Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Thrilmere is one of my favorite places (I likewise agree 3801 = best train in Aust) and I love lurking around Valley Heights Rail museum. There's a big rear end Garrett under cover at Thrilmere that is awesome to climb over, plus a whole bunch of rail stock.

Also over Christmas, got to have a ride on Puffing Billy in Victoria, which is an operational narrow guage railway. Seeing the Garrett they have there was awesome

Trains absolutely fascinate me - so much so of course I'm building up a model railroad

# ¿ Mar 7, 2011 10:41

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:07

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

http://alliancemotorsport.org/gallery/v/Marcus/Personal/PuffingBilly/

Bunch of photos from Puffing Billy that are mine

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 11:31

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Road_Warrior posted:

Have they switched to using concrete sleepers in NSW now? That's all they use here in Wait Awhile (on the metro passenger lines anyway)

While that's not in NSW, yes almost all lines are either converted or in conversion process to concrete sleepers in NSW

# ¿ Mar 16, 2011 11:04

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Armacham posted:

Stephenson's Rocket replica

This is the real thing

Which surprised the poo poo out of me when I saw it in London, I honestly didnt think it would have been preserved in any form.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2011 11:31

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

nm posted:

That is a pretty typical practice.
Railroads lose these suits a lot. They offer what seems like a lot of money with an agreement not to sue.
It works exactly like a car accident with injury where you get a seemingly huge amount that doesn't actually cover your long term care numbers.

Railroads always want to settle in cases that aren't clearly someone going around the gate. It is reallyg hard to argue to a jury that not having a gate or at least lights (or worse a broken gate) isn't negligent at this point.

Jurys in this area are pure 100% loving stupid. It's a goddamn train track, trains can not stop, they cant swerve and if you are too stupid to not to look then you stand a good chance of being splattered. PLus trains are big noisy things that are not that hard to see at all.

It truly is mind blowing someone could stand up and say it's someone else's fault if you cross tracks and you get belted.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 11:21

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Sponge! posted:

Especially when the fucker is honking the horn as per protocol.

And lets face it even if it wasnt protocol - ANY awake train driver is going to be on the horn and leaning on it big time as they sure as hell dont want to hit a car or people if they see it coming.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 11:49

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Geoj posted:

I'll ask again; if the onus for safety around trains is completely on the potential victim then why don't we just give the railroads blanket immunity from any and all litigation?

No, you tell US exactly when it's not your fault if you get belted by 1000 tons of very big, very obvious, very noisy and very obvious metal if you are crossing the tracks?

quote:

Are you saying that none of those conditions could have factored into his demise?

He didnt LOOK, that's what caused his death - if he had done that he would have lived. You cross a track under any circumstance, you check. Basic common sense.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2011 05:40

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Geoj posted:

I thought trouser chili made a good point -

So did he stop and look? Obviously not else he would be alive today.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2011 09:18

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

BlackShadow posted:

Looking at that map further, I note it's not far from Bold St, where the Granville rail disaster occurred. Any chance that the fact that this was designed as a level crossing was influenced by that particular event?

No. The Carlingford line predates any development in the area by some margin and also the Granville disaster - in fact there used to be many more lines that crisscrossed Parramatta Road towards Auburn near the present Boral site. In fact there was three major crossings in the area before James Ruse Drive was built - all at the race course where you crossed the line twice and another nearby

It's been long talked about how to get rid of the crossing on Parramatta Road, but the cost verses any real benefit has always won - it would cost many multi millions and is not an easy engineering solution, given the nearby Duck Creek and other developments around the area. The Carlingford line is a quiet track so there's not much train traffic. Plus, there is a speed lmit of 20kph which means anyone stupid enough to try to beat the train is very, very likely to do it - and anyone stuck on the track is seen well in time for a train to stop. So there's not a lot of motivation

The other level crossings in Sydney are on the Richmond line past Riverstone - which are long straights with good visibility and dickheads who try to beat a train going at 110 kph

# ¿ Jun 8, 2011 05:05

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Can someone enlighten what a foamer is?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 11:59

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw

Victoria Metro's new rail safety campaign is...... pretty drat catchy.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2012 11:02

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Zeether posted:

Can we talk about how badass funiculars are?

This one operates in Naples, Italy and is a part of the metro system there. I always thought funiculars were just for sightseeing but the fact that commuter ones exist owns so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILjt1hFpRtE

How about this one?

Cygni posted:

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/19/20090374-driver-beaten-by-angry-mob-after-train-kills-37-pilgrims-in-india?lite

~*India*~

Oh holy poo poo, the stupidity in that story is astounding

# ¿ Aug 21, 2013 12:34

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Erwin posted:

Wow, only Wikipedia editors would call a glorified stair chair a railway.

