If Grumpy had been hanging around with me when I started shooting slides seriously (about 1970) around St. Louis, he would have been bitching about:
1) Why shoot MoPac? It's all that blue stuff...nothing but GP9s, GP18sn SD40s and Uc0Cs. 2) Why shoot GM&O? All those mixed-up paint schemes. And nothing but F's on the freights headed north... 3) Why bother with the Frisco? Nothing but SD45s and GP35s. 4) Why shoot the CB&Q (later BN)...all those mixed-up paint schemes and nothing but chinese red GP20s and GP30s on the St. Louis line... 5) Why shoot TRRA? They're getting rid of their Alcos.... 6) Why shoot at all...everything looks the same! Yes, I've heard all of Grumpy's arguments for the past 27 years in one form or another. And you know what? All that stuff we took for granted is gone. And, I can call Dan Pope and probably get $2-$10 a slide for stuff shot as recently as ten years ago! Everyone thought Winston Link was nuts until about 1978 when his prints showed up on the walls of the Jimmy Carter White House. His prints that went for $300 now get $3000 and more. Hell, Ansel Adams prints bring huge money and Yosemite's still there...the rocks haven't changed much. My point is shoot now, have fun, take diligent notes and don't ever undervalue the long term worth opf your collection. And to Dave Cohen re: the lousy pay for train pics. I got $1000 for one-time rights to publish one of my slides several years ago. There is a market for train pics out there...it just ain't the railfan market. C'mon Grumpy! Come out here to California where it's sunny and the trains are running! --DB --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 1678
