History Channel - another Train Series!!!

ezdays

Out AZ way
That looks like a great series, thanks Mikey
Glad you posted that, I'll set the DVR tonight.
Not me, I can't set my DVR for a while, gotta wait. Its schedule only goes up to eight days ahead, only then can I set it to record every week.
 

railohio

Active Member
And I've spotted a mistake before the show even airs.

Getting the train, which weighs 1,400 tons when full, over the Allegheny mountains can be quite a challenge.

That comes out to less than ten loaded coal cars. Either they can't do their math right or they mistakenly followed a nine car local. :cry:
 

nolatron

Member
Maybe they missed a zero there.

edit: Although, reading the description again it sounds like more older steam trains will be covered rather than modern day stuff.

"...reveals the incredible inner workings and past lives of the amazing locomotives that haul huge loads across the nation and deliver passengers to their destinations."

Would 1,400 tons be average for a steam coal hauler back in the day?
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Maybe they missed a zero there.

edit: Although, reading the description again it sounds like more older steam trains will be covered rather than modern day stuff.

"...reveals the incredible inner workings and past lives of the amazing locomotives that haul huge loads across the nation and deliver passengers to their destinations."

Would 1,400 tons be average for a steam coal hauler back in the day?

"Past lives" of locomotives? Past history I will accept, but not "past lives". And since when is a load of coal "priceless"? Sounds like a huge amount of hype applied to a subject already covered in previous specials.
 

brakie

Active Member
And I've spotted a mistake before the show even airs.



That comes out to less than ten loaded coal cars. Either they can't do their math right or they mistakenly followed a nine car local. :cry:


I seen a engineer stall a 1400 ton train..:eek:

Of course the rail was wet and leaf covered and a 1.6% grade on a curve with a 10mph slow order.Inattention help to.Had he paid more attention instead of talking baseball to the conductor he would have notice the speed was falling.:eek:
 

brakie

Active Member
"Past lives" of locomotives? Past history I will accept, but not "past lives". And since when is a load of coal "priceless"? Sounds like a huge amount of hype applied to a subject already covered in previous specials.

When that coal is needed by the end user to provide a service.Derail a loaded coal train and listen to the end user scream because that coal was needed..Talk about "priceless"!
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
When that coal is needed by the end user to provide a service.Derail a loaded coal train and listen to the end user scream because that coal was needed..Talk about "priceless"!

I used to live in Fountain, Colorado, exactly one short block from the mainline that handled a coal train every twenty minutes. During the year I was there, I saw three derailments, one of which almost buried a home in coal.

The power stations never uttered a peep, since they keep at least three days supply on hand and the trains could easily be re-routed. The guy who did all the screaming was the senior engineer on site tasked with recovery, cleanup and repair.

Coal is just a routine commodity; it certainly isn't "priceless", any more than a load of old scrap iron would be.
 

brakie

Active Member
I used to live in Fountain, Colorado, exactly one short block from the mainline that handled a coal train every twenty minutes. During the year I was there, I saw three derailments, one of which almost buried a home in coal.

The power stations never uttered a peep, since they keep at least three days supply on hand and the trains could easily be re-routed. The guy who did all the screaming was the senior engineer on site tasked with recovery, cleanup and repair.

Coal is just a routine commodity; it certainly isn't "priceless", any more than a load of old scrap iron would be.

They don't scream in public..They scream at the railroad.
All loads are priceless to the end user that needs it for production.
Have a rail car ot truck not to show and listen to the production scheduler scream.
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
I guess I am just tired of the constant hyperbole and the overworked superlatives that are routinely applied to every single facet of our lives. We don't help the poor anymore - we "wage war" on poverty.

It isn't just a load of coal; it's a "priceless cargo".

Nothing is just plain big, large or huge anymore; it's either "gigantic", "humongous" or the "the mother of all (insert noun here)". Be sure to include the words "unimaginable" or "incredible" somewhere as well.

There are no simple collisions anymore - there are "crushing impacts".

No one has simply has a plain old job any longer; every single moment is tense and life threatening, even if it's video of a janitor who barely got his GED who is changing a lightbulb. Will the ladder slip? Will he stick his fonger in the socket? Will the bulb actually work after he has completely overloaded his one-cell brain by both screwing and unscrewing something during the same task? Does anyone know? Does anyone even remotely care?

Nothing just looks good or is a "nice job"; now it has to be "terrific", "fantastic", "incredible" or America's lousiest buzzword: "awesome". We have no words left to describe those accomplishments which are truly worthy of superlatives. The word "excellent" used to be the highest accolade one could receive, and we worked hard to get it. Now even a new necktie is "totally awesome, duuuude".

America - a land where superlatives have become so common they have reached the point where they are now meaningless, and a load of coal, one of the commonest commoditires in America, takes on the aspect of a hopper car full of diamonds. If coal is really a "priceless" cargo, then how can anyone afford to burn it, given the actual definition of the term "priceless"?

A car full of kids on a family outing is a priceless cargo. A load of coal is just a bunch of carbonized plant goo sold by the ton.
 

