Semper VaporoI believe it was as a joke that someone then invented the suction cup with a flat spring wire holding up a hand silhouette, such that motion of the car caused the flat spring to swing the hand side to side...
The real Queen Elizabeth learned a 'royal secret' about waving very early, that on occasions of state she might have to be waving for hours without stint, and that holding your hand up rapidly becomes exhausting -- a variant of that technique being very effectively exercised as discipline in my 7th- and 8th-grade Latin classes! That is where that distinctive 'royal wave' style, a gentle back-and forth twist of the wrist, comes from. And why no other part of the body moves as the hand is waved. This of course can be parodied with simple and cheap mechanics that give 100% of the 'visual effect'... (no disrespect to the Queen or anyone else who has to use the Method, of course.)
I personally think that a proper 'engineer' would be better modeled using the technological approach of one of those inflatable figures you see outside tire shops and the like, which appear to 'dance' as low-pressure high-volume air is blown through fabric tube structure. A small tap of main-reservoir air could easily produce the effect of all sorts of vigilance, perhaps replicating the danse macabre required to simulate watching all the inward-facing cameras, observing and calling signals, keeping watch for all sorts of wayside issues, reading gauges and adjusting controls, keeping whacking at the various vigilance-device resets, etc. -- and incidentally producing the effect of cheery waving.
When I began riding motorcycles around 1966 or so, it seemed all of us waved at each other as we passed. I think drivers of two-seater sports cars observed a similar custom.
But somehow, by 1980 this motorcyclist-waving seemed to end. Maybe because thanks to the likes of Honda there were now many more bikes on the road than there used to be, and waving would not only happen too often, it was distracting and dangerous to lift the left hand from the handlebars.
It was a nice custom when the BSA's Triumphs, Nortons, BMW's and Harleys ruled the road. Then came the kids on their rice grinders!
tree68Overmod I suppose we could rig up a cardboard engineer like those life-size cardboard Queen Elizabeths you could buy with a sort of bobblehead mechanism to do her 'signature' royal wave, to get the effect.
I suppose we could rig up a cardboard engineer like those life-size cardboard Queen Elizabeths you could buy with a sort of bobblehead mechanism to do her 'signature' royal wave, to get the effect.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
tree68Maybe we could do that with "FRED."
Flintlock76 Speaking of ancient road signs, anyone remember the old "Children Playing" warning signs with the silhouette of the running boy wearing knickers?
Speaking of ancient road signs, anyone remember the old "Children Playing" warning signs with the silhouette of the running boy wearing knickers?
Can't say that I remember those, but there are still those insulting signs around that say,
"Slow Children at Play".
Overmod I suppose we could rig up a cardboard engineer like those life-size cardboard Queen Elizabeths you could buy with a sort of bobblehead mechanism to do her 'signature' royal wave, to get the effect.
Maybe we could do that with "FRED."
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...
Semper Vaporo The reason for the admonition of "FULL STOP" is because it seems many drivers think that STOP is an acronym! It stand for: Slight Tap On Pedal
The reason for the admonition of "FULL STOP" is because it seems many drivers think that STOP is an acronym!
It stand for:
Slight Tap On Pedal
This is a vintage piece - it was yellow when I acquired it, having long since been retired by the county highway department.
While I agree with your general sentiment, I wonder if early drivers generally regarded traffic signs as "advisory," hence the need to point out the need for a full stop.
Flintlock76Dang! I wish I could have seen that! The biggest surprise I ever got cruising those old Bergen County towns was the occasional vintage stop sign with "cats-eyes" reflectors.
I've got one of those in my garage. And even better - it says "FULL STOP," which raises some interesting questions.
Two of the cat's eyes don't reflect for some reason - when I refurbed the sign I simply put them at the end of the horizontal parts of the "L's".
OvermodThis thread is taking up valuable space that should be used for discussing a real issue -- the disappearance of wigwag crossing signals. They were nearly all gone by the time I was a teenager --I found the one remaining one on the Erie Northern Branch in Northvale and was astounded, as if I'd found a dodo or a live dinosaur.
