Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 21
  1. #1
    Mij Adyaw
    Guest

    That is not always true. Earlier this year, an idiot parked an SUV on the
    tracks in an attempt to commit suicide. At the last minute the coward
    decided that he did not want to commit suicide and got out of the SUV and
    left the SUV on the tracks. The train hit the SUV and derailed killing many
    people.

    I believe that the companies that own the trains should issue a statement
    that if you want to commit suicide by train, simply lay your body on the
    tracks rather than parking a vehicle on the tracks. This will accomplish the
    desired result without the potential of causing a derailment. This
    information should be posted in all train stations so that it becomes common
    knowledge.


    >>When ANY train meets a car the train always wins.

    >
    > But Conrail, specifically lost the big battle.
    >
    > Oh and thanks to David S, I have now wasted more time today reading
    > his rotating sigs. 8-)






    See More: Can you use cell phones on trains?




  2. #2
    Steve Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Mij Adyaw wrote:
    > That is not always true. Earlier this year, an idiot parked an SUV on the
    > tracks in an attempt to commit suicide. At the last minute the coward
    > decided that he did not want to commit suicide and got out of the SUV and
    > left the SUV on the tracks. The train hit the SUV and derailed killing many
    > people.


    That wasn't a big freight train, if I recall correctly. That was a Los
    Angeles MetroLink commuter train. Nowhere near as large.

    Back in my hometown, the Greater Cleveland RTA runs four commuter rail
    routes. Three of those routes run light rail vehicles. There have been a
    couple people who have hit the trains and totaled their cars, but haven't
    killed anyone.

    --
    Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
    Company website: http://JustThe.net/
    Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
    E: [email protected] Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307



  3. #3
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Steve Sobol wrote:
    >
    > That wasn't a big freight train, if I recall correctly.
    > That was a Los Angeles MetroLink commuter train. Nowhere
    > near as large.
    >
    > Back in my hometown, the Greater Cleveland RTA runs four
    > commuter rail routes. Three of those routes run light
    > rail vehicles. There have been a couple people who have
    > hit the trains and totaled their cars, but haven't killed
    > anyone.


    I used to live in Michigan and the line from NY City to Chicago
    (Century Limited) ran through our back yard. Those things take
    at least 5 to 10 miles to stop.

    My father was a train buff and somehow managed to get me
    a ride in the engine to Chicago and back. They stopped behind
    the house, picked me up, we went to Chicago where they switched
    crews and they brought me back and dropped me off at the back
    yard again.

    -Quick





  4. #4
    DecTxCowboy
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Quick wrote:
    > I used to live in Michigan and the line from NY City to Chicago
    > (Century Limited) ran through our back yard. Those things take
    > at least 5 to 10 miles to stop.


    They don't stop fast. Texas Railroad Commission figures a mile or more
    for a 6,0000 ton train or 100 cars doing 55 mph doing a emergency stop.

    So 5 miles is reasonable for a "gosh darn it" stop compared to an "oh
    ****!" stop



  5. #5
    Steve Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Quick wrote:

    > I used to live in Michigan and the line from NY City to Chicago
    > (Century Limited) ran through our back yard. Those things take
    > at least 5 to 10 miles to stop.


    But again, that's Amtrak, not commuter rail. Much bigger cars.


    --
    Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
    Company website: http://JustThe.net/
    Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
    E: [email protected] Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307



  6. #6
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Steve Sobol wrote:
    > Quick wrote:
    >
    >> I used to live in Michigan and the line from NY City to
    >> Chicago (Century Limited) ran through our back yard.
    >> Those things take at least 5 to 10 miles to stop.

    >
    > But again, that's Amtrak, not commuter rail. Much bigger
    > cars.


    O... this was way before Amtrak... Before the railroads sold
    the classic equipment to the Mexican railroad. What I rode
    in was a freight engine.

    By the way, the difference between a freight engine and a
    passenger engine is that the passenger engine is equiped
    to supply steam (primarily for heating) where a freight engine
    is not. If you happened to own your own private railroad car
    you used to be able go from here to there for 18 coach fares
    and a switching charge on each end.

