Good Morning America

[WhoozOn1st]

I think I rode one of the last pax trains on the Danbury branch shortly after Alice's Restaurant was filmed in the Lenox-Lee area in the late 60's.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (excepting Alice)

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Walk right in, it's around the back

Just a half a mile from the railroad track

And you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

--Arlo Guthrie

Movie wasn't so hot, but the original recording is a great song/story.

 

[had8ley]

I think I rode one of the last pax trains on the Danbury branch shortly after Alice's Restaurant was filmed in the Lenox-Lee area in the late 60's.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (excepting Alice)

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Walk right in, it's around the back

Just a half a mile from the railroad track

And you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

--Arlo Guthrie

Movie wasn't so hot, but the original recording is a great song/story.

Trivia quiz mon ami~ what town housed the court house that Guthrie was tried for littering?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

I think I rode one of the last pax trains on the Danbury branch shortly after Alice's Restaurant was filmed in the Lenox-Lee area in the late 60's.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (excepting Alice)

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Walk right in, it's around the back

Just a half a mile from the railroad track

And you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

--Arlo Guthrie

Movie wasn't so hot, but the original recording is a great song/story.

Trivia quiz mon ami~ what town housed the court house that Guthrie was tried for littering?

Jay, I don't recall where the courthouse was, but he was arrested in Stockbridge, Mass.

Love the bit about the judge walking in - with a seeing eye dog. "It was a typical case of American blind justice. And the judge wasn't gonna see the 47 8-by-10 color glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was."

Used to have whole spiel memorized.

 

[TommySPF]

Looks like the train is pulling into Niagara Falls, NY.

GPS tracker:

http://www.lat-lon.tv/

 

[MattW]

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=251035

That's a decent picture of the train if anyone's interested.

 

[MrFSS]

I watched some of the video and it seems the cast and crew are staying in the superliner car bedrooms, etc. What is the function of the two private cars on the end of the train? Is the last superliner a trans car that allows them to walk between those two cars and the rest of the train?

 

[access bob]

I watched some of the video and it seems the cast and crew are staying in the superliner car bedrooms, etc. What is the function of the two private cars on the end of the train? Is the last superliner a trans car that allows them to walk between those two cars and the rest of the train?

hard to tell from the photo but I would imagine the first and last superliner would be a transition car, since I would suspect some of the techs would need to get into the Cabbage to maintain some of the equipment in there.

boy did they mangle that Cabbage.

BTW Senator Clinton was interviewed while on the train and she made quite a point of the need for better public transport and transit.

Sen McCain is scheduled to be interviewed tomorrow on the train, will be interesting to see if he says anything about rail and transit

Bob

 

[printman2000]

The first superliner car does not appear to be a transition, however the last is for sure. With trains losing sightseer lounges, they were able to put TWO on this train.

 

[printman2000]

What is up with the roof line on that cabbage? Never seen one like that before.

 

[access bob]

What is up with the roof line on that cabbage? Never seen one like that before.

they are transmitting live from the train (claim it is first time ever) and those are the antenna for the transmissions (I would suspect via microwave but ??)

Bob

 

[navydevildoc]

What is up with the roof line on that cabbage? Never seen one like that before.

they are transmitting live from the train (claim it is first time ever) and those are the antenna for the transmissions (I would suspect via microwave but ??)

Bob

It looks very similar to the systems we have on all of our Navy ships... two antennas that could be on the same bird, or on different ones for redundancy. The satellite dishes are mounted onto a mount that can move quickly in both azimuth and elevation. The mounts are controlled by a computer that is connected to a GPS reciever and a gyroscope that tells it the location of the train, as well as heading and any yaw, cant, and elevation. This allows the computer to keep the dishes locked on to the bird using the motorized mounts even as the ship rocks and rolls. It's pretty amazing to watch them work inside those domes, as they are rock steady pointed at the location of the satellite, whereas the ship could be rolling like crazy.

As for the band, it could be C Band (4 to 8 GHz), but the size of the domes looks like it could be more like Ku (11 to 12.7 GHz), which is better for punching through rain and fog, and uses smaller dishes than C Band. DirecTV and Dish Network use the upper section of the Ku Band, for example. Both bands are considered "microwave", however.

 

[access bob]

What is up with the roof line on that cabbage? Never seen one like that before.

they are transmitting live from the train (claim it is first time ever) and those are the antenna for the transmissions (I would suspect via microwave but ??)

Bob

It looks very similar to the systems we have on all of our Navy ships... two antennas that could be on the same bird, or on different ones for redundancy. The satellite dishes are mounted onto a mount that can move quickly in both azimuth and elevation. The mounts are controlled by a computer that is connected to a GPS reciever and a gyroscope that tells it the location of the train, as well as heading and any yaw, cant, and elevation. This allows the computer to keep the dishes locked on to the bird using the motorized mounts even as the ship rocks and rolls. It's pretty amazing to watch them work inside those domes, as they are rock steady pointed at the location of the satellite, whereas the ship could be rolling like crazy.

As for the band, it could be C Band (4 to 8 GHz), but the size of the domes looks like it could be more like Ku (11 to 12.7 GHz), which is better for punching through rain and fog, and uses smaller dishes than C Band. DirecTV and Dish Network use the upper section of the Ku Band, for example. Both bands are considered "microwave", however.

sounds slick thanks for the tech report, sorry bout my hitting go before getting into gear

Bob

 

[printman2000]

I was watching a behind the scenes video and what I thought was a dining car on the train turned out to be a CCC!

You can go to http://abcnews.go.com/gma

and click on the "Life On The GMA Train"

 

[Rail Freak]

I was watching a behind the scenes video and what I thought was a dining car on the train turned out to be a CCC!
You can go to http://abcnews.go.com/gma

and click on the "Life On The GMA Train"

Woke this morning & immediately turned on ABC!

They were going thru the Harpers Ferry area. I was on #3000 car last week & the #2900 the week before! My photography is a lot better than theirs!

 

[D.P. Roberts]

I get the impression that they're only traveling to a handful of states via rail. Here's a quote:

"The "GMA Whistle-Stop Tour" will travel through seven states, making several stops along the way as the show broadcasts live from four states and Washington, D.C., over five days."

The way I read this, they're traveling through seven states over five days. There will be "live" reports on five days - four states plus Washington, D.C. This leaves 3 states with recorded reports - and 43 others that will be covered via air travel, or whatever, over the remaining 43 days.

I just tuned into this thread - I missed John McCain this morning. Did he have anything interesting to say?

 

[TommySPF]

Schedule for the next 3 days:

Friday, Sept 19: Washington, DC http://www.lat-lon.tv/

Train was parked just outside DC earlier tonight.

Saturday, Sept. 20: North Carolina

by train ?

Sunday, Sept. 21: Utah

I don't think they're takin' Amtrak to Utah overnight... :blink:

 

[haolerider]

Schedule for the next 3 days:


Friday, Sept 19: Washington, DC http://www.lat-lon.tv/

Train was parked just outside DC earlier tonight.

Saturday, Sept. 20: North Carolina

by train ?

Sunday, Sept. 21: Utah

I don't think they're takin' Amtrak to Utah overnight... :blink:

Amtrak's portion of ABC's 50 state tour is finished. They will use other modes of transportation for the balance of the programs.