I tried out the upload feature of internetarchive.org for a test this morning. Very easy to use. Check out what I uploaded:

http://www.archive.org/details/Nicholso ... pairCard50

They also host some annuals of Railway Mechanical Engineer if you use their search engine and insert "Simmons-Boardman".

Mike Tillger

Mike,

That format works good on this end. This of course will make me want more and more. I hope I can find the storage space.

Those people ARE THE PROBLEM. They are WHY this information is dying.

They are old, and still cling to old, obsolete beliefs about the nature of information. Beliefs that existed only because repro was hard.

Some of them are also foamer-photographers, and that rabble tends to believe the cash value of their work is inversely proportional to its distribution. They are wrong, by the way. Ask the "O Rly" owl photographer.

So these people hoard and exclude this information, and absolute commit themselves to making sure that WHEN they die, their family dumps their treasures into a dumpster, or at best delivers a truckload of it to a railway museum who does not have the capacity to even inventory it, let alone copy it for distribution.

Can you research the difference between Westinghouse HL, HB, AL and AB controls? Do you know the rod lengths for a Westinghouse S-515 pantograph? Where do you figure to go for that, or do you just plan to forklift the pantograph off your South Shore car and throw it in the weeds? What is the best way to store a Westinghouse pantograph so it doesn't rot away?

How do you hang trolley wire?

How do you work with a motor rebuilder when overhauling a historic motor? Do you say "yes" when they offer to rewind the motor with square wire for more power?

So seriously... what will pull tourist trains in 2050? GE Evo's and Green Goats, because nobody knows how to fix anything older? We're heading toward that at breakneck speed.

Actually, 2010 technology in 2050 kinda makes sense.

What was pulling tourist trains in 1960? And when was it built?

I deal with copying of internet content professionally. Based on my knowledge in this field, I consider your claims that those articles are being sold to be both bold and interesting. Can you provide any more information or substantiation of that?

Got 15 minutes? I'll run you through it...

You know how the World Wide Web greatly improves on plain documents by allowing linking to other pages. Linking is part of Wiki's.

But so is collaborative writing. If you've ever collaborated on writing, you know it's really hard to coordinate edits when several people work on the document. Here is a video that isn't quite about Wikis, but brilliantly explains the problem and solution that Wikis use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

A third concept in Wikis is "Everyone can edit". Wow, that opens a can of worms!

First, editing has to be EASY. If you want experts in a field to document what they know, you can't require them to also be experts in computers.

Second, you need to have etiquette - rules of the road for people to be able to work together. Wikipedia's are fine ones (when they are respected. Cough cough.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Civility

Third you need security. "after all, if anyone can edit, isn't that like handing out free spray-cans right next to a gray concrete wall?" I have to tell you - as a professional net-cop, the world of abuse management is chock full of surprises. That which can't work - does; and that which should work - fails. Simply put, if everyone can edit, the good guys outnumber the bad guys about 500 to 1. The biggest risk is a certain few becoming obsessed with counter-vandalism, and getting a head full of "Stanford Prison Experiment". They attack your most regular and valued contributors, driving them off for good. This can make your cops the worst vandals of all if you do not control this.

In any case, if you submit an article to a Wiki, it's going to be edited a lot. Ownership doesn't really exist here in the normal ways, which brings to light the question of "licensing". Anything you contribute to a Wiki needs to be under a license which makes sense for the Wiki. Here is Wikipedia's for instance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... ed_License
Generally it allows broad (but not unlimited) copying.

Now, I know many on this board have their panties in a twist about copyright control. It sounds like it's very much a "principle of the thing" for them. I would say they do not fully grasp the principles at hand. I suggest http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.asp for a start; Mr. Lancaster's opinions were well formed by 1978, long before this "free ____" movement ever came along. He talks about patents but it really applies to any creative work.

Well well, look at that.
http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=% ... o+romeo%22
Here's a site called docstoc.com which is presenting a PDF document written by someone else. They seem to have a lot of PDF documents from all over railway preservation, so either a lot of folks have given Docstoc permission to dup them, or they are copying without permission.

Now notice how it's the only result served, and Google says "We have omitted some entries very similar to"... Right. The page they are suppressing is the original document.

Ain't that a peach? Publish a PDF on your own site, and these guys bounce you clean off Google using your own content.

And the way you deal with that is a DMCA takedown notice.
http://www.google.com/dmca.html

And one other thing -- if you write a PDF document, put your name on top so people know you are the real author.
If ISPs and search engines find that a particular site causes a peppering of DMCA notices from a variety of indignant content owners, they will tend to regard the entire site as infringing, and act accordingly.

Robert, thank you for providing that answer to the question you asked previously, and also for the explanation of how to deal with the organizations that take material without permission.

I have on my desk a catalog from a company that is nicely illustrated with images that were taken (without asking) from the website of a non-profit historical organization where I am a member. It just happens that I know the President of the company. I sent him an e-mail with a link to the photo source and I understand there was an 8.0 earthquake in their office building shortly afterwards. He called and asked for the contact information of the photographers who took the pictures so he could call each of them to apologize and offer compensation for the use of their images. Sometimes it is worth the effort to file a complaint.

PC

Yeah I know :) Here I was doubting, and then in the course of my work I encounter a flaming example.

I'm impressed that the people with the paper catalog were able to work with you. The cynic in me would say that's not how it works on the Net, but I have met perfectly nice small-scale internet infringers who were happy to be accountable. Them, I give permission.

Unfortunately the Internet makes it easy to do wrong on a large scale, and you are just as likely to be dealing with a bulk copier who doesn't care about you or your content except as fodder for his money-making engine. I find they are either low-rent thieves hiding behind international borders, or obsessed dot-com entrepreneurs who believe if his business model depends on breaking the law, that MAKES it legal.

I'd add this about DMCA:
First don't stop at Google. The two other major engines are Yahoo and Bing.
http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm
You absolutely CAN send the same DMCA to all three engines. The law, not the search engines, defines the format. IMO Yahoo's page is closest to the law and least confusing. Google asks for extra stuff they're not entitled to - but having taken DMCAs for search engines I will grant that the extra info is very helpful to them.

http://www.chillingeffects.org/ is a superb resource for understanding DMCA and intellectual property on the Web.

But having said so much about protecting intellectual property on the Web, I must repeat Don Lancaster's message: Worrying about defending your intellectual property is a very dangerous distraction to your purpose in life. Seriously, don't be this guy
http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-10-03/e ... on-quixote
Who spends 30 years chasing "justice" instead of keeping his family or inventing anything else...
... or this guy http://www.mikeandmabell.com/index.html who will probably never write another book :(

Well, I've set up the wiki. People interested in either participating or in managing it should PM me.

Regards,
Doug