    My father fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams by putting in a
    blind bid for an observation car when they had the big sell off.
    Being a college prof he was not really a "man of means". He
    figured scrap value to be somewhere around $15K and put in
    a bid for that. Won it. 4 suites, porter's room, silver service,
    bedding, linens, curtains, paintings, furniture. Back third was
    the observation lounge with wet bar. Paid to put in 100 ft. of
    track at the local grain elevator and they let him hook up to
    water, sewage, and electric for free. They use something like
    10 or 12 34V batteries, each the size of a footlocker. Wrangled
    some deal with a salvage yard for the price of hauling them and
    we had a garage full of them. Switching charge, nominal fee
    to haul it to Columbus OH (nearest passenger service), switching
    charge, 18 fares to Ann Arbor for the OSU Michigan game...
    25 to 30 people and it was about $50 a head including the
    snacks and liquour. Yee-haw in style.

    -Quick





  7. #7
    David S
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:15:36 GMT, "Quick" <[email protected]>
    chose to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and
    everything:

    >By the way, the difference between a freight engine and a
    >passenger engine is that the passenger engine is equiped
    >to supply steam (primarily for heating) where a freight engine


    Amtrak converted its fleet to head end power in the late '70s. Instead of
    steam, the engine provides electricity (480V 3-phase), which runs the heat,
    air conditioning, lights, stove in the dining car, everything. This has the
    advantage that lights and ventilation do not depend on batteries when
    standing still; also, steam lines had a nasty habit of freezing in the
    winter. This is why most of their locomotives for more than 20 years ran at
    full throttle (and full noise) even when standing still. The F40PH types
    ran the HEP generator off of the main engine crankshaft. The newer ones
    they started getting in the late '90s have, IIRC, a more sophisticated
    arrangement so that the engine has to run at somewhere above idle but less
    than full throttle when standing still. Some commuter railroads do it one
    of these ways, while others simply use a separate engine/generator set in
    the back end of the locomotive for the HEP. I don't think anybody in North
    America uses steam any more (even the steam excursion trains have HEP
    generators somewhere in the train).

    >is not. If you happened to own your own private railroad car
    >you used to be able go from here to there for 18 coach fares
    >and a switching charge on each end.


    Now it's a per mile charge plus switching charges. This fee was recently
    raised by some bureaucrat who thought it would be a good way to increase
    revenue and didn't realize that he was pricing most of the car owners out
    of the market, thus actually decreasing revenue.

    >My father fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams by putting in a
    >blind bid for an observation car when they had the big sell off.
    >Being a college prof he was not really a "man of means". He
    >figured scrap value to be somewhere around $15K and put in
    >a bid for that. Won it. 4 suites, porter's room, silver service,
    >bedding, linens, curtains, paintings, furniture. Back third was
    >the observation lounge with wet bar.


    From what railroad?

    --
    David Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry
    http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
    Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
    Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
    "The subliminal part of the movie is that it's always moving toward death."
    - Director Sam Mendes, on his film 'American Beauty'




  8. #8
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    David S wrote:
    >
    > From what railroad?


    Doh... I've been thinking about exactly that, all day
    since I started to write/remember that. This was
    more than 30? years ago. I really should be able
    to remember that. I can't remember which railroad
    or which train it came from. I have a very vague
    recollection of 5 or 6 railroads and partial names
    of 2 or three famous trains. It was from one of the
    more notable trains. I can't even remember which
    part of the country it ran... I wonder
    if this means I'm on my way out? Was it the
    Twentieth Century Limited that ran from NY to
    Chicago? The Twilight that ran up and down the
    West coast? There was one that ran over the
    rockies and one that went from the midwest into
    the South. I think it was a newer car (relatively
    speaking) as it was solid unpainted stainless on
    the outside. It was the end car, rounded in the
    back where the lounge was. Maybe I'll eventually
    visualize the logo on the silver service.

    sigh.... I feel sooo old,
    -Quick





  9. #9
    David S
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:00:50 GMT, "Quick" <[email protected]>
    chose to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and
    everything:

    >David S wrote:
    >>
    >> From what railroad?

