I feel a little like Rush Limbaugh when I say, "See, I told you so." My last article spoke of the Nickel Plate Railroad Historical & Technical Society's registering of the phrase "Nickel Plate Road". I also mentioned that this was most likely done to protect the phrase from non-flattering use by other groups or corporations or its use stacked with exorbanent usage fees that would stifle the use of the term. Let's be realistic, the NKP was a small railroad but it is amazingly well represented in todays railroad literature, video, and modeling. This is due almost entirely, in my opinion, to the work of the NKPHTS over the last several decades. Had the Nickel Plate Road phrase been registered by some other organization, it is far more likely that you would not see the NKP represented today as it is. This just re-itterates the forward thinking of the NKPHTS.

Well, my suspicions were confirmed. Besides scouring the US Trademark catalog and the NKPHTS website for my information, I now have confirmation from a NKPHTS member directly. Yes, the registering of the phrase was indeed a purely protective measure. In fact, as previously reported, the NKPHTS has not even placed a useage fee on the phrase. Model companies are free to use the term without being burdened further by huge costs of useage which some active railways have done in the past. (Hence the absence of Union Pacific Railroad from Microsoft's initial release of Microsoft Train Simulator.) Still, the NKPHTS organization reserves the right to enforce useage terms. That is, the organization can protect the way in which the term is utilized. No one will be able to apply the term to any maligning product or company. (Be sure to visit the NKPHTS.org website for the latest usage rights and requirements.)

While I never doubted the intent of the Nickel Plate Historical & Technical Society's intent when registering the phrase, I did mention that some might easily mistake the true intent and that is why I wrote the article. Although some saw criticism in the article, the fact that I spelled out clearly that I did not believe the NKPHTS organization would ever do anything to stifle the propogation of the Nickel Plate Road fell to the wayside. Still, I maintain that the NKPHTS is one of the finest, if not the finest, railroad historical preservation groups. Again, proof of this is the prolific numbers of NKP items availabe to the fan today. Additionally, the NKPHTS continues to put out its own top-caliber products to its membership, who remain active and prolific as well.

So, let it go without saying from this day forward that I would never say that the NKPHTS is less than top-notch. Sadly, I felt I had made this patently clear from the beginning of this site. As a NKP fan who was born after the corporate demise of the Nickel Plate corporation, let me publicly thank the NKPHTS and all its membership for all their work over the decades. Without the work of these fine people, I would not have access to the wealth of NKP knowledge available today. So, even though I told you so, I am happy to tell you so, again.

Nickel Plate Road is a registered trademark of the Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society.