Trains.com

Hunter Harrison "Dead" at 73!!? Is there a nicer way Trains could have broke the news?

5456 views
55 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 20,096 posts
Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 4:40 AM

What wrecked any regard I had for HH was his removal of three-point protection.

Shure, just a blue flag will work 10,000 times.   Shure a blue flag plus reverser cenered 10,000 times 10,000 times.  But if one life is saved in 100,000,000 times, the extra half-a-miniute to switch off field exciting is more than worth it.

Nothing demonstrated crass putting dollars ahead of lives better than removal of three-point protection.  I hope the new team restores it, and restores it as soon as possible.

 

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 4:21 AM

Kicked the bucket.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Sunny (mostly) San Diego
  • 1,920 posts
Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 12:48 AM

Enzoamps

(I may live to regret this...)

Hunter Harrison went up on the roof...

For more:

http://www.realnothings.com/famous%20jokes/upontheroofjoke.htm

 

Told so well by Bill Macy in a Maude Episode in 1975.

  • Member since
    December 2017
  • From: I've been everywhere, man
  • 4,269 posts
Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 11:15 PM

aegrotatio

Has the Trains Magazine curse transcended to railroad executives?

Only to old ones with emphysema.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    September 2008
  • 1,112 posts
Posted by aegrotatio on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 11:01 PM

Their latest issue has at least a half-dozen articles mention him by name.

 

Has the Trains Magazine curse transcended to railroad executives?

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 8:53 PM

Took the last train to Clarksville Music

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 8:13 PM

In honor of goldfish everywhere - 

flushed

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    September 2017
  • 5,636 posts
Posted by charlie hebdo on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 8:04 PM

selector

Then there's "..met his Maker."  How can we be so sure?  Did his father predecease him?  Or his mom?

I think buying the farm seems a waste of good hunting so late in life.

 

There's always the Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch:

"He is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!"

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 7:54 PM

Then there's "..met his Maker."  How can we be so sure?  Did his father predecease him?  Or his mom?

I think buying the farm seems a waste of good hunting so late in life.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 1,530 posts
Posted by NKP guy on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 7:50 PM

I like "...joined the Church Triumphant on...."

 

  • Member since
    April 2015
  • 469 posts
Posted by Enzoamps on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 7:17 PM

(I may live to regret this...)

Hunter Harrison went up on the roof...

For more:

http://www.realnothings.com/famous%20jokes/upontheroofjoke.htm

  • Member since
    July 2010
  • From: Louisiana
  • 2,310 posts
Posted by Paul of Covington on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 6:28 PM

   I think my favorite term is one used regularly by one of our local radio stations, usually for jazz greats: "He went on home."

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: roundhouse
  • 2,747 posts
Posted by Randy Stahl on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 6:23 PM

Croaked

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 6:09 PM

selector
sorts

"Hatched"

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,568 posts
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 5:41 PM

BaltACD
BaltACD
Thank You

So since Since Hunter was a Horseman what about getting recycled into a Horse the next time around.

 

 
Euclid
 
selector
People die. Millions of us each day. Why don't we have a euphemism for being born? 

That would be "Passed among."

 

Depictions of life being created are considered pornographic.

Depictions of life being ended happen on Saturday Morning cartoons and other kids programming, not to mention that it is a critical element of most all adult programming.

 

Angel

 

 
Euclid
 
selector
People die. Millions of us each day. Why don't we have a euphemism for being born? 

That would be "Passed among."

 

Depictions of life being created are considered pornographic.

Depictions of life being ended happen on Saturday Morning cartoons and other kids programming, not to mention that it is a critical element of most all adult programming.

 

Angel

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 5:30 PM

Euclid
 
selector
People die. Millions of us each day. Why don't we have a euphemism for being born? 

That would be "Passed among."

Depictions of life being created are considered pornographic.

Depictions of life being ended happen on Saturday Morning cartoons and other kids programming, not to mention that it is a critical element of most all adult programming.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    January 2014
  • 8,221 posts
Posted by Euclid on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 5:17 PM

selector
People die. Millions of us each day. Why don't we have a euphemism for being born?

That would be "Passed among."

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,568 posts
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 4:57 PM

Geeze...Is there anyone here who believes in a higher power and a afterlife?

Mark Twain — "'I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience"

Or was it-

Sam Clemens aka Mark Twain-"Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born—a hundred million years—and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together."

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 12:48 PM

Words ought to be specific, and used with specificity.  Ambiguous terms raise the risk of all sorts of problems, and to me they sound patronizing.  "We know you're a sensitive dweeb, so we'll soft-pedal it for you.  Pablum anyone?"

People die.  Millions of us each day.  Why don't we have a euphemism for being born?

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,021 posts
Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 12:29 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH
The other problem is that the various and sundry "euphemisms" suggested by the OP are almost offensive in their own right.  Report it for what it is and leave it at that.

Facts hurt...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 10:09 AM

The other problem is that the various and sundry "euphemisms" suggested by the OP are almost offensive in their own right.  Report it for what it is and leave it at that.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Mpls/St.Paul
  • 13,892 posts
Posted by wjstix on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 10:03 AM

The problem you can get into is you can 'soft sell' something so much that the meaning gets lost.

I've worked for years for our state tax agency. Some time back there was a deal about the IRS 'scaring' people so our agency decided to adopt 'kinder gentler' tax letters / notices. So for example if we found out someone had enough income to file a tax return one year, but we hadn't received their tax return / filing yet, we sent out a letter saying something like: "We have reviewed our records, and can't find a 1999 tax return for you. Please send a copy of your return to the address below."

Well, people read that and said "hey I know I filed, if they've lost or misfiled my return, that's not my problem" and threw the letter away. Then a couple of months later, they got a letter saying we had prepared a return for them, which showed how much they were going to owe if they didn't file a return and we had to file one for them. Of course, when they got the second letter they called us saying "why didn't you tell me you didn't get my return? I've got a copy right here!".  

Stix
  • Member since
    December 2017
  • From: I've been everywhere, man
  • 4,269 posts
Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 9:51 AM

"Dead" is far kinder than what a lot of people are saying about him.  I see nothing wrong with the newswire headline, it simply reported the facts.  That is what the news is supposed to do.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    July 2015
  • 52 posts
Posted by Goodtiming on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 9:47 AM

Dead is dead. We’ll all be there some day. I didn’t see anything the least bit objectionable. Millennial?

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 8:07 AM

CandOforprogress2
Like Passed away? Went to that big Lionel train set in the sky? Caught the westbound? (Fav of Hobos) Took a sidetrack? Got the last train to the Greenbrier? Went to Florida on the Sunshine special? Ect..Ect.

I guess you are among those mentioned in the most memorable line from 'A Few Good Men'.

Cue Jack Nicholson!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

Moderator
  • Member since
    July 2014
  • 83 posts
Posted by David Lassen on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 7:32 AM

We don't often respond to this sort of complaint, but I'll answer this one. If you look at the major media reports on Harrison, they basically all say "dead" or "has died." This follows Associated Press style ("Death, die: Don't use euphemisms like passed on or passed away except in a direct quote") as well as the basic concept of reporting the news, not trying to soft-pedal it or somehow make it more palatable.

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • 1,568 posts
Hunter Harrison "Dead" at 73!!? Is there a nicer way Trains could have broke the news?
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Monday, December 18, 2017 2:15 PM

Like Passed away? Went to that big Lionel train set in the sky? Caught the westbound? (Fav of Hobos) Took a sidetrack? Got the last train to the Greenbrier? Went to Florida on the Sunshine special? Ect..Ect.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy