Tonight is the night ---- TVRM will be included in the History Channel program "Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy" tonight (Feb 22) at 9pm.

Reference: http://chattanoogan.com/articles/article_195154.asp

BTW: The episode also includes Chattanooga's Incline Railway which climbs Lookout Mountain.

thanks for the heads up, it's been tivo'd

The show was great (too short but great). The fireman (Zach?) was super...what a great young man.

T7

Well, TVRM got some nice publicity, and the 610 looked good. But I thought it was mostly "fluff". Made so that Larry looked good. Of course, for about 3 minutes or so of actual footage, what could you expect? If I were a critic, my thumb would be down.

Les

They needed to give Larry a LITTLE more knowledge on a locomotive before they let him speak!
Did anyone notice when they were in the cab looking at the steam gauge, Larry said a couple of times the gauge was at "200 degrees"! LOL
Anyway, congrats to the TVRM staff!!!
Bruce

He might not know a lot about trains, but he is sure a good shot on the NRA's range.

I was disappointed in the lack of research/editing as well as the overall coverage. If the fire is at 200 degrees then we wouldn't have much of a fire, would we? I also told them specifically that the Western & Atlantic arrived in Chattanooga circa 1850. How did they get 1832? Especially when the W&A wasn't even chartered until 1836! Then they crammed three "subjects" into one of the three segments included in the episode. They started out at the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex (New Orleans streetcar once owned by and re-qauged by TVRM), jumped to TVRM, then to the Incline Railway (that piece had garbled history also.) Larry rode TVRM's velocipede to end the "train part." The statement about Zach is correct --- He is a great asset to TVRM, fills many positions, is very customer service oriented, and faces the daily challenges of railroading with a smile on his face (or at least with as much optimism as can be expected.)

.

By the way, we re-checked that large round gauge in the cab this morning. Turns out it isn't a thermometer after all!

All in all, I'd say the most shocking thing about the episode was not that he thought the fire was up to 200 degrees, or even that he was able to hit the shooting target; Is it just me or did he totally miss the mark on the drive thru wedding chapel segment? He didn't cut the sleeves off the tuxedo t-shirt!?!

Good press and good job by TVRM. At least they did their job.

On the other hand we have another premo example of History Channels network decay as it races full speed from being a respectable channel. I realize the idea is to get away from the whole "Hitler channel" thing they were famous for but seriously you're the HISTORY Channel and your most historically relivant show is three guys in a pawn shop in the desert looking at old stuff.

I mean for a ten minute segment we get:
-The W&A existed before it was even chartered appearently.

-Every train going south from anywhere appearently HAS to run through Chattanooga. I know the CNO&TP line is busy but not THAT busy.

-The City of Chattanooga by itself supported I think I heard 12,000 miles of track. I guess they could have meant the railroads that served Chattanooga in total had 12,000 miles?

-#610 was the LAST coal fired engine ever built. At least they didn't say it was the last one still running.

-Steam locos run at a nice 200 degrees.

-And yes let's spend 30 seconds of an already hurried and to short segment making comments about the term "cylinder cocks".

Come on History Channel at least look at wikipedia for five seconds before you write a narration. Theres at least a chance you might get something right.

I did not see the show, but from the description above, could the gauge described as a thermometer actually have been the boiler pressure gauge? I have no idea what the 610's boiler pressure is, but I do not think it would be much over 200 psi if even that high.

It was most definitely the steam pressure and not the temperature. If the editor had listened, Zach referred to it (correctly.) And if Larry had inserted his hand into the firebox (as he did into the south end of a bull), he would have noticed the fire being substantially warmer than 200 degrees.

And the top pressure is 210.

Since everyone else is piling on, let me just add that if Mr. Larry showed up as an authorized rider on my (freight) train, he'd be relegated to the second unit as an annoying nuisance after about 5 minutes (and so would the guy from Extreme Trains)! This regularly happened to trainman trainees who were about as competent as the character "Larry" plays (he's actually a very intelligent, college educated guy) when they were forced on old-heads against their will. Really short-changed the new guys when they were "blessed" by the TM anyway, because, at the time, they were short-handed.

Yes, the History Channel has fallen far since it's early days when we regularly heard from real railroad experts like Messrs. White, Withun, and Hankey.

I guess it's fairly obvious that if a reporter or TV crew shows up on the property to do a story on your operation, or railroad history, or railroading in general, you basically have to spoon-feed them, very slooowllllyyyy, the facts. Then you should ask them to send along the final draft of their story or narration for fact-checking.

Most of us don't want to hear this, but if the History Channel advertised Bill Withun visiting TVRM, the majority who post here would tune in but who else? Larry the Cable Guy visits, and a boatload of folks tune in and learn about an operation that they may have never been aware of, and now may even visit and spend some "Cubic Dollars" that most organizations need so badly. Then, the people who work there can correct the 200 degree screwup, and mention the up coming NS steam program...smell what I'm cookin'? Don't get me wrong, there are few I would rather listen to or read about steam than Mr. Withun, I have the utmost respect for him and his achievements, but to the general public, it's like the difference between Flagg Coal and Thomas the Tank Engine showing up at your museum. Exposure makes the Dollars Go 'Round....

Cheers, Dave