(part 1)

I was thinking about the above captioned comment in an earlier thread, it seems that day hasn't YET dawned.

If we don't want this advocation to die with us, we have to be somewhat evangelical about showing why we care and why others should as well. That means reaching out to others-perhaps providing presentations at fraternal organizations, etc but especially to the young.

Thanks to all the kids interested in Thomas-we have a golden opportunity. The trick now is to foster more mature interests of rail related topics to take over when the tykes outgrow blue engines with smiley faces.

Of course, to do this. you need tools. The perfect tool- I think-is modern "presentation software", such as Microsoft Powerpoint/Corel Presentations. For the unaquainted, this software creates "slide shows", although in addition to still pictures-sounds, movies in mpeg format, special effects can be built in. You can capture the dynamic aspects of railroading very easily.

Free or very low cost (<100 bucks) office suites from places like Staroffice (Sun), Easy Office (e-press), software602.com and open office.org offer vesions of this software as well-minus a few Microsoft bells and whistles. The learning curve is pretty easy as well. The one fly in the ointment is that to show a large audience-somebody needs a PC projector-but I bet an interested group could rent one.

That having been said, a presenter needs content. Producing an well designed presentation can take some time.

To that end. what I'm thinking of is an "open-source" project. Say you need a presentation on RR history to show to a civic group-you download the presentation-take your laptop and go.

This would be similar to how Linux is produced. Again for the unacquainted-Linux is a version of the UNIX operating system invented by one Linus Torvalds a little over a decade ago. Instead of making his OS proprietary, ala Microsoft, Torvalds allows anybody to distribute or alter the software as long as they adhere to the "General Public License"-which in short says if you make a change to Linux, you make the change available to everybody else. The full scope is beyond this-see link.

Thousands of volunteer programmers people all over the world develop Linux and applications, often releasing the latter as shareware or freeware. While not quite "idiot proof", Linux is good enough that it provides the major competition for the boys in Redmond.

There is a lot of expertise on this board. There's mechanical and history experts. A lot of people could contribute content. It might be a complete presentation or the ingredient for one (text, pictures, etc)

Obviously, there'd be some administrative details. But before I offer that, I'm looking comments on the concept. Perhaps if we could just dowload a powerpoint file, we could do more civic outreach.



Linux GNU General Public License
superheater@beer.com

> Of course, to do this. you need tools. The
> perfect tool- I think-is modern
> "presentation software", such as
> Microsoft Powerpoint/Corel Presentations.
> For the unaquainted, this software creates
> "slide shows", although in
> addition to still pictures-sounds, movies in
> mpeg format, special effects can be built
> in. You can capture the dynamic aspects of
> railroading very easily.

Quicktime can do multi-media and the authoring package for both Mac and Windows is $30. The viewer is free.

The Apple iPhoto (digital photo management made easy) and iMovie (digitally edit movies from your camcorder) applications (included on all Apple computers) integrate nicely with Quicktime.

(I'm a long time Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris user who has discovered nirvana on the desktop when I installed OS X (ten) on my iMac!)


Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives
brianf425@yahoo.com

At my office, all the folks in management are in Rotary Clubs, different ones. They are always looking for speakers, I would imagine the same goes for Kiawanis and others. Might be a good bet as these groups seem to be formed soley for networking....

I thought of the idea of a TV series. Im sure most of us have seen the Monster Machine shows on Discovery, Learning Channel, and the History Channel. There was even one featuring the 614 and the 4449 but I wonder how successful an ongoing series would be. I know there is the PBS series Tracks Ahead, but to me this show is technically light and sometimes outdated.
Im thinking more of a This Old House type of show that shows operations and restorations, like This Old Train. It would have to be produced slick and modern with a good host, and keep the general couch potato in mind because thats the audience.
In each episode a list of groups in various areas could be given and also a plea to get out and support your local group, like Bob Barker says help control the pet population.
Id watch it, but would anybody else.

adofmsu@aol.com

> At my office, all the folks in management
> are in Rotary Clubs, different ones. They
> are always looking for speakers, I would
> imagine the same goes for Kiawanis and
> others. Might be a good bet as these groups
> seem to be formed soley for networking....

