Was anybody else completely gobsmacked at some of the haphazard
and seriously unsafe methods shown for moving some American locos
(and a station, to continue the railway link) in "Monster Moves"
on 5 tonight?

Chris
-- 
Chris J Dixon  Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk

Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

Chris J Dixon wrote:

> Was anybody else completely gobsmacked at some of the haphazard
> and seriously unsafe methods shown for moving some American locos
> (and a station, to continue the railway link) in "Monster Moves"
> on 5 tonight?
> 


They did seem to be making it up as they went along didn't they.

I missed the start of the programme, but it looked as if they'd had a 
quick recce the day before to plan a route by eye, and then turned up 
with a big trailer and some timber to make an ad-hoc level crossing. I'm 
sure they must have done a bit more prep than that - but it certainly 
didn't look like they had.

The scariest bit, I thought, was when one of the men went underneath the 
moving load as it was crossing the tracks. Given that this scene was 
shown *after* the scene where one of the wheelsets on a trailer had 
collapsed I thought this was especially brave/foolish.

Getting the (main) line shut for three hours was quite good too. That 
seemed to have been arranged almost on-the-fly.

Another wonderfully ad-hoc moment was fouling the telegraph wires above 
the railroad, and then getting someone to ride shotgun on the moving 
station roof to manhandle the wires over the top.

And did they actually foul those power lines over the highway before 
backing up and waiting for the electric company to show up?

Made (relatively) good telly though. Wouldn't have been so entertaining 
if it had been worked out like a military operation and gone exactly to 
plan.

AW

AW wrote:


> Made (relatively) good telly though. Wouldn't have been so 
> entertaining if it had been worked out like a military operation 
> and gone exactly to plan.

----------------------------------------

I've been making similar observations to AW's in a couple of
my mostly model rail e-groups.

I followed the original UP Big Boy 4-8-8-4 and DD40x Centennial
movements almost as they happened, via some US-based Internet
photo and video web sites which were posting regularly throughout
their 3 days of travelling across the City of Omaha --- the UP's HQ
city and home to several thousand UP employees.

A lot of the content there was purely factual and routine, which 
would
have appealed to many in this newsgroup with a railway or general
engineering background but would make pretty dull family TV viewing.

The station building movement footage was entirely new to me.

Regards,

DigitisED  (Eddie Bellass)

Mythical Merseyside, in the Occupied Territories
of Old Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free and checked
by a leading anti-virus system - updated continuously.

In article <42f7e3a9$0$1315$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>, Aw wrote:

> Chris J Dixon wrote:
> > Was anybody else completely gobsmacked at some of the haphazard
> > and seriously unsafe methods shown for moving some American locos
> > (and a station, to continue the railway link) in "Monster Moves"
> > on 5 tonight?
> > 
> 
> They did seem to be making it up as they went along didn't they.


An object lesson in how not to do it. A heavy haulage company with no 
decent tractor units and no idea of chain breaking strains is almost beyond 
belief.


> Made (relatively) good telly though. Wouldn't have been so entertaining 
> if it had been worked out like a military operation and gone exactly to 
> plan.


It made me cringe.

-- 

Jock Mackirdy
Bedford

In message , Jock Mackirdy 
 writes

>In article <42f7e3a9$0$1315$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>, Aw wrote:
>> Chris J Dixon wrote:
>> > Was anybody else completely gobsmacked at some of the haphazard
>> > and seriously unsafe methods shown for moving some American locos
>> > (and a station, to continue the railway link) in "Monster Moves"
>> > on 5 tonight?
>> >
>>
>> They did seem to be making it up as they went along didn't they.
>
>An object lesson in how not to do it. A heavy haulage company with no
>decent tractor units and no idea of chain breaking strains is almost beyond
>belief.
>
>> Made (relatively) good telly though. Wouldn't have been so entertaining
>> if it had been worked out like a military operation and gone exactly to
>> plan.
>
>It made me cringe.


That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do' 
attitude and get on and do it.

Mike

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 15:16:02 +0100, "M. J. Powell"
 wrote:


>That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do' 
>attitude and get on and do it.


Unfortunately, "it" is often the wrong answer, and usually by the
Government.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

In message <18vKUcOiqL+CFw2+@pickmere.demon.co.uk>, at 15:16:02 on Tue, 
9 Aug 2005, M. J. Powell  remarked:

>That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do' 
>attitude and get on and do it.


Absolutely. And accidents that do happen they generally write off as an 
act of god. I remember one day when a petrol tanker skidded off at a 
corner on an icy road and knocked over one of those big advertising 
hoardings, causing the whole highway to be closed. The petrol didn't 
catch fire. Did anyone ask why the driver was going too fast? No, they 
just said, "Oh well, subzero temperatures happen, you have to carry on 
as normal, no-one can tell when you are going to hit an unexpected icy 
patch". What I can't quite resolve is how this fits with their infamous 
"blame culture".
-- 
Roland Perry

In message , Neil Williams 
 writes

>On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 15:16:02 +0100, "M. J. Powell"
> wrote:
>
>>That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do'
>>attitude and get on and do it.
>
>Unfortunately, "it" is often the wrong answer, and usually by the
>Government.


This wasn't a Government operation.

Mike

In message <QsHvF8Wo6O+CFASV@donald.internetpolicynews.co.uk>, Roland 
Perry  writes

>In message <18vKUcOiqL+CFw2+@pickmere.demon.co.uk>, at 15:16:02 on Tue, 
>9 Aug 2005, M. J. Powell  remarked:
>>That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do' 
>>attitude and get on and do it.
>
>Absolutely. And accidents that do happen they generally write off as an 
>act of god. I remember one day when a petrol tanker skidded off at a 
>corner on an icy road and knocked over one of those big advertising 
>hoardings, causing the whole highway to be closed. The petrol didn't 
>catch fire. Did anyone ask why the driver was going too fast? No, they 
>just said, "Oh well, subzero temperatures happen, you have to carry on 
>as normal, no-one can tell when you are going to hit an unexpected icy 
>patch". What I can't quite resolve is how this fits with their infamous 
>"blame culture".


Yes. I noticed that they had the Sheriff with them and had contacted the 
local electricity supplier. But no mention of who had insured what for 
damage in transit.

Mike
-- 
M.J.Powell

In article <QsHvF8Wo6O+CFASV@donald.internetpolicynews.co.uk>,
Roland Perry   wrote:

>In message <18vKUcOiqL+CFw2+@pickmere.demon.co.uk>, at 15:16:02 on Tue, 
>9 Aug 2005, M. J. Powell  remarked:
>>That's the difference between Americans and us. They have a 'Can Do' 
>>attitude and get on and do it.
>
>Absolutely. And accidents that do happen they generally write off as an 
>act of god.


Very like their approach to international politics.

Nick
-- 
http://www.leverton.org/                      ... So express yourself

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 20:23:49 +0100, "M. J. Powell"
 wrote:


>>Unfortunately, "it" is often the wrong answer, and usually by the
>>Government.
>
>This wasn't a Government operation.


I didn't say it was.  Most US Government/military operations appear to
be similarly "planned", however.

Neil

-- 
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

In message <cR8QvkWtNQ+CFwhs@pickmere.demon.co.uk>, at 20:26:37 on Tue, 
9 Aug 2005, M. J. Powell  remarked:

>I noticed that they had the Sheriff with them


A Sheriff is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of law enforcement 
in the USA, but they are quite good at directing traffic!
-- 
Roland Perry