    >
    >Doh... I've been thinking about exactly that, all day
    >since I started to write/remember that. This was
    >more than 30? years ago. I really should be able
    >to remember that. I can't remember which railroad
    >or which train it came from. I have a very vague
    >recollection of 5 or 6 railroads and partial names
    >of 2 or three famous trains. It was from one of the
    >more notable trains. I can't even remember which
    >part of the country it ran... I wonder
    >if this means I'm on my way out? Was it the
    >Twentieth Century Limited that ran from NY to
    >Chicago? The Twilight that ran up and down the
    >West coast? There was one that ran over the
    >rockies and one that went from the midwest into
    >the South. I think it was a newer car (relatively
    >speaking) as it was solid unpainted stainless on
    >the outside. It was the end car, rounded in the
    >back where the lounge was. Maybe I'll eventually
    >visualize the logo on the silver service.
    >
    >sigh.... I feel sooo old,


    Did it have a dome? If not, it was probably from an eastern road (older
    construction, lower tunnel clearances). Plain stainless wouldn't be from
    the 20th Century, but it could be from another New York Central train. (The
    Pennsylvania's flagship train NY-CHI was the Broadway Limited, but it
    wouldn't be that either.) There are a lot of other possibilities.

    There were more than one train on each of the routes you mention. Chicago
    to San Francisco area, the California Zephyr ran on the Burlington to
    Denver, the Rio Grande to Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific to Oakland,
    while the City of San Francisco ran over the Chicago & North Western (not
    Northwestern) until mid-1955, then the Milwaukee Road, to Omaha, Union
    Pacific to Ogden, and Southern Pacific to Oakland. The CZ had stainless
    round end observations with domes; the City was painted.

    In this day and age, when we're lucky to have the few trains we do, people
    forget (or don't realize) that the different railroads' trains competed
    with each other, until the 1960s, when most of them realized that, thanks
    to public subsidies for highways and airports (and the air traffic control
    system), passenger trains were never going to be profitable again.

    --
    David Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry
    http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
    Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
    Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
    "No one in the White House staff, no one in this administration, presently
    employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident....What really hurts
    in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because
    overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong. What really
    hurts is if you try to cover it up." - President Richard Nixon, early in
    the Watergate affair




  10. #10
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    David S wrote:
    > On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:00:50 GMT, "Quick"
    >
    > Did it have a dome? If not, it was probably from an
    > eastern road (older construction, lower tunnel
    > clearances). Plain stainless wouldn't be from the 20th
    > Century, but it could be from another New York Central
    > train. (The Pennsylvania's flagship train NY-CHI was the
    > Broadway Limited, but it wouldn't be that either.) There
    > are a lot of other possibilities.


    Nope, no dome.

    > There were more than one train on each of the routes you
    > mention. Chicago to San Francisco area, the California
    > Zephyr ran on the Burlington to Denver, the Rio Grande to
    > Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific to Oakland, while the
    > City of San Francisco ran over the Chicago & North
    > Western (not Northwestern) until mid-1955, then the
    > Milwaukee Road, to Omaha, Union Pacific to Ogden, and
    > Southern Pacific to Oakland. The CZ had stainless round
    > end observations with domes; the City was painted.


    I remember the Zephyr. Double decker observation cars
    right? He loved trains, he hated planes. More that you didn't
    see anything or get a chance to relax than being nervous
    about flying (although he did go for the back seats since
    the tail often broke off intact -- not that anyone survived in
    there anyway when that happens). We went to Hawaii for a
    year (teaching grant at U of H) from Lansing, Michigan. Train
    to the West Coast. Ocean liner to Hawaii... I don't remember
    it being so much a cruise ship affair. Luxury liner was descriptive.
    (We came back from India (I was 3) on the Andrea Doria the
    trip before it went down).

    Now I'm going to have to actually talk to my sister to see if
    she has any pictures of it showing ID.

    -Quick

    > In this day and age, when we're lucky to have the few
    > trains we do, people forget (or don't realize) that the
    > different railroads' trains competed with each other,
    > until the 1960s, when most of them realized that, thanks
    > to public subsidies for highways and airports (and the
    > air traffic control system), passenger trains were never
    > going to be profitable again.