Only Wikipedia would be dumb enough to even make a note of it.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 00:37

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Axeman Jim, your posts have been facinating to read. What an utter shitstorm

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 02:09

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

drunkill posted:

And yeah, gently caress Sydney. Melbourne had Australias first trains and they had to be special and use a different gauge thus splitting the nation for the next 150 years.

1831, Newcastle.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 00:49

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

SybilVimes posted:

People have been taught for 70 years to not question authority, and to do what authority tells them to do. The barriers are pretty much pure authority, and people believe you do NOT cross the barriers, ever.

People have also been taught that barriers coming down means a train is coming and to get the gently caress out of the way. Anyone that thinks they shouldnt cross a barrier while in a train track is being stupid beyond reason. Anyone with half a functioning brain cell would do one of two things - a, abandon car and run for it or b, engage first gear and floor it, smash the barrier. They are designed to allow a trapped car to break through.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 21:16

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Vaporware posted:

Yeah but at the same time, I pass a level crossing that is regularly parked on in rush hour traffic. Apparently waiting to cross the tracks until you have room to stop on the other side is not the common sense approach? I see people pull onto the tracks and stop regularly.

I suppose being forced to watch the Clarkson PSA hundreds of times by my son imprinted me (ITS TOAST), but I get uncomfortable even being in the first couple cars when the arm comes down.

Waiting on train tracks is literally evidence said driver is not intelligent enough to drive and should have driving privileges revoked immediately.

Also, is it not illegal anyway? Sounds like easy citations for a cop to set up to do.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2015 00:02

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Axeman Jim posted:

Crap British Trains - The British Rail Class 58

These effort posts are amazing.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 11:11

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

JuffoWup posted:

Here is their video on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghWi4UHZzow

I guess I should have linked it back then, but didn't think anything of it. Or maybe it was posted before and I don't remember. Either way, there you go.

I cant see Japan doing rail any cheaper than the USA. So ummmm..... seriously? They couldnt source what they wanted in the USA??!?!?! That just sounds so unlikely.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2015 11:15

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Slung Blade posted:

Historic level flooding? Or was construction cheaping out on culvert sizing?

300mm in a day, rivers gaining meters of height in minutes..... I'm surprised any rail existed afterwards.

# ¿ May 13, 2015 01:47

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

About the only crap trains I could add for NSW is how the newer trains - the Millenium and Waratahs - were for some time just not allowed onto steeper sections of the network due to being not powerful enough so they had to push the old unairconditioned Tullochs back into service... which also were banned in some places like North Ryde as the db levels in the tunnels were too high.

And I suppose the otherwise fairly successful V-sets being still in use despite approaching 40 years old with no replacement due to the tunnels on the Interurban lines being too narrow for the wide rolling stock NSW likes to use now isn't technically crap trains. Is the fact the signalling systems are all approaching / over 100 years old due to the fact they need to be compatible with steam trains crap trains or just stupidity?

TBH, the biggest problem with Sydney rail is that there is a embedded culture of heavy double decker rollingstock for passenger trains, rather than lighter, faster accelerating single level metro style. The entire rail system is built to cope with much heavier trains than standard passenger services elsewhere and the things like the rail density shows - A Waratah trainset is a 8 carriage double deck with all the bells and whistles but it's a big heavy oval office of a thing that takes a while to get up to speed and to stop as well, requiring rails suited to freight trains and wider sectors. One of the other reasons why it's a bigger and heavier bastard is the fact NSW requires a higher speed crash rating - as I understand something like 20kph faster than any other single level trainstock. So you have these big double deck monsters with all sort of electronics that go wrong in them, nearly twice the passengers per carriage AND unusually high crash safety requirements, they just become lumbering beasts (400 TON per empty trainset) that should be for long express services, rather than stopping all stations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Trains_A_set

Admittedly, once the gremlins were sorted the Waratahs have turned out to be a very good, albeit loving heavy train.

We have a bunch of the British Class 43 HST that were modified fairly well for Aust conditions and the Xplorer railcar....... which now I think about it, the Xplorers could be worth a crap trains post.Those things just do not work well in summer at all

# ¿ Feb 4, 2016 23:55

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Axeman Jim delivers again.

Just a quick one, is it possible for variety's sake you document a successful British train just to show how in all this incompetence they could get something right?

In Aussieland, they got one of these mosters going again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHPODZfB3Kg

http://www.australiansteam.com/6029.htm

I've only climbed over the preserved one they have at Thirlmere, I would love to see it in action.

