Wow! All this ink on this??? Who cares where it came from, 99% of our PAYING customers see it as part of the whole railroad experience--so just do it and don't belabor the issue!!
Ross Rowland

Is that the one where the conductor says "If you're not going to any of these places ladies and gentleman, you're on the wrong train."

That record has made me favored 'BOARD! over "all aboard" because it's a little more unique.

KL

One more movie citation, the sequel to "Top Gun" has an Amtrak crewman warning "Board", twice! The hero doesn't listen.

I know the issues you describe well.. only don't forget "what time does the x o'clock train leave" and "how quick can you get this thing fired up from a cold start"! (the latter is my personal favorite)

Back in the 70's around these parts, realism was entertaininment. We had the Southern still running it's own passenger trains, and over on the N&W, the Amtrak "Mountaineer" and later "Hilltopper" trains. What I heard around here, from both the SR guys and the N&W people on the Amtrak was "Board", or a variation that started out almost under the Conductor's breath and ended up worthy of a hog calling. It went sortalike this....... "aawlaBOOAAAARRRRDD". On the southbound "Crescent, this was usually followed by a highball with an adlake electric lantern, then the sound of 96 cylinders of EMD 567 notching up. Without trying to sound sacriligeous, it was almost as good as 1218 on Christiansburg Mountain.........

When I was working trains at TVRM as conductor, it was common practice to make general boarding annoucements via the PA in the station. "All Aboard" was called out right before the train pulled out. That was primarily as warning to other trainmen/car hosts to close up as departure was imminent, especially on the local trains. On the excursion trains, we would only board from two locations. Practice was to start boarding at 15 minutes prior to departure, making boarding announcements every five minutes. At three minutes prior to departure, all boarding locations except the conductor's would be closed. The conductor's location is the loading ramp where the commissary car is spotted. The loading bridge is not lifted until ready to depart and it is the conductor's responsibility to determine that the bridge is clear and ramp closed before departing.

We do not use air signals, so the practice there is for the conductor to signal the engineman to proceed. That can be by radio, hand signal or verbally depending on the location from which the conductor gives the signal. As I have a long stride, it was not uncommon for me to give the engineman a verbal instruction to proceed and then walk back to the vestibule to board.

Gary,

I never got to see 1218 run, only sitting hot once in the Alexandria yard. But I can tell that 96 cylinders easing SR1 out of Washington Union Station, especially as they headed into the tunnel was absolutely awe inspring. It gave me goose bumps on many happy occasions.

This thread has to take the cake for the most silly I have read in a long time. The answer to the basic question should be "who cares?" as far as I am concerned. Any locomotive engineer who departs from a station without getting the proper signal (no matter what that signal is) should be removed from service. If a conductor yells "all aboard", or "board", or simply waves his hands frantically to advise passengers of the trains departure, he is doing his job. I personally have seen all of these methods used on the Amtrak northeast corridor when I was an Operator there. But, no matter what takes place verbally on the station platform, the trains should never depart any station without proper signals, as dictated by the operating rules. If the rules state that "All Aboard" should be shouted by the conductor to the enginman as a signal to depart, then that is the departure signal......whatever the rulebook says guys.

This is a valid thread. It revolves around safety on the platform.

What I'm trying to discuss is not the proper safety rules and procedures.

What I'm trying to discuss is a wholly unrelated bit of theatrics or "performance" done at many lines and museums, which in a few cases has descended to something about as hokey and contrived as the "Wild West train robberies" and "Injun raids," stuff that created an image of excursion operations that many of us took years to overcome. If you've ever actually witnessed it--or worse, had it played back at you repeatedly as two seconds of a ten-second mini-commercial for said museum/line on your local TV channel--you know to what I refer.

As I understand it, they do a "shootout at the corral" at Williams before each departure on the Grand Canyon RR. I would literally pay extra to board up the line a quarter-mile just to avoid that stuff.

