Dirty Jobs - Building a locomotive

[Dr EMD]

  Mike Rowe, the hardest working man in showbiz, has worked over 200 jobs since DIRTY JOBS launched in 2005 on Discovery Channel. But it's not a lack of commitment that has brought Mike to so many different jobs in such a short time it's his strong belief that it's exactly the dirtiest of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. Let's face it -- where would we be without the garbage picker-uppers, the concrete chippers, the hot tar roofers and yes, even the chick sexers?

For Mike's 200th job, featured on Tuesday, February 17 from 9-10 PM ET/PT, he travels to Boise, Idaho to build and restore locomotives. There, his apprenticeship starts in the fabrication building, where he cuts raw steel into parts using a plasma burn saw. Next, he uses a forklift to break away any leftover soot residue from the burn saw by flipping the catch plate end-over-end in the parking lot. Meanwhile, in the engine refurbishing shop, Mike helps takes apart a locomotive engine and scrapes away old sludge from the inside. The old engine is then spun and cleaned in an acid bath while Mike visits the finishing area, where he shows off the locomotives getting their final touchups. It's an amazing 200th job, as Mike gets to end his day driving operating a newly completed locomotive.

[jayl1]

Good show - and he did say "drive" the locomotive.  Was this the company that was Morrison-Knudsen at one time?

[Dr EMD]

Yes it was Morrison Knudsen!

Drive a ship?
Drive a plane?
Drive a train?

I dislike that term "drive" a train. Only in the UK does one drive a train.
So I corrected the press release.

Good show - and he did say "drive" the locomotive.  Was this the company that was Morrison-Knudsen at one time?

[PhilipCal]

Great show!! Thoroughly enjoyed it. I've long maintained that the public in general is terribly ignorant concerning railroads.Shows like this, can go a long way toward increasing the public's knowlege of railroads. Believe that would benefit us all.