I had heard a while back that that a variety of groups are always looking for speakers-seems its true in more than one place.



superheater@beer.com

> I thought of the idea of a TV series. >

Its been done. A few years ago, the History Channel had their "trains unlimited series".

Thats beyond most of us. When they did the shots for the roundhouse @ steamtown-they used a 30,000 dollar camera.



superheater@beer.com

The ORHF with the help of Micheal Willis Architects and specifically Gus Kamp, has used the Power Point in our meetings we have had with people from the local neighborhood, rail preservation groups, and VIPs. It has proved to be well worth the investment. Our only complaint is that as our project changes, the power point must also change or it is dated.

Smokebox

"orhf dot org"

Unless they changed it, Power Point is very user friendly and easy to update, change or modify.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> The ORHF with the help of Micheal Willis
> Architects and specifically Gus Kamp, has
> used the Power Point in our meetings we have
> had with people from the local neighborhood,
> rail preservation groups, and VIPs. It has
> proved to be well worth the investment. Our
> only complaint is that as our project
> changes, the power point must also change or
> it is dated.

> Smokebox

If there was a place to upload to, (I AM WORKING ON THAT) would you consider sharing the file, or have the authors retained the intellectual property rights?

Obviously, the information would be ORHF specific, but might be useful to serve as a model for other organizations.

I think yahoo and some other portals have file sharing arrangements.


superheater@beer.com

> Its been done. A few years ago, the History
> Channel had their "trains unlimited
> series".

> Thats beyond most of us. When they did the
> shots for the roundhouse @ steamtown-they
> used a 30,000 dollar camera.

their is an show on "RFD TV" channel 9409 on "dish network" called"Trains & Locomotives",very good programming!! slanted more towards the railfan than general audiences!! comes on Monday at 6pm EST. or round about, I watch it when it comes on a midnight Monday nights!!it's is from "the machines of iron" series, I cannot remember who made the series originally,the RFD channel is more Rural oriented than anything else,lots of horse shows and such, I was pleasantly surprised to discover "trains and locomotives" it reruns during the weeksome too,since the channel is considered "educational,like PBS, every one that has dishnetwork, has the channel

andy_jj@valink.com

SH,
I will be working with Gus tomarrow and will ask him about sharing the presentation. As I pointed out, our presentation had to be updated because of property changes and other factors. This is something that many groups will have to deal with, be flexible and plan for changes!

SB

> If there was a place to upload to, (I AM
> WORKING ON THAT) would you consider sharing
> the file, or have the authors retained the
> intellectual property rights?

> Obviously, the information would be ORHF
> specific, but might be useful to serve as a
> model for other organizations.

> I think yahoo and some other portals have
> file sharing arrangements.


"orhf dot org"

SH,

I talked to Gus today, and because of workload, it'll be after the new year before we can edit down the power point. As it is now, we skip a page or two due to changes that have happened. We plan to put this on www.orhf.org, but are also willing to place it on a site should you come up with one to host it.

Smokebox

"orhf dot org"

> Unless they changed it, Power Point is very
> user friendly and easy to update, change or
> modify.

I've never put this kind of program together, I'm just relaying what the creator has told me. He told me it'll take around 2 hours to do the changes for us to be able to have an current version for the web. As it is we skip a "page" or two during our presentations because of changes.

Smokebox


"orhf dot org"

> Thanks, I think I have an idea.

Will look forward to the release


superheater@beer.com

> their is an show on "RFD TV"
> channel 9409 on "dish network"
> called"Trains &
> Locomotives",very good programming!!
> slanted more towards the railfan than
> general audiences!! comes on Monday at 6pm
> EST. or round about, I watch it when it
> comes on a midnight Monday nights!!it's is
> from "the machines of iron"
> series, I cannot remember who made the
> series originally,the RFD channel is more
> Rural oriented than anything else,lots of
> horse shows and such, I was pleasantly
> surprised to discover "trains and
> locomotives" it reruns during the
> weeksome too,since the channel is considered
> "educational,like PBS, every one that
> has dishnetwork, has the channel

The videos are available from Machines of Iron.

http://www.machinesofiron.net/

RFD TV's schedules are online at: http://www.rfd-tv.com/start3.html

They are also on DirecTV ch. 379

Washington Steam Railroads and Locomotives
brianf425@yahoo.com