I thought it ironic that on the episode about high speed rail, they didn't speed up the film of the train movements!It was also a little misleading to talk about the Park Avenue tunnel in the context of the NEC... it leads north out of Grand Central and has nothing to do with the NEC.I also noticed that the techs at Ivy City didn't let him get anywhere near anything that was important...And, the producers should be arrested by the continuity police when they left Philadelphia, stated they were about an hour from New York, then showed a SOUTHBOUND train crossing the Susquehanna River in Maryland!It would also have been appropriate to say a few more words about the PRR's electrification, and give more of a nod to the GG-1's. One fleeting image with narration about electrification starting in the 1920's was both inaccurate and out of context.... (GG-1's entered service in the mid 1930's).Oh well...But otherwise, yes, this was the best episode yet.Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
The third show was the best. Host better, but a long way from good. At the rate their going, episode 55 or 60 should be perfect!! I guess I WILL watch all episodes!!
Wikious santafe347 It was funny how cool he thought it was that the catenary on the drawbridge could seperate. Duh! How else could they electrify it? He got so excited that they were going 95 mph, too. He kept calling it the Acelar, or at least it sounded like it. And he says the top speed is 150 mph; the Acela can go faster than 150, it just isn't permitted to. Overall, the show is good, but they need a new host. Actually, right towards the end he just said they can go faster, but are limited due to traffic and rail quality. I dunno, I thought he was pretty good this time. Still excitable, but he wasn't shouting the whole time and seemed like less of a loon. Pretty good information, too.
santafe347 It was funny how cool he thought it was that the catenary on the drawbridge could seperate. Duh! How else could they electrify it? He got so excited that they were going 95 mph, too. He kept calling it the Acelar, or at least it sounded like it. And he says the top speed is 150 mph; the Acela can go faster than 150, it just isn't permitted to. Overall, the show is good, but they need a new host.
It was funny how cool he thought it was that the catenary on the drawbridge could seperate. Duh! How else could they electrify it? He got so excited that they were going 95 mph, too. He kept calling it the Acelar, or at least it sounded like it. And he says the top speed is 150 mph; the Acela can go faster than 150, it just isn't permitted to. Overall, the show is good, but they need a new host.
Actually, right towards the end he just said they can go faster, but are limited due to traffic and rail quality.
I dunno, I thought he was pretty good this time. Still excitable, but he wasn't shouting the whole time and seemed like less of a loon. Pretty good information, too.
Yeah, I guess I should have watched the whole show before posting. He did do better this time, but still, I don't know. He explained dynamic braking for the second time.
I liked the footage of the New Haven electrics. Seeing Boston was also neat! Notice how he never mentions Pan Am, just a "railroad in Maine."
Alex
santafe347It was funny how cool he thought it was that the catenary on the drawbridge could seperate. Duh! How else could they electrify it? He got so excited that they were going 95 mph, too. He kept calling it the Acelar, or at least it sounded like it. And he says the top speed is 150 mph; the Acela can go faster than 150, it just isn't permitted to. Overall, the show is good, but they need a new host.
It was funny how cool he thought it was that the catenary on the drawbridge could seperate. Duh! How else could they electrify it? He got so excited that they were going 95 mph, too. He kept calling it the Acelar, or at least it sounded like it. Overall, the show is good, but they need a new host.
Mike Rowe would have crawled inside that smoke box.Concrete tie plant was pretty cool.
Extreme Trains in 8 minutes!
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
FlashwaveI for one enjoy the show.
So do I, even if the host does act a bit strange.
Artrek- Pan Am- ConductorWell lets see I may have a biased opinion buuuut here it goes anyways. 1. The 79mph downeaster as you say only applies to passenger trains not the freight trains he is the conductor of. The freight trains can only operate at the most of 40mph with a telematry receiver (which is rare enough) and thats only down past Portland Maine. And an afterthought is that he and I both operate where 25mph is fast for the condition of the tracks and the engines. 2. I head multiple times that he is loud and blah blah blah... Well you kinda have to be when all they have is that stupid mike hovering over your head and not the mike that is hidden under the collar of your shirt. If any of the brainiacs that are complaining about it noticed when he was inside he was normal voiced not yelling over the engines. 3. I heard alot of guff about the dialog... Have any of you people heard of editing? You say something infront of the camera (Kidding or not) and the editors can and will put it in whether you were joking or not. Not only that they can put it in wherever they want to. So if he said "choo-choo" once in a cut to make people laugh (Which I know is beyond most people, but he is really funny in real life) then they would put in the show to attract a audience that know nothing of railroading. And in conclusion you can slam me if you want but I needed you all to know those little fact that you either overlooked or were to bent on flaming something to investigate. Oh and in all the engines it says "Dynamic brake disabled" even though there wern't any in them when the company bought them before I was born.
