This one is somewhat along the line of Ted Miles' earlier post, but I just had to tell this one. I was giving a talk about out ex SP 2353 10-wheeler. I explained that since this locomotive was built for use in California, it didn't burn coal. We've got lots of oil wells out here, but not too many coal mines. Question from the visitor: "Why do you need oil or coal? I thought it ran on steam."

And we get numerous questions when we are using our GP9: "Is this a steam engine?"

And, of course the recent Washington Post article stating that Barack Obama rode to Washington in an antique caboose.

This really shows that there is a needed educational mission for the railway community. Education is usually part of the mission statement for non-profit museums, and, if not included already, should be part of the goals of a for-profit railroad. I think that even the Class 1's could do more in this area. The more people know about something the less they are apt to complain about some necessary activity that may inconvenience them a bit.

I'm a retired chemist, and I could go on and on forever about how most people seem to think that the word "chemical" should always be preceded by the word, "hazardous," but I'll leave that for another forum.

I do recall the Californians panicking over any radiation in the 1960s. They required all restaurants to post the "hazardous radiation" warning signs if they used microwave "radiation" ovens.

DvV

Hey, I hate tying shoes, and I actually *understand* how your car works. Yes, the CAN-bus stuff and all.


Yup. Stupid is not wanting to learn. (or in some cases, not knowing how.) It can be because of a self-belief "it is my (or my type of person's) nature to not learn."

For those who want to learn, the Internet and citizen made content makes learning FAR easier than it has ever been in history. Sometimes when I'm doing Yahoo Answers, I see a question I could easily answer with a video. Webcam; iMovie; Youtube; done. Anyone can be a documentarian and educator. To any age. From Cleveland to Calcutta. Especially Calcutta in fact; those folks speak English, have little money, and lots of ingenuity.


Not all the technology. But certainly we are favoring a "make more of X rather than fix X" mentality, that's because temporary cheap fuel connects us cheaply to a temporary supply of near-slave labor in ... whatever country is cheap this decade. It keeps changing. Soon, we'll run out of countries, and the man building your toaster in Kenya will make the same $39/hour as you. That'll change a lot of stuff.

As for the modern silicon electronics, you're absolutely right we can't make a period silicon controller. But then, we can't make circa-1970 die-stamped brake parts either, or Alco 251 power assemblies or a bunch of things that depend on post-1950 industrial processes involving complex, irreplaceable tools and dies.

However, if you gave me a choice of producing a functional ABD valve, a 251 power assembly or a subway car chopper controller... hey, I'll take the one that's mostly software, thanks.

That would be at Green Lane crossing in Bedford Hills, NY -- on Metro North's Harlem Line. A photo of it actually snagged the front page of this morning's Journal News as part of this article.

The Magellan responsible in the Garmin incident was on business, if I recall, from Sunnyvale, CA. I doubt Enterprise will pick him up again after that one.

I was engineering the 29 on the Virginia & Truckee last summer and a woman in her 30's puts her young son, maybe 4 years old, on the pilot beam near the smoke box. She takes his picture then proceeds to read me the riot act of how I got her son dirty. It was my fault the locomotive was hot and noise which frightened her son. There were not any "keep off" signs there so she did not think it was a issue. I attempted to explain to her that steam locomotives are usually not as clean one might think, that is one reason why they are painted black. I was interrupted and it was brought to my attention that I was wearing greasy gloves and oily overalls and that was how everything got dirty. I explained I was servicing the engine for the next trip and in the middle of the explanation she picked up her kid and walked away telling him he could not like trains anymore. There was a small group of onlookers and myself that stood there in awe.

If she would not have walked off I would have thrown her and her son off the property! Obviously someone with such little reasoning ability should not be anywhere near equipment that requires alertness and awareness. Those are the types of people that will sue you at a moment's notice due ot their own stupidity/carelessness/thoughtlessness. They exist at the center of their own universe and no amount of reality will change that.

I was a car host years ago on a small tourist railroad. One of our cars was a transfer caboose, and the interior smelled like a caboose smells, a whiff of diesel fuel from the stove's fuel tank. Well a couple and their young son got into the car, sat down and asked me what that smell was. I said it was the smell of diesel fuel and then they got all worried about exposing those (hazardous) chemicals to their son. They then got back off the train! I wonder if that kid suffers from many medical problems now, not from exposure to diesel fuel, but because he was sheltered so much that his immune system did not develop properly. When I was a kid I played in the dirt, played in a stream next to the house (which I later on learned contained discharges from upstream septic tanks), drank well water from a hose, never used antibacterial soap and would sometimes still eat something after it had fallen to the floor. I very rarely get sick and when I do it doesn't last long.