This is what their talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGySun2PMU

Len.

OK, now that I've seen it it seems obvious to me that the track crew got confused and laid the passing siding on the wrong side of the grade crossing, catching the dispatcher and operating crews unaware. This sort of minor error is common and has been since railroads were in their infancy, and given the migratory nature of track, we all need to be on our guard. Having run across the siding in the wrong location, the crews did their best to safely and competently deal with the situation on the fly - safely, effectively and the railroad is still managing to run today in a very safe and efficient way, misplaced siding and all........

So let's stop beating this nonissue to death, and get out there and make sure our tracks are where we think they should be lest similar things befall us all. We're all in this together.......

dave

I am totally unfamiliar with this word and and cannot find it in my Webster's. What do you mean?? A Historian wouldn't misspell a word.

If we disregard that misspelling, I come up with no fewer than twelve grammatical errors throughout that post, including five excuses for the teacher's red pen in the first two sentences.

However: 1) I've known enough brilliant people who couldn't spell well not to criticize someone for spelling (no matter how badly they might spell) and a FEW people who were otherwise competent but totally incompetent with writing and the English language that I will not automatically disqualify someone for such errors, and 2) pointing out this lack of competence with English grammar/spelling amounts to a "personal attack" no matter how much it may point to lack of competence in other matters.

The only word I can figure out from that spelling is meager, which does not make much sense. I was trying to get a clarification.

When I watched the removed video the other day, all seemed normal until the 475 "threw out the anchor" without the other train in view. At that point I turned and looked away from the screen fearing that the world was about to end based on what I assumed was about to happen. How many of you that watched this did so with bated breath waiting for the worst to happen??????

I am embarrassed for this board when people like Kelly Anderson and Linn Moedinger read the armchair judgments of the "experts" that post here. How many of you have helped restore, operate and maintain steam????? I know there is a fair number, but I doubt all that have weighed in on this topic have. The whole thing was set up like they had a few inches between couplers when they stopped. If they were doing 80 MPH with 20 coaches, then this was a "near miss". The whole thing was HYPED way out of proportion!!!!

Just hope that the next time you or your organization has an oops, there is nobody there armed with a video camera and a Youtube account. My dad always told me "what goes around comes around".

I felt that this had been bantered around long enough by the time I said what I did yesterday. But I am just one voice and thankfully some with time in their logbooks have said what they did.

I thought the same thing at Marty Huck did that we don't know what was going on behind the scenes in the way of communications and orders The SRR will deal with it appropriately. The last I checked, they are adults with a clue as to what they are doing, IMHO. They haven't been around this long by know knowing what they are doing.

How many steam operations in this country have that many engines operable and more than one train a day running?????? My point is, they are doing a great job doing what they do for as long as they have been doing it.

Maybe this string will dry up when everybody has had something to say - educated or otherwise!!!!

With all due respect to this forum and the valiant efforts of its moderators to enforce objectivity, perhaps the fledgling members-only discussion board on the TRAIN site might become a better place for intelligent discussion about preservation given its presumed freedom of "armchair railroaders." If it could only grow past 10 members...

All "those other forums" have pretty much been degraded to an existence merely of entertainment value, at best, thanks to its posters' lunacy. It would be a shame to see this forum, too, relegated to that status, especially since it seems to have gotten the "last stand" of having at least some interesting and relevant content from the reputable and credible contributors who haven't got fed up and left yet.

Back to your regularly-scheduled foam-, err, railroading...

I didn't. They just pulled out from a stop and were heading into a crossing. And I trust that the Strasburg hoggers are professional enough to be paying attention to what is happening in front of them. Besides, if the other train was that close, it would have been blowing for the crossing.




I admit I haven't worked on steam, but I am qualified on two separate sets of RR rule books and do this railroad thing for a living. But since I am not qualified on Strasburg's book of rules, I can only speculate. The presence of a steam engine is not relevant at all to this discussion, unless we are going to discuss visibility. No it wasn't that close, but then again, when two separate trains enter the same track opposing each other (unless under orders) then there is a good chance that something went amiss. There was no cause for alarm, but there may be an opportunity to examine what happened (if anything did in fact happen)



With all due respect, Mr. Dewley, we are living in the year 2008. Chances are good that there will be someone nearby with a camera or cameraphone and access to the internet. It is getting near impossible to sweep anything under the rug anymore. So either we can whine about it, or use it to our advantage.



This is a discussion site. Are we afraid someone's ego may be bruised? We are supposedly adults, and should be able to discuss this in a mature manner.



( With the threat of sounding like a safety poster) Even the most seasoned veteran can make a mistake. Only takes a minute of distraction to lose focus. No one is immune from mistakes - we are all human.



Absolutely irrelevant to the discussion and is only adding emotion, which is not needed. Have a safe day.

PS>> I think we can also do without the rail preservationist vs. foamer vs. diesel vs. steam vs. railfan pissing contests. Railfans do represent part of an organization's ridership and I'm sure a fair amount of its working ranks.

At this time I am locking this discussion... We have beaten the issue to death... At least one member has requested I remove his postings (his are one of the voices of reason...) I note that two of the posters, both of whom have real steam tourist railroad experience, suggested that this was a non-event, and that the video did not contain the information needed for a railroad investigation.

I will be less likely to let similar discussion run in the future... This seems to bring out the ugly side of our discussion board...

Back to discussions of leaky roofs, sources for journal pads, and how many GP-9's survive...

Your always friendly moderator