Union Pacific (official liscensed product)

I don't know for sure that this is in fact happening, but after reading all the messages on the subject, it sure seems like it could be.

Many years ago the subject came up in MR. Another railroad wanted payment for the use of it's logo. I believe they backed off and the threat was not realized.

Harley-Davidson was the first company I had dealings with that started charging for the use of their name and logos on merchandise. Prior to their actions, many non-related companies were making profits by producing merchandise using their trademarks.

The down side of official liscensed product is the high cost to the consumer.

For example, a company like the UP might agree to $1 for each locomotive manufactured bearing it's corporate logo.

The manufacturer now has to invest $1 more into production for each one. He will then want a return on his $1 investment, after all, he is in business to make a profit.

The $1 to the manufacturer, then becomes $2 to a wholesale distribution company like Walthers. They need to make a profit on their $2 investment too.

So, the $2 becomes $2.86 when the locomotive is sold to a hobby shop. The hobby shop needs a profit on their investment as well, so the $2.86 becomes $4.74 by the time the end user picks his loco to take home.

If he happens to be a Canadian, wow, $4.74 US becomes $6.63 plus the provincial sales tax and GST. In Ontario that would be $7.63 more than an unliscensed model.

And the UP only got $1 per unit.

That's business folks.

I'm liking my freelanced railroad with the made up name better all the time.

The problem is that distributors, wholesalers, and the local hobby shop deal in terms of percent markup as opposed to "passing the cost on to the consumer" which would ultimately only cost the consumer a dollar more - until taxes are involved, then you re-introduce percentage increases.

Of course, it all evens out in the end due to competition. Heck, my local hobby shop knocks of a fair amount of the cost for first run items if you pre-order. And then there is mail order.

The best thing though is to learn to do your favorite RR paint scheme yourself. UP shouldn't be that hard.

Either way it shouldn't make a big dent in the wallet. If you're modeling the prototype, most of the freight cars I see are rather generic looking without any fancy logos. So unless your entire layout is a replica of a UP paint shop then you should be ok.