# ¿ May 12, 2016 13:43

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Brick Dust Otis posted:

Because it looks dope as poo poo?

That and maaaaybe also they left them open to deal with what would be seriously cold for Australia? Junee / Goulburn would be -5C to -6C on that weekend in the morning so ... dunno?

# ¿ May 13, 2016 12:28

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

BalloonFish posted:

As I understand it the main reason why the HST (I'm actually posting from a GWR HST, on Brunel's main line to Bristol) is such a rare success amongst BR trains is that it was a 'Plan B' to the Advanced Passenger Train. The APT was sexily fast and high tech and so attracted all the usual political interference from both within BR and outside it - constantly changing parameters, trying to do too much with too little, rushed development time, people defending their own little fiefdoms and government pressure to give the media good stories.

The HST was, if I remember correctly, viewed as low-tech, low-prestige and far too conventional and unambitious so it got almost no interest from anyone within BR or elsewhere. Which meant the designers could actually so their job and take their time. When the APT was, inevitably, canned the HST was ready to take over and it actually worked.

,
NSW got a bunch of HST knockoffs (The XPT) they are slightly shorter, started out with detuned Paxman Valenta, converted to Paxman VP185's. They also been downgeared to have a service speed of 160kph, max 190kph, also modded ot deal ith shittier rail and hotter, dustier conditions - also likewise, they have been very successful trains. They now run all the Interstate passenger services on the east coast.

Also like the HST's only now been talked about to be replaced. By the time they are replaced, they will be over 40 years old and still being about the best trains in hte fleet.

# ¿ May 14, 2016 13:41

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Axeman Jim posted:

along with the appeal of Transvision Vamp

Wendy James was at the time very fuckable. No mystery there mate!

# ¿ May 19, 2016 11:50

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

How the gently caress did they ever come up with something as good as the HST?????

# ¿ Jan 4, 2017 02:35

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Even the Non Crap British trains shows up just how bad BR truly is. Bravo Axeman, well written and informative as always

# ¿ Jan 6, 2017 03:04

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Pigsfeet on Rye posted:

Why not just remove all the at-grade crossings everywhere and rebuild them as over- or underpasses? This would truly lead to a job explosion.

Why not just build a wall at all crossings?

# ¿ Jan 26, 2017 03:13

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

wilfredmerriweathr posted:

One of my greatest regrets in life is that I will never see a saturn v fire.

While that would be something, I believe the Space Shuttle would have been a more impressive experience. Just the visuals caused by the SRB's would have been something.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2017 03:14

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Is there any reason why the USA still uses wooden ties? I thought concrete was pretty much the standard every rail was moving to?

# ¿ Jan 9, 2019 01:59

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

drunkill posted:

Crossquotin' rail insanity

Hands up if ou saw that coming.

Wow thats a lot of hands

# ¿ Sep 26, 2019 20:15

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Megillah Gorilla posted:

One of those time when you wish you could reach through the internet and just loving smack someone.

Thankfully, the train did it for me.

JFC the stupidity on display is astounding.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2020 10:37

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Train driver in Victoria filed this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTImMyJo0-M

# ¿ Dec 20, 2020 09:58

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

CrazyOldGuy posted:

Oh noes

Multi track drifting doesnt work in real life I guess?

# ¿ Apr 20, 2021 12:33

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

.... ooookay thats enough internet for me today

# ¿ Jun 22, 2021 10:57

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

JuffoWup posted:

How to fire up a coal fired loco. Specifically the Denver & Rio Grande Western 491.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nyt1lB5tP8

I just watched a guy talking about / showing firing a loco for an hour and was surprisingly highly entertained.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2022 09:25

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

There is that or ya'll more than welcome to talk about model trains here too

# ¿ Apr 13, 2023 08:13

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUYzuAJeg3M

A self balancing monorail/train that is rankly amaing

# ¿ Dec 24, 2023 21:07

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Pigsfeet on Rye posted:

�Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist� doesn�t have the same ring.

Posters need to report good thread title suggestions in threads like this where a mod might only wander in every month or so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCc839UL8po

This one might interest and def not something you will see everyday

# ¿ Feb 5, 2024 21:17

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:07

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Pigsfeet on Rye posted:

X-post from the comics megathread! Just look at all the optimism for the future of railroading ! The great railroad meltdown was gathering momentum but nobody realized it yet.

For once futurist got it 100% right and ATO4 like the latest Metros are fantastic

# ¿ Mar 26, 2024 03:15

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Locomotive Insanity: Murder on the BNSF Mixed Consist doesnt have the same ring to it