Hell on Wheels

[Terry Toenges]

Has anyone been watching "Hell on Wheels"?
Lots of old time railroad stuff. Some things I wonder about. In one episode there was a real long metal flat car. I wouldn't think that was 1860's appropriate, but I'm not sure.
Last week there was a car in the background - A passenger car with a cupola and it looked like it had two trucks under the rear of the car. Couldn't really see the front of the car.

[Jim Banner]

Check this photo of the funeral car on Lincoln's funeral train.

http://www.cowanauctions.com/itemImages/e3934.jpg

Jim

[Terry Toenges]

I knew about Lincoln's car. I just hadn't seen anything else like that.

[BillD53A]

The images of rail equipment are computer generated wannabes.  They were generated by a person who almost, but not quite, knew what a train looked like.  Look at the pilot of the locomotive; the lower end of the coupling link does not exist.  It just ends in a blob.  The locomotive has an air compressor.  It looks like a 55 gallon drum sitting on the walkway, with plumbing.  There were no airbrakes in the 1860s so it does not belong there. 
The railroad's 'end of track' changed by the hour.  "Hell on Wheels" was the name for the portable den of iniquity that followed the railroad's construction camp.
The clerestory on the passenger car was not unusual for the time.

[mabloodhound]

The images of rail equipment are computer generated wannabes.

Well, not exactly.   The locomotive is a real item, except it is made entirely out of Extruded Foam (pink or blue stuff).
There are computer enhancements such as smoke and steam.   I missed the metal flat car.   I'm sure wood would be the appropriate type.
It's all about the story and there's only so much they could do to get everything correct.   It would have been nice to have an authentic 1860's engine and cars but that would have been nearly impossible.
See more about it here: http://www.amctv.com/hell-on-wheels/videos/inside-hell-on-wheels-building-the-train   Very interesting.

[Terry Toenges]

It was the caboose type cupola to which I was referring, not the clerestory passenger cars.
There were two of those in the series. One was a dark colored one that was in use in the series. The other was a light colored one in the background and it is the one that looked like it had two trucks on the back. I have no way of recording so I couldn't rewind and double check.
The 4-4-0 did look petty fake in some shots. I wondered if they had just built a wood mock up. I knew the smoke was not normal.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

The 4-4-0 did look petty fake in some shots. I wondered if they had just built a wood mock up. I knew the smoke was not normal.

Been watching regularly.

At least they made an effort to create a locomotive that looks something like an 1860s engine instead of something with piston valves.    I've noticed some strange looking doohickey on top of what should be the sand dome, but no whistle or valves on top of the steam dome, so where does the whistle sound come from? 

I'd like to see more of Wes Studi as the Cheyenne chief. He's always a good actor to watch. 

[Desertdweller]

I think this series would be a great idea for a Bachmann train set in any scale.

Might have to change the name to "Heck on Wheels".

Les

[Terry Toenges]

When I first saw the long metal flat car, I thought perhaps they had used a diesel to bring in the 4-4-0 aboard the flat car, then just coupled it up to the 4-4-0 and used it in scenes to carry cameras for some of the scenes. They they just left it coupled and coupled the passenger behind it and used it in scenes.

[RAM]

I noticed at the end of that video is a quick shot of the drivers of a 2-6-0

[mabloodhound]

Yeah, saw that too.   They can't seem to get anything right.   But they would never get their American to do that speed

[jbrock27]

RE: 2013 Season

I am watching episode 304.  How many episodes have I missed so far this season?
Thank you.

[Morgun 30]

The images of rail equipment are computer generated wannabes.  They were generated by a person who almost, but not quite, knew what a train looked like.  Look at the pilot of the locomotive; the lower end of the coupling link does not exist.  It just ends in a blob.  The locomotive has an air compressor.  It looks like a 55 gallon drum sitting on the walkway, with plumbing.  There were no airbrakes in the 1860s so it does not belong there. 
The railroad's 'end of track' changed by the hour.  "Hell on Wheels" was the name for the portable den of iniquity that followed the railroad's construction camp.
The clerestory on the passenger car was not unusual for the time.

