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classic warbirds attacking trains

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Posted by zugmann on Sunday, August 25, 2019 3:10 PM

SD70Dude
What about the railroad superstition that having the knuckle open on the front of your lead locomotive is bad luck?

I was always told an open knuckle could close on a car hit at a crossing and "hold onto it", instead of deflecting it.

True superstitionis taking your rain gear so it won't rain.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, August 25, 2019 3:08 PM

Convicted One
charlie hebdo
Intentionality and the supernatural are human constructs,  having no independent existence

I can't recall a single instance where injecting superstition into a thread has actually improved the quality of the conversation.

What about the railroad superstition that having the knuckle open on the front of your lead locomotive is bad luck?

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Convicted One on Sunday, August 25, 2019 3:03 PM

charlie hebdo
Intentionality and the supernatural are human constructs,  having no independent existence

I can't recall a single instance where injecting superstition into a thread has actually improved the quality of the conversation.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, August 25, 2019 11:36 AM

Or perhaps trains on classic warbirds.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Sunday, August 25, 2019 11:16 AM

Perhaps this is a good time for the song "Casey Jones" either the old song or the Dead's. 

https://youtu.be/gND23H8DiDM 

With a narrow gauge steamer on Ruegen in Germany. 

https://youtu.be/_x2m6i4KFqg 

 

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Posted by MMLDelete on Sunday, August 25, 2019 10:02 AM

I steer clear of discussions when they get to politics or religion. I have trained myself to not go there. I just switch to another thread. I hope this thing doesn't go off the rails. Hopefully no one gets involved but then later feels like they got railroaded. Maybe the moderators will keep this on track, before someone goes totally loco.

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Sunday, August 25, 2019 10:00 AM
Back in Spring 1945, my dad's bomb group spent a fair amount of time attacking railyards, rail bridges, rolling stock mostly in the Saigon area. After each of the rail bridge bombing missions, one squadron would drop down to tree tops and use up their 50 cal. any trains etc. They were flying B-24's.
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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, August 25, 2019 7:39 AM

SD70Dude
All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

But how do you know?

He didn't specify who or what his 'Creator' was, which leaves the possibilities open.  Even as a placeholder the FSM has little credibility; the point of the question on 'intelligent design' hinges much more on 'we can't know' than 'my faith-based assumption is better than yours'.

I'm still waiting for Ken Ham to demonstrate unambiguously that creation can be attributed to the God of the Bible instead of, say, Prajapati.  Not expecting him to manage.  But that doesn't speak to whether or not 'creation' was random ... just that we can't say, and hence plan for the 'null alternative' in the absence of a demonstrable alternative.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Sunday, August 25, 2019 12:22 AM

BaltACD
Semper Vaporo
BaltACD 
charlie hebdo 
BaltACD

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication. 

Unfortunately,  that natural process is frequently interfered with negative unintended consequences.  

Unintended consequences are a consequence of being human. 

But that was not intended.

Yes it was!  The creator of humanity endowed humans with the freedom to choose their own paths through life.

All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Saturday, August 24, 2019 9:10 PM

Intentionality and the supernatural are human constructs,  having no independent existence. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, August 24, 2019 7:29 PM

Semper Vaporo
 
BaltACD 
charlie hebdo 
BaltACD

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication. 

Unfortunately,  that natural process is frequently interfered with negative unintended consequences.  

Unintended consequences are a consequence of being human. 

But that was not intended.

Yes it was!  The creator of humanity endowed humans with the freedom to choose their own paths through life.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Saturday, August 24, 2019 7:12 PM

BaltACD
 
charlie hebdo
 
BaltACD

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication. 

Unfortunately,  that natural process is frequently interfered with negative unintended consequences. 

 

Unintended consequences are a consequence of being human.

 

But that was not intended.

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, August 24, 2019 7:04 PM

charlie hebdo
 
BaltACD

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication. 

Unfortunately,  that natural process is frequently interfered with negative unintended consequences. 

Unintended consequences are a consequence of being human.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Saturday, August 24, 2019 7:00 PM

BaltACD

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication.

 

Unfortunately,  that natural process is frequently interfered with negative unintended consequences. 

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, August 24, 2019 5:53 PM

charlie hebdo

If anyone thinks the Trains forum continues to be popular, take a look at the activity levels.  Years of banishing members and locking or deleting threads has killed most interest. 

Way to go!! 

Back many moons ago, there were many unanswered questions regarding railroading (hence the mention off threads along that line).   There was even more variety in railroading with regard to the number of railroads and their practices.

I'm not gonna say that all the questions have been answered, but there's an element of truth to that.  

Now we're down to the big four plus three for railroads - even the shortlines are getting gobbled up by conglomerates.  

It's always been the case, though, that if there's a scandal (or other brou-ha-ha), things get lively for a while.

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, August 24, 2019 4:50 PM

Forums are just like real time interpersonal conversations - they have a starting point and then they go wherever the go during the course of the conversation and they end when enthusiam for what is being discussed ends.  The more people that enter the conversation the more divergent insights get offered and the conversation may or maynot follow those divergent insights.  

It is all a part of Human Communication.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by MMLDelete on Saturday, August 24, 2019 4:09 PM

They should just create a new forum called Other Machines. Many railfans are also interested in airplanes, ships, cars, etc. Such a forum would in no way diminish the railroad ones.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Saturday, August 24, 2019 10:02 AM

If anyone thinks the Trains forum continues to be popular, take a look at the activity levels.  Years of banishing members and locking or deleting threads has killed most interest. 

Way to go!! 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 4:14 PM

During the A10 competition, they were only using "flash/bangs" for the bombing portion, but they played it for real, getting out of there as quickly as possible.  Even the bomb itself (500 Lb) would be enough to cause serious damage to the plane.

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There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 3:12 PM

BaltACD

 

 
rrnut282
Here is another video that is a compilation of gun camera footage from WW2.  A lot of the movies are fuzzy and slightly out of focus, but you can make out many trains as targets.  Some strafe the train until they find the gas or ammo car.  On the steam locomotives, you can see a marked change in the plume out of the stack when they get hit.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3et1SunPU

 

You need to close enough that your ammo will take out the high explosive elements - but in doing so you are too close to the blast for safety.

 

That was the quandary.  Getting close enough to make your shots count, but not so close you'd become a victim yourself.  Did you notice the debris flying up with the explosions?

As good as the training was, I still wonder how many of those pilots lost during ground attack missions were lost due to relative inexperience, to say nothing of "Gotta-get-it-gotta-get-it!" target fixation.  It was a problem then, it still is now.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 2:06 PM

rrnut282
Here is another video that is a compilation of gun camera footage from WW2.  A lot of the movies are fuzzy and slightly out of focus, but you can make out many trains as targets.  Some strafe the train until they find the gas or ammo car.  On the steam locomotives, you can see a marked change in the plume out of the stack when they get hit.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3et1SunPU

You need to close enough that your ammo will take out the high explosive elements - but in doing so you are too close to the blast for safety.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 1:37 PM

If you go full-screen at about 8:40 to 8:50 the poor wingman of the plane doing the strafing gets obliterated by the explosion's shock wave.  

Tragic, but what can you do?  

Another telegram to a family, and another Western Union deliveryman one step closer to a nervous breakdown.  War is hell in more ways than one.

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Posted by rrnut282 on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 12:53 PM

Here is another video that is a compilation of gun camera footage from WW2.  A lot of the movies are fuzzy and slightly out of focus, but you can make out many trains as targets.  Some strafe the train until they find the gas or ammo car.  On the steam locomotives, you can see a marked change in the plume out of the stack when they get hit.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3et1SunPU

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 6:05 AM

I believe the RAF also used Liberators for those missions against railways in Burma. There was some sort of shared command between us and Great Britain with our heavy bombers over there, with a name like the USAF's Strategic Air Command during the Cold War years. 

The RAF wasn't too thrilled with the B-24 and avoided sending them up against German fighters over continental Europe on strategic bombing missions. They instead handled maritime patrol duties over the Atlantic and Mediterranean and served as bombers in less vulnerable theaters like Burma. 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 9:20 PM

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, on the other side of the world the Japanese were building the Burma Railway while the Allies were unbuilding it for them from the air. I can find where the Americans used B-24 liberators but I haven't found what the British used. Would that have maybe been old Wellingtons and such shipped to the quieter corners of the war after becoming obsolete back in Europe?

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 3:10 PM

There's no description of note, but this steam engine appears to have been the victim of a strafing run in the Korean War.

 

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 8:09 AM

BaltACD
Just like railroad Control Points - threads also change routes.

All he's saying is that, just like at railroad Control Points, any route you change to will still be 'on the trains'.

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 12, 2019 10:44 PM

Steve Sweeney
The thread is diverging from rail again. Please keep on track.

Just like railroad Control Points - threads also change routes.  If you don't want to go there, get off the train.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, August 12, 2019 9:03 PM

Steve Sweeney

The thread is diverging from rail again. Please keep on track.

 

...on track... LaughYes

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, August 12, 2019 6:07 PM

charlie hebdo

If the Bf 109g, a pretty small fighter,  could handle 20mm  cannon mounted underwing successfully ,  I think it indicates that cannons are not problematic. 

 

Those Bf109's were small all right, in more ways than one.  I saw a History Channel show a few years back where a present-day RAF pilot was "Trying one on for size" and had to squeeze himself into the cockpit of the restored Messerschmitt.

"My God!" he said, "Were they all bloody midgets?"  He was 5'10'', and could barely get in the thing!

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