Extreme Trains

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Did y'all watch the premiere the other night, with the Norfolk Southern coal train and horseshoe curve? I thought it perhaps a nice primer for rookies. Nice photography, light on facts, heavy on sensation. That host guy could use a straitjacket. His unceasing emphatic arm flailing was like watching Hitler working himself into a froth at a **** Party rally.
 
WhoozOn1st said:
Did y'all watch the premiere the other night, with the Norfolk Southern coal train and horseshoe curve? I thought it perhaps a nice primer for rookies. Nice photography, light on facts, heavy on sensation. That host guy could use a straitjacket. His unceasing emphatic arm flailing was like watching Hitler working himself into a froth at a **** Party rally.
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I watched it, and share your sentiments exactly!
 
WhoozOn1st said:
Did y'all watch the premiere the other night, with the Norfolk Southern coal train and horseshoe curve? I thought it perhaps a nice primer for rookies. Nice photography, light on facts, heavy on sensation. That host guy could use a straitjacket. His unceasing emphatic arm flailing was like watching Hitler working himself into a froth at a **** Party rally.
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Yes, I watched it and the guy drove me nuts. He is sorta like a cross between a bad infomercial salesman and Steve.......whatshisname with the animals that is with us no longer.......
 
Second episode was somewhat better, but I may be biased because it was more about my part of the country.

Liked the port stuff, and seeing how containers are tied down on stack trains. Getting views of the Alameda Corridor from above was pretty cool too, as was seeing the work involved in BNSF triple-tracking Cajon Pass (now completed and in use).

Still, that host clown... Sheesh!!

Did we really need to watch him try numerous times to smash a rock with a machine?

The sensationalism of the "Extreme Trains" approach really came into focus on Friday afternoon when I saw - on the History Channel - an installment of the Modern Marvels series titled "Locomotives." Low-key narration, interesting facts and photography, a number of aspects presented with decent perspective. And no screaming and arm waving. Far superior, in my view.
 
Still, that host clown... Sheesh!!
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Agreed.

Though I find it very informative if you kinda tune him out in the back of your head.

I just laughed when you look at the cab engineers... and he's doing his thing and they sit there and hit their alterer and go 'Uhuh... uhuh...'
 
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ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I just laughed when you look at the cab engineers... and he's doing his thing and they sit there and hit their alterer and go 'Uhuh... uhuh...'
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I've noticed he has said a couple times that he is glad that he is a CONDUCTOR not an engineer in Maine.

I didn't think that freight lines still had conductors? They just had engineers and assistant engineers?
 
HP_Lovecraft said:
I didn't think that freight lines still had conductors? They just had engineers and assistant engineers?
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You can't move a train, any train, without a conductor under FRA rules. Other than some special yard circumstances that is.

Most freight trains don't have asst engineers.
 
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HP_Lovecraft said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I just laughed when you look at the cab engineers... and he's doing his thing and they sit there and hit their alterer and go 'Uhuh... uhuh...'
Click to expand...
I've noticed he has said a couple times that he is glad that he is a CONDUCTOR not an engineer in Maine.

I didn't think that freight lines still had conductors? They just had engineers and assistant engineers?
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Most freight RR conductors are also fully certified engineers to provide flexibility for the company.

I think the show should be re-named "Trains... With an Extreme Host" its a very good show though. At least he's better than most of the half-dead hosts on the history channel.
 
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In 2007, while doing Trails & Rails at the Milwaukee station I ran into the crew shooting the Empire Builder episode... It looks like that one is going to air in a couple of weeks. The Milwaukee Road 261 was in the station at the same time, so that might make it in that episode if they actually show the entire route instead of just Glacier Park like I fear they are going to.

Check it out!!

Overnight TravelerTuesday, December 16 at 10PM ET/9C

This train running from Chicago to Seattle is the busiest passenger train in America. The route passes through America's longest tunnel where Matt finds out how the railroad keeps passengers from choking to death and how to keep the tracks from flooding. In the Cascade Mountains he learns what it takes to the keep the rails clear of snow drifts over a dozen feet high! This episode covers how James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railroad; and the Wellington avalanche disaster. It features some of America's most beautiful scenery in Montana's Glacier National Park.
 
Crescent ATN & TCL said:
I think the show should be re-named "Trains... With an Extreme Host" its a very good show though. At least he's better than most of the half-dead hosts on the history channel.
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I'll take the half-dead, thanks.

THEY DO THIS!! LOOK!! THEY DO THAT!! WATCH!! HEY, CAN I TRY THAT? WOW!! I'M DOING WHAT RAILROAD GUYS DO!!

Gimme a break.
 
