I’ve noticed things have gotten a little rough in here lately. Enough to make the Baby Jesus cry. I feel like I lose IQ points every time I visit. Seriously, this place is becoming the online equivalent of huffing glue. So I propose a new demerit system. Below are offenses and their penalties:

Use of memes:
1 Demerit.
Use of hashtags:
5 Demerits.
Imitating the grammar of certain unnamed railfans from Pottstown:
10 Demerits.
Comparing Steamtown to others, i.e. R&N, Strasburg, Penn Central:
20 Demerits.
Suggesting the DL do something for Steamtown, for free:
20 Demerits.
Proclaiming a piece of equipment should return to the geographic area where it operated: 20 Demerits.
Chronic Narcissism, i.e. Posting the same 5 year old pictures every 3 months:
20 Demerits.
Saying Steamtown “should” restore engine X after the 3713 is completed:
30 Demerits.
Jumping on new members for asking innocent questions:
30 Demerits.
Use of the word “Dieseltown”:
50 Demerits.
Posting non Steamtown related material:
99 Demerits.

Members will be banned after 100 Demerits. Demerits can be removed/forgiven by donating to the 3713 restoration fund. $1.00 per demerit.

I’ve noticed things have gotten a little rough in here lately. Enough to make the Baby Jesus cry. I feel like I lose IQ points every time I visit. Seriously, this place is becoming the online equivalent of huffing glue. So I propose a new demerit system. Below are offenses and their penalties:

Use of memes:
1 Demerit.
Use of hashtags:
5 Demerits.
Imitating the grammar of certain unnamed railfans from Pottstown:
10 Demerits.
Comparing American preservation to overseas preservation:
20 Demerits.
Suggesting a railroad do something for preservation, for free:
20 Demerits.
Proclaiming a piece of equipment should return to the geographic area where it operated:
20 Demerits.
Chronic Narcissism, i.e. Posting the same 5 year old pictures every 3 months:
20 Demerits.
Chronic Negativity, i.e. it will never be restored, or that project will fail:
25 Demerits.
Arm-chair managing railroads:
25 Demerits.
Saying someone else “should” restore engine X, car Y, or building Z:
30 Demerits.
Complaining that a private owner is doing what he wants with a piece of equipment:
30 Demerits.
Proclaiming that a piece of equipment should be painted in X, because that is your favorite railroad, when you do not own the piece of equipment, you do not volunteer at the museum that owns it, or otherwise have any stake in it:
30 Demerits.
Jumping on new members for asking innocent questions:
30 Demerits.
Using the phrases "Nattering Noobs of Negativism" "NNN" "Yammering Yutz of Yesteryear" or "YYY" except when describing yourself:
49 Demerits.
Use of the word “Dieseltown”:
50 Demerits.
Bringing up PRR 1361:
50 Demerits.
Asking when CSX will see the light and start running a steam program:
50 Demerits.
Pestering the Moderators over a poster you don't like:
75 Demerits.
Posting non Preservation related material in the interchange:
99 Demerits.

Members will be banned from the Interchange after 100 Demerits. Demerits can be removed/forgiven by donating to the new RyPN annual preservation grant. $1.00 per demerit.

For the laughs, an RyPN centric edition:



The expected windfall from the grants will be used to fund a new organisation acquiring a pair of 250 ton cranes, a trio of surplus heavy duty flatcars, and a siding to store them on. This organisation will maintain the equipment such that if a piece of equipment must be moved quickly, the consist can move out an collect the endangered equipment.

Any remaining funds will be made available to qualified preservation non profits to fund land acquisition, track laying, and indoor storage.

Use of rail-centric memes:
1 Demerit per use.
Use of animated GIFs:
1 demerit per use.
Use of hashtags:
5 Demerits.
Use of non-rail-centric memes:
10 Demerits per use.
The mere mention of certain unnamed railfans from Pottstown, Pennsylvania area except in reply to a query by a new member about a certain allegation:
10 Demerits.
Comparing American preservation to overseas preservation as if they were equal:
20 Demerits.
Proclaiming a piece of equipment should return to the geographic area/line where it operated:
20 Demerits.
Chronic Narcissism, i.e. Posting the same 5 year old pictures every 3 months or a link to your favorite project's blog/Facebook page/website every month:
20 Demerits.
Suggesting a railroad company do something for preservation, for free:
25 Demerits.
Chronic Negativity, i.e. it will never be restored, or that project will fail, without specific reasons why said project is logistically impossible:
25 Demerits.
Arm-chair managing railroads:
25 Demerits.
Complaining that a private owner is doing what he wants with a piece of equipment:
30 Demerits.
Proclaiming that a piece of equipment should be painted in X, because that is your favorite railroad, when you do not own the piece of equipment, you do not volunteer at the museum that owns it, or otherwise have any stake in it:
30 Demerits.
Jumping on new members for asking innocent questions:
30 Demerits.
Saying someone else “should” restore engine X, car Y, or building Z:
33.3 Demerits.
Using the phrases "Nattering Nabobs of Negativity" "NNN" "Yammering Yutz of Yesteryear" or "YYY" except when describing yourself:
49 Demerits.
Proclaiming a piece of equipment must return to the geographic area where it operated:
50 Demerits.
Use of the word “Dieseltown” or "diseasel/diseasels":
50 Demerits.
Bringing up PRR 1361 unless you registered less than 24 hours ago and your IP address shows you're not a repeat registrant under a new name:
50 Demerits.
Asking when CSX will see the light and start running a steam program:
50 Demerits.
Pestering the Moderators over a poster you don't like:
75 Demerits.
Posting non Preservation related material in the interchange, including vintage photos of equipment that was not eventually preserved:
99 Demerits.

Members will be banned from the Interchange after 100 Demerits. Demerits can be removed/forgiven by donating to the new RyPN annual preservation grant. $1.00 per demerit.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Let me counter-propose:

There exist websites specifically for that purpose:
Flickr
RailPictures
RRPictureArchives
Facebook pages
A variety of other rail photo gallery sites
And, finally, if you feel so compelled, you could form your own website.

But let's not be under any pretension that posting the photos here or at any other website, even the Library of Congress's, is "preserving" them. No. It's just sharing them. The preservation is in backing up the digitizations to hard drives that won't disappear when someone's server crashes, someone else stops paying a hosting fee, and/or Google/Flickr/whoever suddenly rewrite the rules for their websites. I may have a guy or two downloading every vintage photo that shows up of this area online as well as relevant data, but so what--that doesn't confer any ability to reuse them or even share them on another website or even a slide show.

There is good to be had in compiling rosters, "crowdsourcing" the fates or locations of formerly-existing equipment, etc., and photos can help play a role in those. But, to be honest, I come here to get away from the godawful noise-to-signal ratio of most other rail websites, and to me, putting up vintage photos of long-lost locos or stations just because they're "cool photos" is noise.

How does this sound: Posting non preservation related material in the interchange, including photos of vintage equipment that was not eventually preserved unless the photo is specifically requested or information is being sought on something in the photo.

The mere mention of PRR 1361.

I do not know why it is not listed in the FAQ on the Interchange.

The mere mention of PRR 1361.

I do not know why it is not listed in the FAQ on the Interchange.

And at this point in time, the mere mention of a certain "steam" program of one of the big four US RRs. There is another blog (TO) that can provide all the entertainment one would or could want on that topic...