Alpine Tunnel: The Inside Story VHS 1992

Back in the early 1990s, as a young teen I was enthralled with the following advertisement that I found in the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette:

A video of the interior?!!!  Holy smokes!  I got my mom on the case (I was 15!) and she called to reserve a copy and sent in the payment.  Eventually, I received it.

I was so thrilled to see moving images from inside the tunnel, to see the rockfalls, the remaining rails and all the curiosities from inside the bore.

While glad to have a copy of the VHS, I noticed many years later that some people wanted copies, but that it was no longer available.

Here was my aborted attempt at considering making DVD copies of the film:

Me:

A couple emails back there was some talk about the VHS “Alpine Tunnel-The Inside Story.”  I own a copy.  Since it doesn’t seem to be available for purchase anymore, does anyone see a problem with making copies or posting portions online?  I have the capabilities of converting the video to computer video files and/or DVD.  Just curious if there is any interest and/or if anyone sees a legal problem with copying it.

Reply: 

I've been searching for a copy to purchase or view for quite some time and am pretty sure that it is no where to be found and that the original copyright owner is no longer contactable. I am no lawyer so can't advise you on the copyright issue. However, I don't think it wise to advertise or make money from providing it.

Please keep me in mind if you do decide to move forward!

Reply:

I'd be interested, but I'll bet there will be a lot of negative comments.  Assuming it is 90 percent no legal problem, perhaps if you did it at close to cost and added a fee to be donated to the historical society or ?the tunnel project?  Just a thought.

Me: 

I searched online for the company (Historical Video Productions) that made it and they are nowhere to be found.  Their videos, ranging from railroad videos to crop dusting films are noted on various pages as references or are listed in some libraries, but you plain can’t buy the Alpine Tunnel video anywhere I’ve checked including ebay or amazon.  I’m a big fan of a folk musician named Pierce Pettis.  When some of his older albums went out of print he told people to go ahead and copy them since you couldn’t buy them anyway.  Basically, the author is not losing any royalties when their product is not available for sale in the first place.

On a funny note, I popped in my video the other day and noticed at the beginning that there is a warning against copying the video—it calls upon the ghosts of steam engines to get you if you copy it!  Anyway, I’m still thinking about it.  That being said, I have 3 little kids to chase around so I won’t get to it ASAP.

 Reply:

Kurt:

You would be walking into a minefield.

You may recall that I posted a note to this List about who almost certainly owns the copyrights to that video. I talked to them on the phone. As I said earlier, they now have a model railroad business called "Backdrop Warehouse" which advertises in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine.  It's a going concern.

I own a copy of the video also I had an off-List inquiry about copies and had to answer it as follow:

"Thanks for inquiring.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the rights to the video. Copyright laws apply to videos, too. I presume that the owners of the rights probably are the people now doing business as "Backdrop Warehouse".

"Under no circumstances do I want to get into a Copyright fight with anybody. I'm a retired San Francisco banker and I've seen these types of fights before. Besides, I have no means of making copies.

"Accordingly, I'm not able to help you."


Me:

Hi all: Well, this may be the nail in the coffin: I talked to the company
that produced the video. They said that only a certain number of copies
were made and that's it. Side comment: I was surprised that someone who
obviously had put a decent amount of sweat and heart into a film would be so
'flat' in the discussion of the subject. I, as a customer who was delighted
in their work and wanted to find if it were available, felt like I was being
seen as a bit of a nuisance. Anyway, they said there is a possibility that
the film may be released in DVD sometime in the future, but that is several
years down the line. The gentleman I spoke to said that if someone were
making copies they would be very "unhappy" if that were occurring. So,
anyway, considering the less-than-embracing tone communicated from them, I
think I'll bow out of any attempt to make the video available. Bummer.



Reply:

Kurt:

I'm glad that you called the company. I got exactly the same reaction when I called them last week --the man (he didn't identify himself) on the phone very much sounded as though he wanted to get me off the phone ASAP. Maybe they lost money on the video or there were some other things that left a bad taste behind.



Alas, everyone, in the meantime, check ebay!