I missed the first two episodes, but I've now set the DVR so I don't miss the rest.

For those who also missed the first episodes, History Channel will be running the first three this Saturday (November 29) starting at 2pm Eastern.
 
Crescent ATN & TCL said:
HP_Lovecraft said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I just laughed when you look at the cab engineers... and he's doing his thing and they sit there and hit their alterer and go 'Uhuh... uhuh...'
Click to expand...
I've noticed he has said a couple times that he is glad that he is a CONDUCTOR not an engineer in Maine.

I didn't think that freight lines still had conductors? They just had engineers and assistant engineers?
Click to expand...
Most freight RR conductors are also fully certified engineers to provide flexibility for the company.

I think the show should be re-named "Trains... With an Extreme Host" its a very good show though. At least he's better than most of the half-dead hosts on the history channel.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he should probably lay off the Pixie Sticks...but who can blame the guy? Why can't I find a job like that???
 
AlanB said:
HP_Lovecraft said:
I didn't think that freight lines still had conductors? They just had engineers and assistant engineers?
Click to expand...
You can't move a train, any train, without a conductor under FRA rules. Other than some special yard circumstances that is.

Most freight trains don't have asst engineers.
Click to expand...
I think what railroads no longer have is firemen. With dieselization firemen became somewhat superfluous, but kept working under union rules for quite awhile. IIRC, the railroads didn't like that at all, and there was a protracted controversy over "featherbedding." The railroads won that one, as they also were eventually successful in getting rid of cabeese (HA!) in favor of FREDs.
 
WhoozOn1st said:
Did y'all watch the premiere the other night, with the Norfolk Southern coal train and horseshoe curve? I thought it perhaps a nice primer for rookies. Nice photography, light on facts, heavy on sensation. That host guy could use a straitjacket. His unceasing emphatic arm flailing was like watching Hitler working himself into a froth at a **** Party rally.
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And just when were you at the last rally ???
 
had8ley said:
WhoozOn1st said:
Did y'all watch the premiere the other night, with the Norfolk Southern coal train and horseshoe curve? I thought it perhaps a nice primer for rookies. Nice photography, light on facts, heavy on sensation. That host guy could use a straitjacket. His unceasing emphatic arm flailing was like watching Hitler working himself into a froth at a **** Party rally.
Click to expand...
And just when were you at the last rally ???
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1936, Nuremburg. Why do you ask? "Little Joe" Goebbels was quite the cut-up, but totally hogged the keg. I'm older than you think. :D

EDIT: Leni Riefenstahl was a pretty hot number back then. Dumb as a post, but a looker. Kept asking me for advice on camera angles.
 
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Okay, I missed the Acela episode. I'll see it when it's shown again, and there's plenty of commentary elsewhere.

Last week's installment about the reefer train was fairly interesting, and shown on the heels of an issue of Trains Magazine which covered in detail the type of modern reefers shown on TV. If you really wanna know the deal, find a copy of Trains (January 2009, page 22).

This week it was steam, so no way I was gonna miss it. Not bad, and as usual for this series a primer. Interesting video views, but nothing we didn't already know. "This is called a coupler. Couplers hold the cars of a train together."

There was a bit aboard the train about railfans, whom host flailboy referred to as a pretty strange bunch. Ordinarily I wouldn't argue, but then presented as an example was a geek with a guitar - "Boxcar" - doing possibly history's lamest version of She'll be comin' 'round the mountain, with two kids - "Caboose" and "Flatcar" - and host flailboy howling YEE HA between lines.

Authentic railfans, huh? In fairness, there was also a scene with a guy who was recording train sounds to use with his HO scale model train layout at home. That was a little more like it, though apparently his tape will now include host flailboy hollering dumb questions at him.

What next?
 
WhoozOn1st said:
...There was a bit aboard the train about railfans, whom host flailboy referred to as a pretty strange bunch. Ordinarily I wouldn't argue, but then presented as an example was a geek with a guitar - "Boxcar" - doing possibly history's lamest version of She'll be comin' 'round the mountain, with two kids - "Caboose" and "Flatcar" - and host flailboy howling YEE HA between lines.
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"She'll be coming round the mountain, with two kids" sounds like a song (and woman) I'd as soon miss. :p
 
I guess I'll have to watch the lastest episode on my DVR in the next few days. I've been playing with the big trains the past 24 hours on a trip to nowhere! :D (Literally 24 hours, left on #67 at 10:46 PM, throw in a ride on AE and will return on #67 at 10:46 PM. BTW, I passed through KIN at 142 MPH! :eek: And no - I didn't try to get off! :lol: Although I've tried in the past to grab on as it went through! :p )
 

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