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.
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.
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!