Psychot Overmod Lithonia Operator That Holiday Inn Express campaign was the funniest series of commercials I ever saw. I wish they had kept going with that. After all these years, lots of people still remember them. Oh, this is not good. I thought this was still a current 'trope' for smartness. (Then again I still remember 'where's the beef'; 'where's my big savings'; and 'I've fallen and I can't get up' as cliches, and those are far older still...) According to the interwebs, that particular HI Express campaign ran until 2008, so this person must be REALLY young, or they don't watch much TV. I encountered a reference to "Mikey likes it" in an unremembered context recently, and I wondered how many people actually got it.
Overmod Lithonia Operator That Holiday Inn Express campaign was the funniest series of commercials I ever saw. I wish they had kept going with that. After all these years, lots of people still remember them. Oh, this is not good. I thought this was still a current 'trope' for smartness. (Then again I still remember 'where's the beef'; 'where's my big savings'; and 'I've fallen and I can't get up' as cliches, and those are far older still...)
Lithonia Operator That Holiday Inn Express campaign was the funniest series of commercials I ever saw. I wish they had kept going with that. After all these years, lots of people still remember them.
Oh, this is not good.
I thought this was still a current 'trope' for smartness.
(Then again I still remember 'where's the beef'; 'where's my big savings'; and 'I've fallen and I can't get up' as cliches, and those are far older still...)
According to the interwebs, that particular HI Express campaign ran until 2008, so this person must be REALLY young, or they don't watch much TV.
I encountered a reference to "Mikey likes it" in an unremembered context recently, and I wondered how many people actually got it.
They still use Mikey likes it, but Mikey is a girl now.
BaltACDAs well as not requiring a person to get in the foul between cars just to couple them.
Unless you want to lace up air hoses. Or have to manually open a kunckle. Or close one, or move one...
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
No coupler system is perfect. They all have pros and cons. The buffer pads have a purpose of eliminating slack action. In coupling, the slack is drawn out of the coupling by pulling the two couplers together as the cars bottom out against their buffers. We don’t have buffers and the price we pay for not having them is slack action, which causes problems including train derailments and damage to equipment and cargo.
Link and pin couplers had buffer blocks because the couplers alone were not reliable for shoving moves because their drawheads did not offer the positive engagement that our automatic couplers do. So the cars were fitted with timber buffers called dead blocks at about the same height as the drawheads, but out to each corner of the car.
So when cars with link and pin couplers were shoved, their buffer blocks came together and transmitted the shoving force. Many people are familiar with the danger of losing fingers or hands in the closing of link and pin drawheads. But people were also often crushed to death by the closing of the dead blocks.
tree68 CSSHEGEWISCH Back to the matter at hand. I believe that the buffers used with link-and-screw couplers are there to absorb energy when the train slows or when switching. I agree. While the link-and-screw handles the stretch just fine, it really can't handle the bunch part. The Janney coupler (and its decendents, of course) handles both stretch and bunch just fine.
CSSHEGEWISCH Back to the matter at hand. I believe that the buffers used with link-and-screw couplers are there to absorb energy when the train slows or when switching.
Back to the matter at hand. I believe that the buffers used with link-and-screw couplers are there to absorb energy when the train slows or when switching.
I agree. While the link-and-screw handles the stretch just fine, it really can't handle the bunch part. The Janney coupler (and its decendents, of course) handles both stretch and bunch just fine.
As well as not requiring a person to get in the foul between cars just to couple them.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Larry 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...
Overmod (Then again I still remember 'where's the beef'; 'where's my big savings'; and 'I've fallen and I can't get up' as cliches, and those are far older still...)
I still remember being excited about no late fees.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Lithonia OperatorThat Holiday Inn Express campaign was the funniest series of commercials I ever saw. I wish they had kept going with that. After all these years, lots of people still remember them.
That Holiday Inn Express campaign was the funniest series of commercials I ever saw. I wish they had kept going with that.
After all these years, lots of people still remember them.
zugmannWe're getting too old for this, Balt. Damn youngins. Probably thought there were ALWAYS blue M&MS, too!
It is our obligation to educate the youngins and for that matter the oldins.
M&M's used to parrallel Henry Ford's comment. Any color you want so long as it is choclate brown.
We're getting too old for this, Balt. Damn youngins. Probably thought there were ALWAYS blue M&MS, too!
KBCpresidentI see, thank you. I'm relatively young, but its more a matter of me not being failiar with manyt figures of speach. Either way, Holiday Inn Express ain't bad.
Either way, Holiday Inn Express ain't bad.
Part of the reason for my statement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHCTaUFXpP8
I see, thank you. I'm relatively young, but its more a matter of me not being failiar with manyt figures of speach.
The Beaverton, Fanno Creek & Bull Mountain Railroad
"Ruby Line Service"
KBCpresident BaltACD I did stat at a Holiday Inn Express several years ago. I think I'm missing the context here, but Holiday Inn Express isn't a bad hotel, I work for an IHG franchise myself, so I'm glad you enjoyed your stay.
BaltACD I did stat at a Holiday Inn Express several years ago.
I did stat at a Holiday Inn Express several years ago.
I think I'm missing the context here, but Holiday Inn Express isn't a bad hotel, I work for an IHG franchise myself, so I'm glad you enjoyed your stay.
It's a way of his saying that he is making an educated guess as opposed to having the absolute last word on the subject. What Balt said sounds reasonable to me, but I am in no more of a position to say what's the actual fact of the matter than he is.