On some British excursion lines, it's possible, after, say, leaving the car park, to figuratively walk back in time. There will be some modest concessions to modernity--the prices, herb teas and low-fat scones in the buffet, modern souvenirs and books in the stall--but I've been at some stations and trackside halts on lines like the Strathspey, Severn Valley, and Worth Valley where you can walk back in time 50 to 100 years. I literally felt like I should have been in old-time attire myself just to fit in.

To my ears, the "All aboard!" theatrics grate as much as if Thomas the Tank Engine just chugged into a Franz photo charter on the above lines.

We call "all aboard" inside the building before inviting people outside to the loading gate. :o

As a famous person once said: "Here's a quarter...."

Wesley

I can't stand it anymore! I resisted the keyboard for as long as I could.
It's OK to say "All aboard" no matter what railroad you work for. Look in an Amtrak timetable as they even mention it when they talk about smoking on the platforms.
I'd much rather talk about Papa Bull and what he said.

To some extent all history disappears into the ether of the past, but this is actually a good thread.

Very few people remember the days when the coming and going of trains were as much the part of life as crawling home on an interstate parking lot is today and their numbers are quickly declining. In a short couple decades they will all be gone.

The question is, what do you want to be? Consider the following:

Civil war re-enactors, for all the limitations inherent in attempting to portray war without the reality of death, dismemberment and disease, civil war reenactors do, in my limited experience try to show the life of the average soldier, complete with "hardtack" and wool uniforms (in July), camp fires and the like. Although in no living memory, there's enough to extract from the written record to make some inferences about how it really was-Yes, Gettysburg has been commercialized with cheap toy guns, but the serious inquirer can be stimulated and entertained.

On the other hand, I once saw something about a "rennaisance (butchered that spelling, fer sure) fair" seem to have taken the "give 'em what they expect" road-calling women "wenches" and beer "grog". Of course, there's even less to extract from a far more limited record of an earlier time.

We are already losing technical reality. Modern freight valves and 26 set ups are replacing UC valves and No. 6's. Sitting behind faux journal boxes are the eminently practical, but wholly unrealistic roller bearings. Thats inevitable. I'm not sure that stuff matters to most visitors.

However, what can be preserved most easily are the customs and practices, the "rubrics", instilled as a value, its far more resistant to change than the steel components.

I’ve resisted writing until now, also. But Superheater makes a valid point; on the station platform, we should be re-enactors, at least anyplace that considers itself a museum.

In my mind I’ve been breaking down the comments into two categories: those that have some historical reference, and those that tell us what theatrics different groups are using today. The later aren’t really germane to the issue, because people CAN do whatever they think they need to please the public, gunfights and hold-ups included. I’m much more interested in anything that sheds light on the historical aspect of getting a train out of town.

My problem is I grew up with only commuter trains for a role model. Commuters don’t need to be told ANYTHING; they bunch up like little herds of cattle exactly where the doors stop every day, and surge forward as soon as the doors open. All the conductor and trainmen had to do was wait until the last hoof,… I mean foot, disappeared, swing on and key the door switches. I don’t ever recall hearing any call on the C&NW Northwest line.

Of course, then there was the “L”. Everybody knows the proper announcement is, “Aksdflkj qiouui sjoy hjyasdfk!” just before closing the doors.

I try to think back to what I’d been told, and the only story that comes to mind is Howard Odineus (sp?), founding father of IRM and former North Shore motorman, telling me about the conductor who always whistled and called , “Outta town!” as he waved the proceed hand signal.

But I think back to my early days ay IRM in ’69 and ’70, and the melodious call of “BOARRRrrrrrrrddDD! that some of the guys used, and NONE of the old-timers objected that the call was too hokey. I have to believe that none of them thought it was anything but correct.

The "shootout" at the Grand Canyon RR is done down at the other end of the Williams property and is all "tongue in cheek" theatrics. You are invited to walk down to watch the show, but if you choose not to, you could board the train and not even know it was there. And you don't even have to pay extra to not view it!

Les