of special instructions would be irresponsible and could come around and bite them in the ass one day. I know most people would simply be collectors and railfans, but all i takes is one idiot to do something stupid and the next thing you know, the media reports "The suspect had knowledge of the area because he had bought a timetable that had track maps from the RR". And then it's a huge mess. A lawyer could have a field day with that as well is some ridiculous civil case.
Basically it's not worth the risk. What little money that could be generated from selling outdated manuals and books would be pennies compared to just one lawsuit resulting from somebody using that information to do something illegal