Again, I have no financial interest whatsoever in this item. Just passing it on. Possibly somebody that reads this board has a valid use for it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Head-Light-from-loc ... dZViewItem

The interchange is not the appropriate place for auction announcements of this type. The classifieds section was created especially for this purpose.

Tom Cornillie,
RyPN Board of Directors

Dear Tom,

While certainly I can appreciate the rules and regs of RyPN's Interchange,
I was a bit concerned about the manner and the apparent finality of the reply.

If indeed this interchange exists to exchange information having to do with any and all aspects of railway preservation, then I want to be able to be informed of the existence of such things as an original IC 2-10-2 (I believe) headlight assembly. Could at least the sharing 'of the existence' of such an object be encouraged, if not the direct link to a purchase location?

Thanks for listening!

Steve

Steve,

Our guidelines as to what goes on the classifieds and what goes on to the interchange are delinated at:

http://www.rypn.org/RyPN/sub_pages/guidelines2.asp

Linked via the first post in the classifieds section. RYPN as a whole is about any and all aspects of railway preservation and railway history. The broad dividing line between the two boards is that the classifieds functions as a place for announcements whilst the interchange is a place for discussion.

If even a small percentage of all items of interest available for sale of interest to persons on this board were posted to the interchange it would quickly drown out most discussions. Moreover, most of the information shared via these announcements would be worthless once the respective items left the open market.

Tom Cornillie
RyPN Board of Directors

Tom -

I see your point. BUT, we never know for sure what a RAILROAD item like a steam locomotive headlight for sale posting might eventually lead to. I am a bit surprised that you protest that type of posting, but say nothing about the postings of ship preservation, which is really hard to justify on a rail preservation website. BTW, I object to neither type posting. I feel that if it is of non-interest and/or not relevant, it will simply be ignored.

Les

Tom, I agree with Les and Steve on this one. If Scott was advertising something on this interchange himself, I would say that you are right. However, he was merely passing this along in case one of us might be interested. I call this sharing of information, which is what this interchange is about.

I would have had no problem with these posts if the initial message were accompanied with something that could lead to a further discussion. Such leads could include - is this important to X or Y preservation efforts; this object is important because of X, Y, and Z; is it ethical to sell this; what is this, etc . . .

We have and will continue to allow such posts. A notable one was the discussion over the e-bay sale of the original builders plates from the Reading FP-7s owned by the Philadelphia and Lancaster NRHS chapters. However, without any context or premise for discussion, this is simply another announcement. We created the classifieds especially for such announcements.

Tom Cornillie
RyPN Board of Directors

I would like to address this posting specifically to the following individuals if I may:
1. Mr. Les Beckman
2. Mr. Steve Haupert
3. Mr. Gary Gray

GENTLEMEN,
THANK YOU for accepting my eBay locomotive headlight postings with the spirit in which they were offered. THANK YOU for renewing my faith in the preservation community as a whole. I'd like THE THREE OF YOU to know that in my book, YOU are true PROFESSIONALS. If somewhere down the road I was lucky enough to meet all of you and do some real preservation work together, I would consider that a real HONOR.
RESPECTFULLY,
Scott Milewski

I agree this topic is railway preservation related and should be accepted upon free discussion. I think we are getting way too nit picky about this stuff. Who cares whether it gets posted here or there.. as long as it gets posted Thanks Scott.