The idea of using a 2000hp SD40-2 to stop two 4400hp AC4400CWs. 2000hp with DC traction motor vs. 8800hp with AC traction motor? Not happening. And why would go anywhere without tying the air brakes or why step out the cab? That was real smart.
You must have meant to type 3000horse power.
Remember, the movie said it was 5000hp!
In the real life situation the air brakes probably would not have worked since the cars were not hooked up to the lead engine, hence the angle cock would most likely have been open.
I know, combine the series with “Finding Bigfoot” TV show to make it more exciting.
Matt: hey Bobo did you hear that Bigfoot scream?
Bobo: no Matt, the locomotive is making too much noise.
5K HP!!! Wow; must be a WATCO rebuild!!
I thought sd40-2s were rated at only 2000hp. Thanks for the correction
SD-40’s and GP 40’s all varieties were 3000hp from EMD
I guess I’ll add my two cents! Since when would a locomotive engineer blow the whistle in an avalanche zone? TV drama! Since when does an engineer tell the conductor what to do? I thought the conductor was in charge of the train? Finally, why did a railroad ground foreman have to tell a low-boy truck driver and his helper how to move a high-centered load at a crossing and why does the anouncer continue to talk about a ‘sheet rock’ train when the packaging on some of the cars clearly had ‘Simpson Lumber’ written across the wrapper? The writiers and producers ought to at least get the obvious correct.
What’s wrong with letting your pre-conceived ideas and refusal to observe closely get in the way of reality?[}:)]
"Steam1800’s:
Having been a railroader for 38 years and worked mainly in the Operating Department, I know that some people are naturally born stupid! All railroad crossings have a crossing number and an emergency telephone number posted on that crossing. My guess is that the ARR police officer happened on that incident and quickly called the Anchorage Dispatcher to notify the train(s) in the area and dispatch a track department employee to help with the situation. Look at the many U-Tube videos of crossing accidents. When people are at a railroad crossing, they blank out reason. The BNSF emerency number is 1-800-832-5452. I a company make about 100 sticky labels for telephones at Northtown.
Ed Burns
Happily retired NP-BN-BNSF from Minneapolis and a commercial driver.
In today’s railroad, Conductor’s are the employees that have been hired off the street, given a ‘training program’, given several months of OJT and then anointed ‘Conductor’. Today’s Engineers were previously Conductors, they mostly had a year or more of actively working as a Conductor before they were, in seniority order, put into Engineers Training. After succesfully completing the Engineers training cirriculum that centers on the mechanical and air brake aspects of locomotive operation, the Engineer trainees are then given several months of OJT to become qualified on how to operate trains on the territories they will be working.
So while the Conductor is ‘in charge’ of the train - todays engineers are the ones that have the knowledge of what ‘in charge’ means and how to apply it in most instances.
There are still some ‘old head’ Conductors that have seniority dates that prevented them from being required to get promoted to an Engineer and those men are truly Conductor in the fullest meaning of the word.
Well, that solves it for me. Thank you!
What’s wrong with letting your pre-conceived ideas and refusal to observe closely get in the way of reality?[}:)]
Must be the same production outfit that does “ice Road Truckers” as every shot of a truck passing by has the sound of a air horn.
I watch and enjoy Alaska Railroad, and watch it as entertainment and not as a documentary, same as with Ice Road truckers, Ax Man, Highway thru Hell, and many other shoes of that nature. For doocumentaries, I watch the PBS stations.
Don’t ya just love how the off gridders panic when they are “alone” and something breaks? ’ If I can’t get this running I’ll miss the train’. I guess the cameras are there alone, self propelled or something.
I quit watching Alaska Railroad after seeing the episode where a car suddenly appeared on the tracks. No sign of wheel tracks in the snow and the state of the car made it extemely unlikely that it could even move under its own power, so it was probably dropped into place by helicopter. That and the inane comments from the crew - presumably they are real railroaders but their conversations are obviously scripted and so unreal.
A pity really as this show could have been really interesting had the producers been a lot more realistic with their weekly scenarios.
But I did find it fascinating that the AAR has at least one specialty hi-rail truck that is used to supply off-grid residents with heavy materials right to their trail head.
You guys seem to think that the show is about the railroad. Like several other “reality” shows, it is about Alaska. Ever since the former governor was selected to join the political circus, there has been a strange fascination with that frozen wilderness state. When I see the residents featured in most of those shows I can’t help but wonder from who or what they are hiding.
The randomly abandoned car that happened to be in the path of the large digger was my last strike.
I was wondering about some of the folks they were showing as well, maybe we will see some of them again on a new show called “Alaska Fugitive Hunters” or something like that.
The make it quick and make it cheap production of some of these shows doesn’t lend itself to be a Ken Burns quality documentary of railroading in Alaska.
Oh well … maybe Trains will launch a 24/7 channel with nothing but head-end mounted cameras with scanner feeds!
For some reason, Alaska attracts a fair number of characters that can’t or won’t fit in with a modern urban society. The Tina Fey lookalike may just be a more visible member of this subculture.
As I composed my last post I struggles with how to point out her involvement in the sudden fascination with Alaska without launching a political tangent.
On the accuracy of the shows: One of the “hillbillies” living off the land in the hills of NC is actually a college educated school teacher and I have seen the “before” picture of the Duck Dynasty cast…
There is nothing real about reality TV shows.