extreme trains

[CNE Runner]

Wow...and I thought it was just me! Extreme Trains (Show #1) was OK...not great, just OK. Where did they get that host? He [supposedly] was a conductor on a 1:1 railroad. If he were my conductor I would request a drug test. Really: is he the most appropriate host History could find? There were some great train shots (let's face it...trains aren't all that common on TV). I will force myself to endure the rest of the series I guess. Ditto on the amount of commercials. Has anyone timed how many minutes the show ran (excluding the commercials)...was it over a half-hour? Maybe this will lead to more train-related shows (like a remake of the Saturday morning classic Casey Jones). Keep the faith.

[ajp3751]

I watched both episodes and do argee, horseshoe cure is great, but not so great you have to scream it. the engineer had a look on his face like, "buddy, it is just a  curve, so what..." The BNSF track laying part was nice. It was interesting to see them completely remove a tunnel instead of building another one next to it. The host also seemed happy to go 70mph in a train. I wanted to say, it is no different than a car really, except to 7,000ft of cars behind you. Overall it wasn't bad, and I hope they go back to steamtown and other places to show the glory days of railroading.

[richG]

I lasted twenty seconds with the second episode. The series will at least get children interested in railroads and maybe model railroading so all is not wasted by the History Channel.

Rich

[Yampa Bob]

Well, I must be entering my second childhood, I enjoyed the show very much.  I think Matt adds a lot of excitement to the show, that would otherwise be just another documentary.

Let's see now, so far we've criticized the producer, director, host and narrator, music, commercials, graphics, cinematography, script, have we missed anything? But then I'm the type that always sees the glass as half full.

I venture to say that anyone here would be going bananas in Matt's place.

[WGL]

 CNE Runner,
After editing out the commercial interruptions, I had 45 minutes of the BNSF program.
  I've ordered a semi with a detachable box trailer to load onto a flatcar.  Now, I've just watched a 7000' long train of all well cars carrying containers.  I have no well cars, no containers & no container trucks.     I guess I'm a few decades behind.
  I wish Matt had told us how long the well cars & the containers are.  I noticed that the train kept changing from 2 locomotives to 3 & back without mention by the narrator.  I did find the program informative.

[Yampa Bob]

Caboose Hobbies has a large selection of 20' and 40' containers for intermodal, and special flat beds for semis. I plan on building a few 40' well cars this winter.

Though not seen in the show, most well cars are built as "unit trains", with each car sharing common trucks.  I'll send you a picture of one unit setup.

The reason for the difference in number of locomotives is probably because the sequences were filmed on different days.  If you notice, several times Matt was on the dock as the train pulled out or went by.  I neglected to note the loco road numbers. It probably took several weeks of filming to make up a 6 hour show, excluding commercial breaks.

When Matt was loading a container, it was possibly during a slack time and specially staged.  I'm also thinking that all the major class I railroads helped finance the show.  I will be disappointed if they don't have a segment on Union Pacific, the Moffat Tunnel, and the grueling Tennessee Pass climb which requires up to 9 helpers.

[Santa Fe buff]

Also, KATO makes some good MAXI-IV well cars for both N and HO scale.

HO Scale KATO Gunderson MAXI-IV Well Cars.

N Scale KATO Gunderson MAXI-IV Well Cars.

I have yet to try them, but they look very nice, I believe they have high quality.

Intermodal:  being or involving transportation by more than one form of carrier during a single journey.

You can have a container from a ship transported across the sea, then on a truck, then to an Intermodal station, where a special crane puts it on a train, and so forth.

[NewYorkCentralgirl]

i am a huge train fan, and was looking foward to this show,
but the guy is so annoying the engineers on both the bnsf and ns trains looked like they wanted to shoot him. also the mtv camera thing is annoying. it is a cool show its just needs a better narrator/host

[Santa Fe buff]

Why not? You sitting inside this thing, listening to radios, signals, trains, and trying to watch your gauges while someone is jabbing on and on about trains... I admire his spirit, but I think he like trains a tad too much. If I was the engineer, I would talk nice and tell him everything he asked, and as soon as he's done filming and leaves, I'll remember NOT to allow HIM inside or near the locomotive again! But overall, I can't get up from the couch until the commercial break is over. I suppose I'm kind of like him, but I'm shooting at being the engineer.

[mtlatc]

Yampa Bob here is a link to the remaining episodes. They are doing UP steam and the last show is UP Omaha to CA.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=60922&display_order=4&mini_id=60798

[RAM]

You must remember that they are making this film all people.  Most of them the only thing they know about trains is that they run on tracks.

[Yampa Bob]

Hey Thanks Matt,
Looks like they have the episodes I want to see, have marked the sattelite times.

Thanks again RAM, for alerting me about the show, otherwise I might have missed it. 

[WGL]

  Tonight, while the wife was at a meeting, I watched my recording of Extreme Trains:  Amtrak's Acela Express.  I wish the narrator would have said how many passengers the train can carry.  There were only 6 cars, I think (They went by so fast!) He went off on a tangent talking about riveting steam locomotives.  That would have fit better into the coming episode on steam.  It was interesting to learn that the cars tilt & that they are permanently connected for a smoother ride.

  I was amused when he said that Amtrak uses snap-on track, because it is faster to install on a very busy railroad.   I'll use that excuse now. 

[Santa Fe buff]

Well, looks like tonight's episode is about Union Pacific reefers...

[Frisco]

My thoughts on the show......  1. You can tell the host is just really excited....nothing rong with that but it can get to be a little much. 2.There is not much I have learned from (it is mostly basic info). 3. Good to see some trains on TV.      To sum it up although it's not my favorite I think that the show fits what it probaly ment to do... teach people who don't know much of anything about trains the basics while still having some appeal to railfans.                                                   


I just finished watching tonights episode prety much the same as the others. I was however very unhappy to see the 1960's refers getting scraped . The guy seemed happy about it ! Sorry to any-one over 40 but I consider a freight car from the 60's a historical artifact. I hope a museum saves at least a couple before UP gets rid of them all.