Railroad History Quiz Game (Come on in and play)

[blhanel]

Over on both, Dale.  We're getting this narrowed down, though!

[blhanel]

Since interest seems to be tailing off here, should I suspend the "over and out" rule, or just go ahead and proclaim the current closest under as the victor (which would have been Dale's second to last guess)?

[nanaimo73]

Since interest seems to be tailing off here,

This thread is usually quiet on weekends, I don't mind waiting. Perhaps Snaggle can come up with a question.

[blhanel]

Weeeellll, I was all set to declaring this round over and posting excerpts from the Milwaukee Road Historical Association's website, but it seems their site is down tonight.  I do have the MPH numbers written down, though, so if anyone wants to keep trying to guess them, bring it on!

[al-in-chgo]

Orig from blhanel:  Been doing some research, Al?   

Actually, Brian, I was driving myself crazy last night trying to think of the other locomotive at Promontory Point. Maybe I should have researched, but it might have looked funny to the people still competing.  At any rate, I had stopped guesstimating mph's a good while back, if you look at my history.  - a. smalling

 

[blhanel]

Orig from blhanel:  Been doing some research, Al?   

Actually, Brian, I was driving myself crazy last night trying to think of the other locomotive at Promontory Point. Maybe I should have researched, but it might have looked funny to the people still competing.  At any rate, I had stopped guesstimating mph's a good while back, if you look at my history.  - a. smalling

 

I knew you had taken yourself out- I just figured you'd looked it up based on your response to Dale.  Feel free to keep guessing if not!  If no one comes close enough by the time I get back from church this morning, I'll post the answers then. 

[blhanel]

Here's the excerpt from www.mrha.com:

The company had been ex­perimenting with high speed pas­senger trains for some time. One important speed test was on July 20, 1934, involving a five-car steel train with roller bearing cars. Pull­ing it was locomotive 6402, a four-year old engine regularly used on the Chicago-Milwaukee run.

On that day, the special train left Chicago's Union Station, gath­ered speed, was hitting 87 miles an hour by Morton Grove, reached up to 90 and then 92 at Northbrook, then 97 and 100 mph. A little later, the train was clocked at 103 mph at Oakwood, Wis. This run estab­lished a new world's sustained speed record for passenger train travel, averaging 92.62 miles an hour for a distance of 61.4 miles between Edge­brook, Ill., and Oakwood, Wis. Average speed for the full 85.7-mile Chicago-Milwaukee trip was 76.07 mph.

Can you imagine standing near the tracks and watching that baby go past back then?  Wow... 

Dale, you were the closest before you went over- take 'er away! 

 

[nanaimo73]

Thanks Brian.

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route
The Delta route
The Peoria gateway
The only way
Follow the flag
The old reliable
The Yellowstone Park line
Through the heart of the south

[Murphy Siding]

Thanks Brian.

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route>>CGW?
The Delta route>>GM&O?
The Peoria gateway>>TP&W?
The only way>>Western Airlines?
Follow the flag>>Wabash?
The old reliable>>Erie?
The Yellowstone Park line>>GN?
Through the heart of the south>>L&N?

[nanaimo73]

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route>>CGW? Yes
The Delta route>>GM&O? no
The Peoria gateway>>TP&W? no
The only way>>Western Airlines? no
Follow the flag>>Wabash? Yes
The old reliable>>Erie? no
The Yellowstone Park line>>GN? no
Through the heart of the south>>L&N?no

Murph has two. Has spring sprung in SESD yet?

[Murphy Siding]

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route>>CGW? Yes
The Delta route>>GM&O? no
The Peoria gateway>>TP&W? no
The only way>>Western Airlines? no
Follow the flag>>Wabash? Yes
The old reliable>>Erie? no
The Yellowstone Park line>>GN? no
Through the heart of the south>>L&N?no

Murph has two. Has spring sprung in SESD yet?

Spring fever-yes.  Spring itself-getting close.

What do you mean Western Airlines no?  Don't you remember the TV commercials?  "Western-The oooooonly way to fly"

[snagletooth]

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route>>CGW? Yes
The Delta route>>GM&O? no
The Peoria gateway>>TP&W? no
The only way>>Western Airlines? no
Follow the flag>>Wabash? Yes
The old reliable>>Erie? no
The Yellowstone Park line>>GN? no
Through the heart of the south>>L&N?no

Murph has two. Has spring sprung in SESD yet?

