Summary
First, the pure absurdity of our story: Amtrak engines will pull a custom-built, Victorianthemed train- significantly longer than a Rail Runner- into the Railyard. The movie it is promoting, Disney's A Christmas Carol, stars [Jim Carrey] and is directed by Robert Zemeckis. Early press bills it as a "multi-sensory thrill ride" shot using "performance capture" and projected in 3-D. Zemeckis, inexplicably, has said, "We are doing A Christmas Carol the way [Charles Dickens] originally envisioned it."
"Other stations may have more track space, less traffic, different scheduling needs; other stations may not be displacing a local business in order to host the train." Santa Fe Southern Railway President Carol Raymond says. When Raymond had initial conversations with Disney, the company balked at her price. Raymond, familiar with leasing services to movie productions, says this is the pattern - movie companies try to strong-arm small businesses but ultimately pay up if you stand firm. "This is Disney Corporation we're talking about here," Raymond says, "I think they can afford it."In the meantime, however, SFRCC, which manages all leases on the Railyard on behalf of the city, including Santa Fe Southern's depot building, negotiated a deal to accept $1,750 from Disney. The city owns the land, went the reasoning, and MRCOG is responsible for the track's right-of-way, so Santa Fe Southern really has no say in the matter. When things got heated between Raymond, the city and SFRCC, [Richard Czoski] offered Raymond $4,000, money that would now be coughed up for the privilege of hosting Disney's rolling advertisement.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Blame Train
As far as I know, Victorian morality plays are rarely difficult to decipher and tend to avoid too much irony. But the pending arrival in the Santa Fe Railyard of a special train designed to promote a film remake of the Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Car...
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