I saw the episode of “Dirty Jobs” with the locomotives a few days ago. I believe it had been discussed here. I like the show but have to say this one went nowhere. Seems like they spent way too much time at the beginning cleaning the muck off that plate, and never even said what it was for. Plus they really didn’t show much of anything. The part repairing the engine was all right, though I got the idea that they shouldn’t have let him guide it along since he seemed unsure. I guess it wasn’t what I was expecting. I’m sure a lot of people enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again.
Well, if you were expecting a tour of MPI, you would have been disappointed. But cleaning the engine crankcases and scraping (or dumping) the steel filings off those plates were undoubtedly the dirtiest aspects of the job (along with the shot-blasting, also shown). I actually think that painting, though done in clean conditions, would also qualify. They lived up to what you’d expect from a show on dirty jobs (and I never watch the show, but tuned into it for the railroad angle).
If they had shown painting it would have given a little more idea as to what went on. But you are right, they basically got the dirty part through.
As people pointed out in the older thread about the show it is NOT a documentary about the manufacturing processes of the industries it features so I had no expectation that it was going to be like a Pentrax DVD or even (dare I mention the name…) EXTREME TRAINS…DIRTY JOBS “is what it is” to use an overused phrase…
Dirty Jobs is a show about Mike Rowe (and his production/camera crew) doing various chores, the odder and/or dirtier (e.g. leather hide preperation, alpaca shearing, leech farming) the better - most important there must be some humor angle, one or more chances for Mike to make a fool of himself (or even better, Dave Barsky to make a fool of himself). The best scenario is when the normal workers dealing with Mike give back as good as they get in terms of job-related repartee; in addition, fire, sparks, big machines, sewage, dead cows and live pigs are all big pluses for the shows. And Mike looking utterly lost on a job (or acting like a little kid playing w/ a big machine) is the perferred shot. So this episode delivered exactly what they wanted…and to quote the Mystery Science 3000 love them 'Then repeat to yourself ‘It’s just a show, I should really just relax.’
Besides, the ‘railroad’ based segment a few seasons back where Mike had to replace a few ties on a shortline while the regular track crew just watched was much more boring.