"Extreme Trains" Empire Builder

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
After hours of prep work removing the speakers from our TV so that we could just watch "Extreme Idiot" I fell asleep before the show. Oh well, at least I'll be ready for next week. :p
 
It wasn't too bad, but some of the crap they did in the snow was just too much! WHO CARES? Just say, "back then manual labor, now, snow plows" and move on. I really missed detailing some of the inspection and maintenance stuff they do in Chicago before departing, instead they rambled on about brake shoes and fingers getting squished. BTW-are those disks on the Superliner axles actually brakes? I thought I read they were heat sinks. Yea, definately missed the Spokane split-up, as a non-EB traveler, it would have been neat to see how they did it.

Steamtown was great place to visit, but a bore to segue into shows about modern-day trains especially when the only way they are related is they both use Dihydrogen Monoxide in some completely random form or fashion.
 
I just finished watching Matt Brown swinging his arms and pointing his fingers every time he talks (which is non stop}. Doesn't this man ever get tired of talking and saying the same words?

Half way through the show I had to mute it, as it was very annoying.

To me he spoils the whole show.

To bad they didn't show some of the Milwakee station, and the split at Spokane, instead of the steam stuff.
 
Host: Trains have been carrying passengers across the country for over 200 years.

 

Hmmm, in 1808?

 

But, at least, he did cover safety issues.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Even the map of the EB only showed CHI and SEA as end points!

Host: "... (the EB) is timed to get to Glacier ... in daylight ..." :huh:

When I took the EB in October westbound, we got to Glacier in late afternoon - after dark! :blink:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
JAChooChoo said:
Hmmm, in 1808?But, at least, he did cover safety issues.[/b]
Click to expand...
Wikipedia puts the first passenger Steam trains at 1804.

But thats in the UK. Similar service in the USA did not appear for another decade. I suspect that the producer was using Wikifacts instead of real ones, to cut corners.
 
The best part was that he actually did some work.

Did anybody see the SA in the diner roll his eyes when Brown did that stupid "Its hard work, but we can't let the pax know that"

And I got to see Rolo! He was the coach SA they did a spot with, he is one of my favorite SA's I've ever seen.

But WTH is with Steamtown? Seriously, the segue didn't even make sense this time. They might as well have segued into planes because they use water too!
 
Overall, I thought it was a good special... not great, but pretty good. I wish the Sightseer Lounges still had VCRs connected because it would be fun to show to passengers during our Trails & Rails presentations.

I usually ride the Empire Builder around 20 times a year though Wisconsin... and since I'm such a frequent rider and narrator... I did notice some of the incorrect things in the show.

(It's sorta being nit-picky... but was fun to see what incorrect things I could find)

First off, when the host gets off in Columbus, WI the first shot they show isn't Columbus... it looks like 1 shot of the La Crosse station... then cuts to shots of the Columbus depot.

Second, he says "we're 100 miles out Chicago, it's mid-afternoon, and the passengers are hungry for lunch"... (as he walks through the diner). 100 miles out of Chicago on #7/27 it's usually around 4:15PM and you should be near Duplainville, WI (west of Milwaukee). They are usually not serving any meals until you're 150+ miles out of Chicago, and it would be dinner.

Third, they made it seem like you go from Chicago to the Rocky Mountains in the same day. Right out of Chicago or Columbus the host goes... "We have to make it to the Rockies before dark". He means before dark on DAY 2 of the trip... but sure made it seem like you go from Chicago to the Rockies in the same day.

I was a little disapointed they didn't show how the Empire Builder ran along the Mississippi River for 150 miles... and how scenic that way... then again, this was shot in late April or early May (I was in the MKE depot when the film crew was there) and it probably would have been too dark to shoot that.

And, the Super Dome was on #7 that day... good observation! What happened was the Milwaukee Road 261 train set (based at MSP) was brought down to Chicago the day before for the filming of the new Johnny Depp movie "Public Enemies". (will be released Summer 2009)... The movie folks didn't want to use the Super Dome in the film... but they wanted to use the engine and the rest of the train set... so they were sending the Super Dome back to MSP on the #7 that the film crew was on.

I was a little disapointed they didn't even mention anything about the Sightseer Lounge Car! They showed a diagram of the diner, sleeping car, coaches, etc... but no shout out for my favroite car?? :(

The host also made it seem like it was really hard to make the bed in the Superliner sleeper... Is it? I always make it up myself.

And, when interviewing the sleeping car lady (Doris) she says she stays up all night until each passenger calls her to make up their bed... sometimes staying up unti 3AM? Uhhh... I take 3-4 long distance trips a year and have NEVER seen the sleeping car attendant staying upto 3AM just waiting on people to press the call button to make up their beds. Usually the attendant goes to bed around 11PM... and anyone getting on in the middle of the night is let on my the conductor. If there is a big stop in the middle of the night, like Salt Lake City, and a lot of passengers are getting on, sometimes the attendant will be up, but he/she is NOT sitting awake to 3AM waiting for you to press the call button.