Lets see...

Delta Route- Kansas City Southern

Peoria Gateway- Minneapolis & St. Louis

The Only Way- Union Pacific?

Old Reliable- Frisco?

Yellowstone Park Line- Northern Pacific

Heart of the South- Georgia Central 

   

[nanaimo73]

Snaggle, you got two more-

Peoria Gateway- Minneapolis & St. Louis, and
Yellowstone Park Line- Northern Pacific

[Ishmael]

Can anyone name these railroads?

The Corn belt route>>CGW? Yes
The Delta route>>GM&O? no
The Peoria gateway>>TP&W? no
The only way>>Western Airlines? no
Follow the flag>>Wabash? Yes
The old reliable>>Erie? no
The Yellowstone Park line>>GN? no
Through the heart of the south>>L&N?no

Murph has two. Has spring sprung in SESD yet?

Lets see...

Delta Route- Kansas City Southern

Peoria Gateway- Minneapolis & St. Louis

The Only Way- Union Pacific?

Old Reliable- Frisco?

Yellowstone Park Line- Northern Pacific

Heart of the South- Georgia Central 

   

The Delta Route-Columbus and Greenville

The Old Reliable-Nashville, Chatanooga and St. Louis

Heart of the South-Southern

That's all I can come up with

[ShopsYardMaster]

Corn Belt Route--CGW

Delta Route- Columbus and Greenville

Peoria Gateway- M&St.L

Only Way--Onieda and Western(?)

Follow the Flag--Wabash

Old Reliable--L&N

Yellowstone Park Line--NP

Heart of the South--Seaboard Air Line

[nanaimo73]

Corn Belt Route--CGW (Murphy)

Delta Route- Columbus and Greenville (Ishmael)

Peoria Gateway- M&St.L (Snaggle)

Only Way--Alton (nobody)

Follow the Flag--Wabash (Murphy)

Old Reliable--L&N (Jim)

Yellowstone Park Line--NP (Snaggle)

(Through the) Heart of the South--Seaboard Air Line (Jim)

Murphy, Snaggle and Jim, you guys got two each.

Does one of you have a question to ask?

[CShaveRR]

Give 'em a tie-breaker, Dale--how about "Serving Southern Forests"?

[al-in-chgo]

 

Wow!  Looks like a full day went by, and then some.  Wearin' o'the green, and all that? 

Here's a question that has nothing to do with statistics or trial-and-error; IOW a change for me.

Briefly, in your own words, sketch how the westbound Taggart Comet stalled out inside the Taggart Tunnel, and the catastrope that took place when an off-schedule Army freight train plowed into it. 

You could discuss the "why" of this from the viewpoint of politics (socialism) or the "how" of it from the viewpoint of operations (railroading).  Or both, for extra credit.

Try to do two, maybe three short paragraphs max, maybe 100 - 150 words.  Less than a full page in business-letter format. 

Hint no. 1:  This is from fiction, a novel that was first published in 1957.

Hint no. 2:  This is the longest novel the author ever wrote in terms of pages; but the novel that has sold the most continues to be the one she wrote and had published in 1943, about a very gifted and idealistic architect. 

Should be a piece o' green coconut cake!    

[oltmannd]

It's been a few years since I read "Atlas Shrugged!" so here goes:

The RR, Taggart Transcontinental< was being run by Dagny's idiot brother.   He was more concerned with social "fairness" than actually having the railroad operate in a safe an efficient manner.  He was more concerned with dividing the ever shrinking pie equally without regard to who was contributing how much in making the pie.  The result was lack of motivation and a general downward spiral of the maintenance and efficiency of the whole operation.  Those who "could" stopped caring and the hangers-on "couldn't".  (Dagny's brother was definitely a "hanger-on").  As things spiralled down hill, Dangy's brother got more desperate and made more and more ill-advised snap decisions.

The transcon train was supposed to run with a diesel, but the whole RR was being run into the ground and the diesel died en route. Desperate to get the train through, they pinch hit a steam locomotive despite dire warning of not running it through the tunnel.  While operating through the tunnel, the smoke from the locomotive asphixiated everyone on the train.  They ran the Army train in on top of it, expecting the other train to have already cleared.

