Union Pacific is a business too, and also has a marketing and P.R. agenda, but you don't see the 844 and 3985 painted in Armor Yellow with bright red letters that have an "800" number and a web address, now, do you? Large corporations all have some type of defined identity and guidelines (trademark and branding usage guides) about how it is implemented. To simply say, "as long as you use the company colors, red and white," isn't enough. It's a good idea even for small businesses, and in any industry.

You can have plenty of fluff & flair, and also make it look good if you're willing to put a little effort and money into it and establish a simple set of guidelines.

What I find interesting is that the top of this thread has a picture of a business car with sans-serif text (Helvetica or Arial Black are the fonts that come to mind), and the steam locomotive has completely a different style (Times New Roman, etc.), with serifs.

True, lots of companies simply do whatever they can just to get their name out there, but with a little thought and patience, you can also make it look good too.

I'll be honest, the first words that came to my mind when looking at both the business car and the steam locomotive was "Circus Train"... which is unfortunate because I don't think that's really the message RJ Corman wants to send. (And thinking about the Ringling Bros. Circus trains... they don't really look like "Circus Trains", do they?)

Just my two bits worth...

My response:

The RBBB trains are now the most neutral gray you'll find in railroading today. Show me ANYBODY besides a foaming railfan or someone stuck at a grade crossing who pays attention to the RBBB trains as they go from point A to point B.

The RJ Corman stuff was painted eye-knocking colors. I, out here in Maryland, heard plenty about that train without the help of the railfan media.

Make of that what you will.

This is probably just my design degree talking, but with a little effort the RJ Corman livery (on the diesels, the steamers, and the private car) could have been every bit the rolling billboards they are now without all looking... ok, I can't find a nicer word than "gaudy."

I've watched Corman locomtovies since he bought his first short line in Kentucky in 1986, and I've grown to like the locomotive livery. Considering that this was a man, who 30 years ago was sleeping in his truck, and had to borrow money to buy one bulldozer, which has grown to the empire we see today, I'm kind of impressed.

Deisgn ethic he may lack, but I'm sure Mr. Corman still sleeps soundly every night, on a bed made of money.

The bottom line is when you own it you can do what you want. Check out this newly painted diesel owned by the other American who happens to own a QJ.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 06&nseq=43

Other examples might include a blue pacific type roaming the rails in the East and a NKP Alco FA that is slowly being restored. When you cash you can do whatever you like. I'm sure each of us has our own opinion as to how it should be done and we would do what we wanted without reservation if we were calling the shots.