You've got issues: My obsession with trains
Everyone's got something wrong with them, right? Maybe they're a little crazy, ugly, smelly, stupid or they have a third nipple. I'm not saying that I'm immuned to being any of those descriptions (except for the nips, I only have two - sorry), but I do have what I've been told is an unhealthy obsession with trains.
Now before you hit the back button on your browser, allow me to explain. Trains have played a very important part in my life and actually shaped my career in advertising and my ability to be an account planner.
My obsession with trains can be entirely blamed on my Dad, who's a conductor for the Union Pacific railroad. As a kid I grew up around, on, inside and even modeling trains. A hobby that has transferred into my... err "adult" life.
The thing is, when I was a kids I experienced the end of most of the last great railroads, especially in the west. Southern Pacific. Denver and Rio Grande Western. Chicago North Western. The list goes on forever.
When I was a kid Dad took me on rail fanning adventures, especially to Utah and Colorado to visit the daily operations of the D&RGW. If you've seen the movie The Station Agent, you'll know that visiting railroads means chasing trains through mountain passes and into cities and frieght yards. While that was fun and all, what really got me was the branding of the railroads and how each one of them truely lived up to their brand slogans.
The Rio Grande for instance: "Mainline Through the Rockies". Later they changed it to "The Action Road." Which is what it truely was. Their line traversed the toughest part of the Rockie Mountians. Their locomovites and freight cars and passenger literature was beautifully branded, just like the rest of Amerca's railroads at the time.
First rule of branding: Tell the truth.
Following trains with Dad taught me the the way brands could come alive. Our trips were brand expereinces where I saw, touched, smelled and fell in love with these brands.
I'd like a place to share my train crap, I think I'll be doing some of that here.
Now before you hit the back button on your browser, allow me to explain. Trains have played a very important part in my life and actually shaped my career in advertising and my ability to be an account planner.
My obsession with trains can be entirely blamed on my Dad, who's a conductor for the Union Pacific railroad. As a kid I grew up around, on, inside and even modeling trains. A hobby that has transferred into my... err "adult" life.
The thing is, when I was a kids I experienced the end of most of the last great railroads, especially in the west. Southern Pacific. Denver and Rio Grande Western. Chicago North Western. The list goes on forever.
When I was a kid Dad took me on rail fanning adventures, especially to Utah and Colorado to visit the daily operations of the D&RGW. If you've seen the movie The Station Agent, you'll know that visiting railroads means chasing trains through mountain passes and into cities and frieght yards. While that was fun and all, what really got me was the branding of the railroads and how each one of them truely lived up to their brand slogans.
The Rio Grande for instance: "Mainline Through the Rockies". Later they changed it to "The Action Road." Which is what it truely was. Their line traversed the toughest part of the Rockie Mountians. Their locomovites and freight cars and passenger literature was beautifully branded, just like the rest of Amerca's railroads at the time.
First rule of branding: Tell the truth.Following trains with Dad taught me the the way brands could come alive. Our trips were brand expereinces where I saw, touched, smelled and fell in love with these brands.
I'd like a place to share my train crap, I think I'll be doing some of that here.
posted by evan at 9:08 PM
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