Clearly, Aynn Rand had no clue about how RRs really operate, tunnel ventilation, signal systems or any thing else (Reardon steel?).  But she did clearly make a point about the main failing of socialism and that removing the connection between effort and reward results in lack of effort.  That we're probably better served by trying to make bigger and better pies that worry too much about how the get cut and who gets to cut them.

Who is John Gault? 

Does he know Roark?

 

[al-in-chgo]

It's been a few years since I read "Atlas Shrugged!" so here goes:

The RR, Taggart Transcontinental< was being run by Dagny's idiot brother.   He was more concerned with social "fairness" than actually having the railroad operate in a safe an efficient manner.  He was more concerned with dividing the ever shrinking pie equally without regard to who was contributing how much in making the pie.  The result was lack of motivation and a general downward spiral of the maintenance and efficiency of the whole operation.  Those who "could" stopped caring and the hangers-on "couldn't".  (Dagny's brother was definitely a "hanger-on").  As things spiralled down hill, Dangy's brother got more desperate and made more and more ill-advised snap decisions.

The transcon train was supposed to run with a diesel, but the whole RR was being run into the ground and the diesel died en route. Desperate to get the train through, they pinch hit a steam locomotive despite dire warning of not running it through the tunnel.  While operating through the tunnel, the smoke from the locomotive asphixiated everyone on the train.  They ran the Army train in on top of it, expecting the other train to have already cleared.

Clearly, Aynn Rand had no clue about how RRs really operate, tunnel ventilation, signal systems or any thing else (Reardon steel?).  But she did clearly make a point about the main failing of socialism and that removing the connection between effort and reward results in lack of effort.  That we're probably better served by trying to make bigger and better pies that worry too much about how the get cut and who gets to cut them.

Who is John Gault? 

Does he know Roark?

 

That was a great treatment!  Another aspect that interests me is that there were three Washington bureaucrats who forced the RR to haul them through the tunnel -- they weren't worried about the means.  Also that the engineer who led that fated train showed up at work drunk, which, Rand says, would have called for an immediate firing on Taggart Transcontinental in its earlier days. 

Congratulations!  Go to the head of your class, and the next question is yours . . .  a.s.

 

[oltmannd]

Conrail divided their intermodal trains by type.  There were premium trains, regular intermodal trains and stack trains.  In the mid-1990's train performance started to suffer as the size of the trains grew.  The premium trains were all resymbolled for a short period of time in an attempt to focus some attention on their timely operation.

How were they resymbolled?  What did it stand for?  And, what was the hertiage of the nomeclature?  (hint:  what was Conrail's standard nomeclature for an intermodal train?)

[rrnut282]

Is that when they started painting "Conrail Quality" on the side of the locomotives?

[oltmannd]

Is that when they started painting "Conrail Quality" on the side of the locomotives?

No, it came after the "Conrail Quality" paint scheme.

[CopCarSS]

I seem to recall that Conrail symbolled some intermodal stuff with "TV" and that it stood for "Trailer Van," but that's coming out of one of the darkest, most cob-webbed corners of my mind.

[oltmannd]

I seem to recall that Conrail symbolled some intermodal stuff with "TV" and that it stood for "Trailer Van," but that's coming out of one of the darkest, most cob-webbed corners of my mind.

TV did = "Trail Van".  That was the standard and normal symbolling convention - a carryover from PC days.

[nanaimo73]

I seem to recall that Conrail symbolled some intermodal stuff with "TV" and that it stood for "Trailer Van," but that's coming out of one of the darkest, most cob-webbed corners of my mind.

TV did = "Trail Van".  That was the standard and normal symbolling convention - a carryover from PC days.

Did TV start with PC, or did the PRR start that?

[oltmannd]

I seem to recall that Conrail symbolled some intermodal stuff with "TV" and that it stood for "Trailer Van," but that's coming out of one of the darkest, most cob-webbed corners of my mind.

TV did = "Trail Van".  That was the standard and normal symbolling convention - a carryover from PC days.

Did TV start with PC, or did the PRR start that?

The PRR intermodal trains were TT for "Trailer Train". 

[rrnut282]

Is that when trains like Mail 8 came into being?

[oltmannd]

Is that when trains like Mail 8 came into being?

Nope.  The mail train names were hold-overs from another era that lasted into and through the whole Conrail era.

[nanaimo73]

Didn't they bring back the Flexi name, taken from the NYC Flexi Van?