David P. Morgan–how many of you remember the pictures that had been recaptioned “David P. WHO wants to ride this engine?”? The two that stick in my mind are the one in which the engineer is talking on his radiophone and the one in which men with six-guns are ready to fend the Trains editor off.
since a couple of folks have mentioned photoshop here, I’d like to remind everybody that one possible defense is “that’s not me in those hundreds of cab ride pictures, they must have been computer altered.”
It’s a cut above a lot of the awful photochop jobs I’ve seen, but this one is still definately instantly recognizable as a chop job. Even in the small thumbnail version, it’s easy to see that the white balance of the lighting on the young lady doesn’t match the rest of the shot. Bringing up the bigger version shows a lot of other flaws, too.
I concur that the lighting doesn’t match; the contrast in the model is higher than the rest of the scene, and her key light is coming from about 40 degrees above the lens axis, while there is no corresponding shadow behind her.
On the other hand, it looks like there was some skillful application of the Liquify Tool to morph her feet and legs to uncomfortably match the rocks she is standing on. This one is definitely a cut above the average chopper, though.
BTW, the Liquify Tool is a great way to control those pesky little fat bulges and double chins that show up from time to time.
I don’t see anything about that photo that suggests that it has been doctored. She seems intrusive to the rest of the scene, because she is. Even that guy on the engine thinks so.
DITTO!
As an old editor of mine once said: put pictures of babe’s, babies,and animals on the front page and you can distract anyone from the news. So here we are debating the Photoshopping of a bikini clad lass rather than addressing a juvenile and his attending juvenile actions and engineers and their ignoring of rules in favor of sharing thier trade.
So, my take: She looks too young…especially for David P. Whatshisname. But my question is why did the train stop? Did she wave?
Picture doesn’t look natural to me, she’s up there on those rocks barefoot, it doesn’t appear like it would be easy to get up there barefoot, dressed in a bikini, no less. Man standing on the engine is dressed warmly, individual visible in the background has long sleeves on, we’ve no idea where this is, do we? As for distraction, what can you say. The subject can be talked to death by all of us but none of us were there, it’s all hearsay, innuendo, and speculation on our parts. The engineers shouldn’t have let the juvenile into the cab and the juvenile should have learned from the mistakes of others who have also posted on Facebook and the like, much to their chagrin later.
[8D]
I don’t get these Forums sometimes. You can’t say “damn” but it’s okay to show butt floss? - a.s.
Now that could cause an engineer to miss a stop signal [:-^].
Anyway, running a switch engine in a yard or a local on a branch line is one thing. Running a loaded commuter train on a main line is another! Real smart.
If it had been me no way would i have posted photos or even mentioned it (until about maybe 40 years later[swg]). I’ve been in an engine cab on a stopped train twice, (and a couple dozen times in the cabs of ones parked at Topeka’s Railroad Days[swg]). And my only cab ride was a paid for (3.00$) one on the Midland RR excursion in 1999 (back and forth a couple times in an NW-2, about a 400’ trip each move).
Are there any archives of the pics the kid took or his myspace page? According to this:
his page no longer exists, though it has cached a picture of a loco. I’m curious what the pics were that caused all the trouble. And back in the day, would the railroads have complained about cab rides? I know of quite a few older guys who got numerous cab rides, even back in teh steam era, and they weren’t even railfans! These days, you hit the lottery if you get a cab ride! Why such a huge change? Sure, the lawyers helped ruin it for everyone, but still, something major had to change. As for him operating the train, I am a bit uncomfortable about that with a passenger train flying along, without him being experienced, even if the engineer was right there with him. Now running freight locos plodding along at low speeds if a different story IMO, and I’d guess that’s the kind of thing most people that got to run the locos were doing (yes, some even got to run them). Why are railroads having such huge problems with this now?
And what about job shadowing? I’d think letting highschoolers in teh cab for a day to watch the train crews work would be a great way to introduce them to the lifestyle, let them know what the work is like, and encourage those that might be considering a career in it. Why don’t railroads do this?
One word answers all your questions: LIABILITY.
You allow someone on your engine, then you derail and he gets hurt. You get sued. You invite someone for a cabride and they slip and fall on the steps climbing on. You get sued.
Yes, that’s the way it is now, because people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions.
This is the way it should be: you ask to ride an engine, and you are hurt. If you had not asked to ride, you would not have been hurt: YOU are responsible for your being hurt because you put yourself into a dangerous place. You climb to the top of a car that is sitting under catenary, and you are, at best, burned: YOU are responsible for the damage.
Latest on the story: the engineer involved has resigned. According to what I read, he will no longer be investigated by Metra, but may still have Fedral fines. He will be able to collect Railroad Retirement.
I must be missing something – did it come down to just one engineer’s performance?
Because the news reports mention three engineers. - a.s.
The Tribune article you cited when originating this thread read, in part:
A Metra engineer is under investigation for permitting the 18-year-old to drive trains, and he and two other two trainmen have been suspended for allegedly allowing the teen to enter locomotive cabs, according to a report filed recently with the Federal Railroad Administration.
I would assume the first engineer is the one referred to.
Here’s a link to the story I saw today:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=44494
Take the last paragraph with a grain of salt: I doubt that his pension will be anything near the amount cited–more likely that’s his annual pay rate.
Times have certainly changed, especially with the ambulance chasers out to get a large chunk of the damages that juries award.
I am glad that my cab rides and other experiences with hands-on railroading came before the day of blaming the railroads for any troubles. Most of my experiences came through knowing the railroad men involved, though my first cab ride came with the blessing a man I never met–the then superintendent of the IC’s Tennessee Division, who gave me permission, after I had asked for it, to ride the engine of the City of New Orleans from Memphis to Grenada 43 years ago. I had also asked the superintendent of the Louisiana Division about riding the engine from Canton to McComb, and he said that it was not done. Until I could no longer distinguish between a whistle post and mile post (same size and shape), I handled the air horn.
That December, I had an invitation from a SAL engineer to ride in the cab of his new “motor,” as the SAL called its engines. On my way from Birmingham to Monroe, N. C. On #6, I stepped off at Athens, Ga., and walked up to the head end. The engineer invited me up, and while I was in the cab invited me to ride with him. I declined, not wanting him to get into any trouble.
In the spring of 1969, right after the Southern abolished the Pelican south of York, Alabama, I rode from Tuscaloosa to York and back to Tuscaloosa just to make the turn around. I boarded in Birmingham, where the train had been made up (if you had come in from the northeast and were continuing on south of Birmingham, you had to change because there was no passenger servicing facility in York) and the conductor (who knew me) expected me to get off in Tuscaloosa. When I told him what I was going to do, he refused to take my Tuscaloosa-York-Tuscaloosa ticket. While we were waiting in York for time to go, I asked him about riding the engine, and he took me up, spoke to the engineer–and I rode back to Tuscaloosa with the engine crew. When we arrived, I got off on the sid