I watch the show because I'm involved with cowboy action shooting. On the "cowboy" website they always comment on the guns being period correct

[M1FredQ]

When was a kid

My Dad would take us Downtown Chicago on Saturdays to mu seams and other stuff which always involved food!!

Above the Chicago Public Library was a HUGE Civil War museum. I remember there was a whole section on the Abe Lincoln Funeral Train with lots of original photos. My favorite part of the museum was the Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray section.

How any survived any medical issues in those days had to be miraculous. Statistically only 25% of the wounded died of their wounds or complications associated with surgery or wounds. An incredible statistic as you would think it would be higher!!!

I don't know what became of the mu seam as Herold Washington while mayor was not kind to our historical heritage of Chicago. The museum disappeared when he decided to build a new Chico Library named after himself. We also lost an original World War 2 submarine "Bowfin" as he wanted to tax it and charge rent for its birth in the Chicago River. He also up ed all the fees to Meigs Field as it was probably the only airport in the country in a downtown metropolitan city. The was the beginning of the end for Meigs as Daley who came afterwards had his bulldozers come to the airport at midnight and tear up the runways with aircraft still at the airport!!!!!

[Doneldon]

Fred-

I'm pretty sure that the Civil War / Abraham Lincoln exhibit wound up at the Chicago Historical Society. As you may know, the original downtown library now houses the Museum of Broadcasting. I haven't lived in the city for a long time and I have no relatives there any more so I haven't visited much, either. However, I did have a couple of hours at the broadcast museum a few years ago and I was very impressed. I have it on my agenda for the next time I take a grandson to Chicago.

As a native Chicagoan (born there and lived many years, in Chicago, that is, NOT Glen Ellyn or Park Ridge) I have always admired the audacity and creative larceny of the city's political bosses.

As a college sophomore who subscribed to the Sunday Trib, I woke up one morning to read about how the original McCormick Place had burned down. There had been a major political war over the issue and why a sufficiently large convention center hadn't been built in the first place just a couple of years earlier. Anyway, the first (real) Dick Daley wanted a new McCormick Place but the rest of the city fathers didn't want to spend the money or lose revenue during construction so things were stalemated. Then, mistakes were made late one Saturday night. No one was scheduled to be on guard duty overnight, somebody forgot to arm the fire alarms and the sprinklers were turned off for maintenance. As luck would have it, a fire started that very night and, with no one there to notice, the whole place burned down. So ... Dick Daley got his new, enlarged McCormick Place.

Ten years ago I took a grandson on a Chicago visit. We woke up our first morning, a Monday, with the TV and papers full of the remarkable disappearance of Meigs Field overnight. This was the outcome of another battle, this one between Dick Daley the Younger and downtown business interests. Hizzonor wanted to change Meigs Field into a hotel and Casino development both to enhance tax revenue and to eliminate what was seen by some as a major security problem in the post-911 world.

(For those who don't know, Meigs was a private airfield located on a constructed peninsula in Lake Michigan, within sight of downtown. Downtown corporations liked the convenience of such a nearby airport because both O'Hare and Midway were 30-45 minutes away at best. Being literally seconds from buildings like the Sears Tower, some people feared there would be no way to react if a terrorist decided to fly an airplane from Meigs into one of the city's landmark structures.)

Well, on the Sunday night in question, somebody stole Meigs Field. As coincidence would have it, someone forgot to schedule security overnight. No one saw anything, including the police (who are everywhere in Chicago), but many citizens reported hearing trucks from the street department all night. By morning, most of Meigs was gone and all that remained were parts of the concrete airstrip bulldozed into piles. Oh, yes. All of the planes were still there, too. Of course, they couldn't be flown out of Meigs anymore so the downtown businessmen who opposed the Mayor had to expensively dismantle their aircraft and truck or barge them to another location. Actually, some planes were able to fly out from the taxi strip or a grassy area. No casinos or hotels were ever built; Meigs is now a great lakeside park and entertainment venue. I wouldn't be at all surprised, however, to read some morning that the whole peninsula has disappeared or that a whole casino complex has appeared overnight. Now, that's Chicago.

I continue to watch for the next episode of lax security leading to another mysterious event which helps a mayor's agenda.

                                                                                                                                                                                           -- D