Plus, they made a mention that the sleeper fare out to Seattle back in the early days of the Empire Builder would be the equivilent of $900 now. Uhhh... yeahh... a lot of the time a bedroom costs more than $900 on the Empire Builder today... sometimes even more.

I'm just hoping they will do a series called "NOT SO EXTREME TRAINS"... and show how crappy the Horizon cars are on the Hiawathas... hahaha.
 
Oh, but the way Amtrak has a special way of handling all those bags at Chicago Union Station - THAT'S extreme! A conveyor belt and a bunch of carts tugged by a tractor.

Maybe the airlines will learn something from all this...

The diagrams of the cars were actually pretty cool. I wish they would put that flash up on Amtrak.com or on one of our sister forum sites!

There was also PV on the train coming out of CUS, but it wasn't clear that it was actually on the EB.

Another random thought about CUS was with regards to how important communication is with the dispatcher. Cut to the Tower (Nothing like Acela's dispatch war room), then cut back to the tunnel where that ever-so-important call to dispatch is made by pressing a button. How many kids are going to go push that button now?

Corny - "Do I have to have the hat on to shout 'All Aboard!'?"
 
All-in all, reasonable coverage.

The Steamtown excursion was absolutley pointless and aggravating, AGAIN.

Matt was not too annoying. The only stupidity that made me roll my eyes was when he was pouring wine (or champaigne) and said, something like 'We're pouring wine on a train. Wow". Doesn't take much to impress him, does it.

Having just been on the EB in October, it was nice to see the sights again. I agree that they missed showing the beauty of the 150 miles of the Mississippi and IMO, the best part, the run along the Pueget (sp?) Sound.
 
I was hoping to get a good view of the Superliner Sleepers, but instead we got the "Shaky cam with the odd angles". Granted, not really any room for a camera man, but that was a bit disappointing.

Otherwise, pretty interesting. Makes me want to take a trip.
 
I, too was hoping for more on the Mississippi valley as well. Also he made it sound like it made one stop to service the train (water, etc) when I think it makes several (St. Paul being one of them).

And yeah, the Steamtown thing is getting REALLY annoying. It's interesting stuff, just stop plopping it as a random segment.

I wonder how many people are going to be opening up the window? He could have at least said 'don't try this yourself'

Dan
 
"Wedgies that just won't go away"

Another moment I had wished that would go away.

"Going through the train wash..."

God help me.

And I can't help it, but the SEA-PDX split IS what makes it the most extreme. Not even a passing "this is two trains in one."

I hope they filmed that scene at Spokane, if they didn't, it was a travesty. if they did and decided shoveling snow was more interesting it was a crime.
 
"You don't wanna be throwing it around too much" *regarding luggage*

I'm sorry, I have seen them throw bags around. I never pack anything fragile.
 
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
And I can't help it, but the SEA-PDX split IS what makes it the most extreme. Not even a passing "this is two trains in one."
Click to expand...
The station attendant DID call out "Train 7/27/807 now boarding..." but no one elaborated.

Dude never did make it all the way down to the roadbed digging in the snow. You'd think that in 10 minutes, he'd get through. Of course, he's probably around 7 feet tall - when his head was well above the surrounding snow, "I've dug down about 6 feet now"...

The camera under the plexiglas was interesting. About as interesting as watching the water flow after the tunnel pipe was repaired.

Oh - and no talk about how extreme it is to take a shower at 79 MPH. But we did get to see the different ways that the engineer could press the deadman's switch...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MattW said:
VentureForth said:
But we did get to see the different ways that the engineer could press the deadman's switch...
Click to expand...
LOL, I caught onto that too, I thought the engineer was doing that repeatedly as a sort of "if I jump around like a trained monkey for a bit, will you please get that damn camera out of my face!?"
Click to expand...
I can press it with one finger, smash it with my palm, or poke it repeatedly.....
 
I wonder when the engineer demonstrated the Overspeed Limiter if that had to be cleared in advance so indeed he did not have to do any explaining after the fact. Do the P42s carry a data recorder?
 
VentureForth said:
MattW said:
VentureForth said:
But we did get to see the different ways that the engineer could press the deadman's switch...
Click to expand...
LOL, I caught onto that too, I thought the engineer was doing that repeatedly as a sort of "if I jump around like a trained monkey for a bit, will you please get that damn camera out of my face!?"
Click to expand...
I can press it with one finger, smash it with my palm, or poke it repeatedly.....
Click to expand...
I don't think it is the camera, I think its the host. its more of:

"If I pander to you will you get this idiot out of my cab?!"
 

Latest posts

Back
Top