Thank you. I;m glad somebody can rightly defend him here. Admittedly, I found his mannerisms as a little over the top as well, and possibly distracting for the engine crew. But I for one enjoy the show.
-Morgan
What a disappointment. The manic, infomercial screaming host has nearly ruined what could have been a great, informative show. I will give it one more try on mute.
I thought the first was better, actually. The host aside (I guess the over the top part is necessary if you have "Extreme" in the show title) I couldn't help wonder why they spent 10 minutes showing how to drill hillsides, and break rock on a train show. Sure, it was interesting, but I'd rather have seen something more railroad specific. Like the quick cut shots of some machine sliding track sideways in the ballast. Why not explain the process of creating a road bed, show a cross section, or something....
But again, for a free show.......
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
You know what I like about it?
I get to see something besides GP40-2's and GP40PH/F40PH's on NS and NJT.
I thought it was hilarious when he went on about comparing the 70mph BNSF stack train to trains he is used to "back in Maine" as they were all are under 40mph. The host then said, "I've never gone this fast on a train before!!!" Hey Pan Am/Guilford/B&M...that's a shot!
Of course, we could mention the 79mph Amtrak Downeaster service from Boston to Portland, ME. And if the heartattack host thinks 70mph is "Gee-whiz!", wait 'till he tries 150mph on the Acela.
Paul A. Cutler III*******************Weather Or No Go New Haven*******************
I liked the part where they changed out the turbo charger.
Matt Bown was WAY over the top in this episode. This one was okay, but the 1st one was better.
- Luke
Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's
I watched 35 minutes of the first show and twenty seconds of the second show. It is good for children. Might get some interested in trains and maybe model railroading.
I would rather watch some of my old train videos instead of watching the clown.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
It can all be solved in Mathematics...The trains and intermodal equipment he gets to play with are 87 times our Atlas, Kato, Walthers, and Heljan equipment, thus he is having 87 times the fun we do when we run trains!
DVR'd the second episode and watched it this morning. The host has calmed down a little--actually I'm kinda/sorta liking him. When I heard LA-Dallas intermodal, for some reason I was thinking UP Sunset Route and the old T&P through Texas, but we got BNSF on the Transcon. Not that I mind, mind you, that's one HECKUVA busy steel highway. Enjoyed the Cajon segment and Abo Canyon, but we sure went through Arizona (which for my money has some pretty interesting trackage in itself) really FAST!
And I got a little confused as to how we got to Dallas OFF of the Transcon. Did the train leave it at Amarillo and use the old Fort Worth and Denver line south? Or did we leave it at Clovis NM and head down through Lubbock? Inquiring minds want to know, LOL!
But it was pretty good--though as another poster mentioned, the train kept changing.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Last week they replayed it on Sunday night. Just have to check the listing.
Second show was better than first, in terms of the host's delivery. I too enjoyed watching the lift bridge.
I guess I'll have to get to bed earlier the night before it comes on, or turn the volume up higher; I fell asleep during this episode too. I think I will try to watch the next episode.
I didn't get to see the first episode but I enjoyed the second one. I wish the host would calm down just a tad. If he was a little quieter in the second than he was in the first then he must've really been something. I realize he's trying to create enthusiasm to keep people interested but at times he gets juuuuuussst a leeetle bit over the top. I guess that's better though than some fella ridin' along half asleep saying, "this is a train... yawn... they are big trains..this is fun."
Overall though I liked it. I saw things like the 'ditch' going through L.A. that I didn't know about and I didn't know exactly how they got the freight containers from dockside over to the train. The bridge segment was cool too.
Jarrell
This time the host wasn't acting like a little kid on his first train ride. In the first show he was bouncing off the walls like a golf ball teed off in a tile bathroom. This time he was just bouncing.
I was 50/50 on the first Show ... only was able to watch a few minutes last night ,,, But with your review I will try to watch it this week... Sounds like the second show was better....
Wikious Along what Lothar said, the use of stock footage bothers me somewhat. At least they could have used stock from the same kind of trains.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I'm pretty sure it was lost on their "target" audience though.
-George
"And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers ride their father's magic carpet made of steel..."
Along what Lothar said, the use of stock footage bothers me somewhat. At least they could have used stock from the same kind of trains. I thought the host was a little calmer this time too- more reason for him to be talking loud in some shots this time, as opposed to none in the last episode! With any luck, in about a month he'll be tolerable.
Second show was pretty good. I like when they showed how the tracks line up on the lift bridge leaving the port in the beginning. Wonder if we could do something like that on our lift bridges to keep the rails lined up??That train sure changed it's identity a bunch of times before it got to Texas. It's a stack train, it's a freight train, it's a stack train, it's a hopper train, it's an auto train...etc...