KBCpresidentI think I'm missing the context here, but Holiday Inn Express isn't a bad hotel, I work for an IHG franchise myself, so I'm glad you enjoyed your stay.
Must be young.
The thing with the buffer and turnbuckle coupler is that someone has to be between the cars to couple them, not unlike here where the couplers connect automatically (It looks that way to me but I'm not a professional railroader) but someone still has to connect the various hoses. The buffers do provide a safe place to stand in the gauge when a car is approaching to be connected. Normally the buffers from one car to another are tight together while running. The turnbuckle arrangement hangs from the end of each car, one gets lifted onto a hook on the other car and then is tightened up manually. Narrow gauge equipment (German, anyway) have one central buffer and the coupler looks like a piece of chain that runs over the top of it.
The bigger question is why those carriers want coupling to be so manpower intensive?
KBCpresident BaltACD KBCpresident 54light15 Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler Those bumpers on British railways some one mentioned earlier look so weird to me. I figure they are there in case of collisions, but a train collision is possible anywhere--why aren't they found worldwide? When I was a kid watchign Thomas and Friends I coudln't understand why none of the locomotives looked familiar. Took me a few years to figure that one out.... Feature the Buffer Pads were a 'safety' item with either link & pin or turnbuckle coupling systems - gives a worker a guaranteed space to complete the coupling. I see. So we don't use them in North America because the type of coupler we use doesn't require them?
BaltACD KBCpresident 54light15 Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler Those bumpers on British railways some one mentioned earlier look so weird to me. I figure they are there in case of collisions, but a train collision is possible anywhere--why aren't they found worldwide? When I was a kid watchign Thomas and Friends I coudln't understand why none of the locomotives looked familiar. Took me a few years to figure that one out.... Feature the Buffer Pads were a 'safety' item with either link & pin or turnbuckle coupling systems - gives a worker a guaranteed space to complete the coupling.
KBCpresident 54light15 Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler Those bumpers on British railways some one mentioned earlier look so weird to me. I figure they are there in case of collisions, but a train collision is possible anywhere--why aren't they found worldwide? When I was a kid watchign Thomas and Friends I coudln't understand why none of the locomotives looked familiar. Took me a few years to figure that one out....
54light15 Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler
Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler
Those bumpers on British railways some one mentioned earlier look so weird to me. I figure they are there in case of collisions, but a train collision is possible anywhere--why aren't they found worldwide?
When I was a kid watchign Thomas and Friends I coudln't understand why none of the locomotives looked familiar. Took me a few years to figure that one out....
Feature the Buffer Pads were a 'safety' item with either link & pin or turnbuckle coupling systems - gives a worker a guaranteed space to complete the coupling.
I see. So we don't use them in North America because the type of coupler we use doesn't require them?
I believe that is the case - I did stat at a Holiday Inn Express several years ago.
On our Baltic cruise several years ago, we took the train from Rostock to Berlin in the old East Germany. We saw several large derelict roundhouses. Three other things that I remember from the ride were-- 1. A lot of the country farmhouses were flying the old DDR flag. 2. In Waren was a large factory that made bronze ship propellors. They had a bunch of large diameter ones that were brand new just sitting outside. 3. I'd always heard that the military (mainly National Guard) did a lot of training at Camp Grayling because it was the same terrain as Germany--they were right. It was like being "up north".
I'm enjoying this discussion a lot! Lots of differences around the world it seems--I suppose this is the result of differences in how railroads evolved depending on local cultures/governments/geography?
It seems to me like North American rialroads are fairly unique--bigger equipment, longer trains, early dieselization. And I'm pretty sure the locomotive bell is unique to North America.
Is that just a factor of politics and geography?
One thing about Italy is that the infrastructure of steam still exists. At the Florence station there are water columns at the ends of the platforms and coaling silos can be seen here and there. I was in Italy in 2004 and in the outskirts of the Florence station sat a 2-6-2 that obviously wasn't a derelict, it was most likely used for excursions.
CSSHEGEWISCHHe did, in the person of Silvio Berlusconi. He got booted out of office, too.
Couldn't make the trains run on time? At least he didn't get mixed up with a crazy German housepainter.
Flintlock76 Lithonia Operator Not a visual thing, but MANY other countries have passenger trains with better time-keeping than Amtrak! They're afraid Mussolini's going to come back, in Italy anyway.
Lithonia Operator Not a visual thing, but MANY other countries have passenger trains with better time-keeping than Amtrak!
They're afraid Mussolini's going to come back, in Italy anyway.
Freights in Europe are way shorter, too. There seems to be a lot more cars built for one purpose, unlike a North American box car which can carry anything. You rarely see boxcars over there anyway. The famed "40 men or 8 horses" type are just about extinct. Most freights have the dual buffers with the turnbuckle coupler but passenger trains can have various types with or without the buffers.
I do recall how in Switzerland in the 1970s every station seemed to have a boxcar sitting on a spur track and these all had a covered platform at one end. I don't know if that is still the case. All over Europe and Britain you see abandoned freight platforms near stations and in East Germany you can see the sites of freight yards that were torn out when the factories that needed them closed down when the country reunited. In Bielefeld, Germany is a huge roundhouse and water tower all falling into ruins.
Not a visual thing, but MANY other countries have passenger trains with better time-keeping than Amtrak!
That's true, but let's be fair to Amtrak: the passenger railroads in those countries don't have to contend with host railroads that are borderline hostile to passenger trains. Moreover, freight density in Europe is much lower than in the U.S., so dispatchers aren't trying to get passenger trains through a gauntlet of slower-moving freights.
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