  11. #11
    CharlesH
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    David S wrote:
    > There were more than one train on each of the routes you mention. Chicago
    > to San Francisco area, the California Zephyr ran on the Burlington to
    > Denver, the Rio Grande to Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific to Oakland,
    > while the City of San Francisco ran over the Chicago & North Western (not
    > Northwestern) until mid-1955, then the Milwaukee Road, to Omaha, Union
    > Pacific to Ogden, and Southern Pacific to Oakland.


    The California Zephyr still runs from Emeryville, CA (south of Oakland)
    to Chicago. Our family took it on a vacation a couple of years ago. I
    tried to check the cellphone coverage along the way, but I kept being
    distracted by the scenery.



  12. #12
    David S
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 05:49:06 GMT, "Quick" <[email protected]>
    chose to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and
    everything:

    >David S wrote:
    >> On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:00:50 GMT, "Quick"

    >
    >> There were more than one train on each of the routes you
    >> mention. Chicago to San Francisco area, the California
    >> Zephyr ran on the Burlington to Denver, the Rio Grande to
    >> Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific to Oakland, while the

    >
    >I remember the Zephyr. Double decker observation cars
    >right?


    No, just domes. The Santa Fe's El Capitan had double deckers, which were
    the model for the Superliner cars Amtrak built starting in the late '70s
    and which are now used on all western long distance trains, plus the
    Capitol Limited and Auto Train in the east. (Amtrak uses a few of the old
    Santa Fe cars on the Heartland Flyer, which runs from Ft. Worth to Oklahoma
    City.)

    --
    David Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry
    http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
    Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
    Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
    "At a stage in life when other men prosper, I'm reduced to living in
    Philadelphia." - John Adams, "1776"




  13. #13
    David S
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:03:17 GMT, CharlesH <[email protected]> chose
    to add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and everything:

    >David S wrote:
    >> There were more than one train on each of the routes you mention. Chicago
    >> to San Francisco area, the California Zephyr ran on the Burlington to
    >> Denver, the Rio Grande to Salt Lake, and the Western Pacific to Oakland,
    >> while the City of San Francisco ran over the Chicago & North Western (not
    >> Northwestern) until mid-1955, then the Milwaukee Road, to Omaha, Union
    >> Pacific to Ogden, and Southern Pacific to Oakland.

    >
    >The California Zephyr still runs from Emeryville, CA (south of Oakland)
    >to Chicago. Our family took it on a vacation a couple of years ago. I
    >tried to check the cellphone coverage along the way, but I kept being
    >distracted by the scenery.


    Yes, but now it's run by Amtrak, using Superliner cars instead of regular
    cars with domes, and it runs on the Southern Pacific (Donner Pass route)
    instead of the Western Pacific (Feather River route) between Emeryville and
    Salt Lake City.

    (The SP and WP, as well as the Denver & Rio Grande Western, are now parts
    of Union Pacific, known to some railfans as Borg Rail.)

    --
    David Streeter, "an internet god" -- Dave Barry
    http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
    Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
    Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
    "Y'know, this administration doesn't need an opposition party. We do just
    fine by ourselves." - Toby Ziegler




  14. #14
    Bob the Printer
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    What's this got to do with VZW???

    It seems to be an ongoing conversation between you and one or two others
    that would be better taken to regular Email. Seems like all you want to do
    is demonstrate your superior knowledge of trains, which is a big bore for
    most of us!






  15. #15
    Quick
    Guest

    Re: Can you use cell phones on trains?

    Bob the Printer wrote:
    > What's this got to do with VZW???
    >
    > It seems to be an ongoing conversation between you and
    > one or two others that would be better taken to regular
    > Email. Seems like all you want to do is demonstrate your
    > superior knowledge of trains, which is a big bore for
    > most of us!


    ummm, the original question was "can you use cell phones
    on trains"... when you consider it's a very small leap to "can
    you use cell phones in cars" how exciting did you really
    expect this thread to be? And I don't think anyone is trying
    to demonstrate their superior knowledge but to share a
    bit of (pretty much lost) American heritage.

    -Quick





  • Similar Threads




  • Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast