Brother Jonathan posted:

Ah. Thanks for the correction. I wish I could read German to find out more about how that happened. Nothing seems to be available in English.


I was weighing two possibilities: One, this was the most detailed model train I had ever seen, and two, a train jumped a buffer with enough speed to travel 170 meters down a road. I just can't get my mind around the second one!

Stairmaster posted:

America Needs More Trains.

Associated Press posted:

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. train horns can deliver an ear-splitting jolt to drivers sitting in traffic or people drifting off to sleep at home, but on Thursday, they’ll be put to another use.

At 3 p.m. EDT, trains across the U.S. will sound their horns to honor the transportation employees who are considered essential workers during the coronavirus crisis.

Amtrak trains, along with regional partner trains across the U.S., plan to give two blasts of their horns in a toot to transportation workers, as well as health care workers, first-responders, child care workers, grocery store employees and other workers providing essential services during the pandemic.

“Every hero deserves to be recognized and thanked for their courage, selflessness and the help they are providing to this country during this time,” Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s chief operating and commercial officer, said in a statement.

CLAM DOWN posted:

I love your avatar.

BalloonFish posted:

The first diesel to appear in the books was a BR standard shunter, imaginatively called Diesel. Since shunting was Duck's job he was told to show Diesel around and introduce him to the Sodor trucks and their ways. Duck immediately dislikes Diesel on principle, thrn rapidly gets tired of him always boasting about how much better he is than the steam locos (an irony that Duck doesn't recognise and I doubt was deliberate on Awdry's part...) and fucks off without teaching Diesel anything. Diesel makes an honest but ineffective attempt to shunt the trucks (because Duck didn't help him) and is made a laughing stock. In revenge he starts a chain of rumours and gets all the other engines to turn on Duck before he is found out and sent away in disgrace.

Duck and Diesel both behave like massive assholes but only one of them is a prejudiced rear end in a top hat...but they're not the one made out to be the bad guy.

There's a later story where another diesel loco turns up and is also shunned and bullied by the Sodor locos...until he proves himself. I'm sure they literally call him 'one of the good ones.'

And that's without getting into all the symbolism of how the trucks (which carry the revenue-earning freight but have no agency) all speak in British working class dialects, are always being difficult and need a firm, controlling hand from their betters...and the two which agitate for change in the existing order get literally destroyed - one by being pulled in half and the other deliberately crushed.

The underlying politics of the Railway Series (and the Rev. Awdry) are really lovely once you start looking around/behind the stories.

Stairmaster posted:

shocked at this threads silence re: the derailment in ohio

kathmandu posted:

Do it! Post about it, too!

Got a particular era, railroad, region in mind?

Tex Avery posted:

If you're serious, it's actually nothing to be concerned about. Power sharing is a thing that all of these Class 1 railroads do. Sometimes it's cheaper and more efficient to build a train on the BNSF in California and run it all the way to New York without having to stop to change out the locomotives once the train gets to, say, the first CSX railroad yard it passes. Just keep fueling the motors and keep rolling! The railroads all keep track of these power swaps and then bill each other for the time it was on another railroad.

Kingtheninja posted:

Is this the thread to ask about amtrak routes? I'm thinking about taking my dad on a round trip from Chicago to DC next year. I was hoping to take the cardinal one way and the cap limited another, but not sure which direction for which route has the better views if anyone knows.

Delta-P posted:

The SD70s will only stay on the Milwaukee district due to maximum bridge weight requirements on the other districts, or certain unnamed shops not wanting to bother with new units.

Sash! posted:

The bell is required by Federal law for any train moving near persons on the road ground in the vicinity. Basically the same thing as the backup beep on a truck.

Sash! posted:

On the other hand, I've heard Amtrak crews turn on the bell going past a low level platform they're not stopping at. It is easier for someone to foul from a low level platform.

Log082 posted:

Pigsfeet on Rye posted:

I've heard that Andorra is the Alabama of Europe