Fluesheet

Member
I guess I am just tired of the constant hyperbole and the overworked superlatives that are routinely applied to every single facet of our lives. We don't help the poor anymore - we "wage war" on poverty.

America - a land where superlatives have become so common they have reached the point where they are now meaningless

sign1 Get off my lawn! :p


(I actually agree with you, but the soapbox gave me a good chuckle! No offense intended!) <chuckle>
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
I guess I am just tired of the constant hyperbole and the overworked superlatives that are routinely applied to every single facet of our lives...
Yeah, it's hard not to agree with you. I've always had some disdain for there no longer being any movie stars, but only, "super-stars". We don't have baseball or football players, we now have "sports heroes"... Everyone and everything seems to elevated up a notch or two.

There are web sites that have some very common slang terms used by today's youth, we've all had our period of these, and I guess "awesome" probably isn't even on the list anymore, ratcheting things up yet another notch. I'm also guessing that America isn't the only country in the world to face this phenomenon.

That being said, to me, my kids and grandkids are priceless. To you they are just people. As Brakie said, to everyone that expects a commodity to keep their business running, even a load of coal can be considered priceless, even if its value has been long established. I would rather see someone describe a load of coal as "priceless", than a tackle for the Giants as a "hero" because he sacked the quarterback. Something that he gets paid handsomely to do...
.
 

tetters

Rail Spiking Fool!
I guess I am just tired of the constant hyperbole and the overworked superlatives that are routinely applied to every single facet of our lives. We don't help the poor anymore - we "wage war" on poverty.

It isn't just a load of coal; it's a "priceless cargo".

Nothing is just plain big, large or huge anymore; it's either "gigantic", "humongous" or the "the mother of all (insert noun here)". Be sure to include the words "unimaginable" or "incredible" somewhere as well.

There are no simple collisions anymore - there are "crushing impacts".

No one has simply has a plain old job any longer; every single moment is tense and life threatening, even if it's video of a janitor who barely got his GED who is changing a lightbulb. Will the ladder slip? Will he stick his fonger in the socket? Will the bulb actually work after he has completely overloaded his one-cell brain by both screwing and unscrewing something during the same task? Does anyone know? Does anyone even remotely care?

Nothing just looks good or is a "nice job"; now it has to be "terrific", "fantastic", "incredible" or America's lousiest buzzword: "awesome". We have no words left to describe those accomplishments which are truly worthy of superlatives. The word "excellent" used to be the highest accolade one could receive, and we worked hard to get it. Now even a new necktie is "totally awesome, duuuude".

America - a land where superlatives have become so common they have reached the point where they are now meaningless, and a load of coal, one of the commonest commoditires in America, takes on the aspect of a hopper car full of diamonds. If coal is really a "priceless" cargo, then how can anyone afford to burn it, given the actual definition of the term "priceless"?

A car full of kids on a family outing is a priceless cargo. A load of coal is just a bunch of carbonized plant goo sold by the ton.

Dude! This post was just AWESOME!!!


:mrgreen:
 

Mountain Man

Active Member
Yeah, it's hard not to agree with you. I've always had some disdain for there no longer being any movie stars, but only, "super-stars". We don't have baseball or football players, we now have "sports heroes"... Everyone and everything seems to elevated up a notch or two.

There are web sites that have some very common slang terms used by today's youth, we've all had our period of these, and I guess "awesome" probably isn't even on the list anymore, ratcheting things up yet another notch. I'm also guessing that America isn't the only country in the world to face this phenomenon.

That being said, to me, my kids and grandkids are priceless. To you they are just people. As Brakie said, to everyone that expects a commodity to keep their business running, even a load of coal can be considered priceless, even if its value has been long established. I would rather see someone describe a load of coal as "priceless", than a tackle for the Giants as a "hero" because he sacked the quarterback. Something that he gets paid handsomely to do...
.

You're leaping to conclusions. I spent my life practicing medicine, eight long and arduous years of it working with terminal AIDS patients. I understand your analogy, but it's wrong in my case. I value life above anything else, especially that of children, which is precisely why I worded my statement that way. Comparing the lives of children to a load of coal, however, borders on becoming an oxymoron. Beyond that, it's unfortunate that you can't see my point as easily as I see yours.

Hyperbole exists because we both accept it and encourage it; however, I was raised and edicated during a period in America when the English language was still regarded as something of a precision instrument, not a blunt weapon. The average vocabulary today for a European is around two thousand words. For an American, it's a mere eight hundred.

I hope you all enjoy your "special" - see "documentary" under "speaking Old English" - about delivering "priceless coal" - see "delivering valuable commodities", ibid.

I'm sure it will be "awesome" - see "informative" and "entertaining", ibid. :rolleyes:
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
MM -

Great posts (or are they awesome...? ;) ). Seriously good points.

My current peeve is not so much the superlatives and hyperbole, but the complete redefining of words, like "free"... I seem to recall this all got started when "medium" became small, and "large" became medium, and the new more-than-you'll-ever-need size became large.

My current favourite example is a local airline that offers the "option of a complementary beverage", but of course the option is only available on the higher priced tickets... hamr wall1

Andrew
 
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