Dang! I wish I could have seen that! The biggest surprise I ever got cruising those old Bergen County towns was the occasional vintage stop sign with "cats-eyes" reflectors.
Max Headroom! A blast from the past.
Portrayed by Max Frewer, a blast from the frozen north.
SD60MAC9500Locomotive of the future..
I do suspect that autonomous locomotives would retain some form of cab and 'built-in' human control equipment and display capability. I'm sure some of the PSR-addled mavens would go to some combination of RCO and shoving-platform mentality -- that would be a mistake sooner if not later.
Jist no friendly wave. I suppose we could rig up a cardboard engineer like those life-size cardboard Queen Elizabeths you could buy with a sort of bobblehead mechanism to do her 'signature' royal wave, to get the effect. A bit like those cardboard state troopers some states tried along with cardboard police cars to scare people. Some people of a certain age might appreciate Max Headroom in a bandana and engineer's hat.
Overmod I shudder slightly to think that the generation after ours might be saying the same thing about a wave from a cab...
I shudder slightly to think that the generation after ours might be saying the same thing about a wave from a cab...
Locomotive of the future.. Nothing new under the sun
Slack action on the rear of a 10,000 ft+ train ?? We have read many incidents of slack action on just 5000 ft or less trains. Today anyone assigned to such would or could have OSHA involved. Pass a law and you have 2 conflicting agencies saying yes or no.
Well, can that slack action be mitigated with independent isolation of the caboose body much in the way the modern safety locomotive cabs are isolated? Or giving the crew member a roll of bubble wrap before each trip? And besides, adding a caboose is a labor-saving arrangement whereby the RR can have their one crew locomotive work arrangements dream? Just think, eliminating the conductor position upfront altogether as there would only be the need for a "Train Watcher" in the caboose. In fact, this could even be a crowdsource position like an Uber driver or (to quote Mr. Elmer J. Fud "be very very quiet") a railfan.
SD70DudeGo far enough upstream and you'll find others. Or loop around via Staten Island.
Going via the Goethals and the Verrazano is a very great way round -- even getting to the Goethals from Hoboken is a couple of PSR trainlengths' worth of travel. Of course there are plenty of bridges on the east side of Manhattan, where the water is generally much narrower, for you to cross and get stuck in traffic, but you will be wending your way around on 278 from the Narrows for a considerable time to have the opportunity.
Now, if Lindenthal's bridge project had been approved before WWI, things might have been different. That thing would have had 20-odd tracks to high-level trackage on the island. Then all we'd need would be a double-track freight tunnel under the Narrows to Bay Ridge and everything would be set. And we'd have gotten it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling bankers who creamed Archie McLeod.
Amusingly, crApple Maps does try to route you from East Hampton to Newark/Liberty Airport via a bridge, the George Washington Bridge (about 22 road miles out of your way), until you discipline it to come to its senses. Then it quite properly takes you via the Williamsburg and the Holland Tunnel/Pulaski Skyway bang! right there.
Once the Steam Locomotive has gone past, I don't much care what follows (though I do have a preference for a General Merchandiser freight). If there is no Steam Locomotive on the front, then there is even less reason to care what is on the tail end.
Overmod Paul Milenkovic Swimming, by the PATH train or by taking the bridges? Bridges????
Paul Milenkovic Swimming, by the PATH train or by taking the bridges?
Bridges????
Go far enough upstream and you'll find others. Or loop around via Staten Island.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Paul MilenkovicSwimming, by the PATH train or by taking the bridges?
Overmod 54light15 A caboose would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it? It is if your idea of a driver swap involves the same distance as commuting from Hoboken to midtown Manhattan.
54light15 A caboose would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it?
It is if your idea of a driver swap involves the same distance as commuting from Hoboken to midtown Manhattan.
Swimming, by the PATH train or by taking the bridges?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
54light15A caboose would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it?
BLS53 The more I see of these contract vans running around on indirect routings, hauling crew members from one end of a train to another, the more I think eliminating the caboose was a bad idea. Put one guy in the loco, another in the caboose. Problem solved without adding crew cost. Or in the age of DPU's, have them function as a caboose.
The more I see of these contract vans running around on indirect routings, hauling crew members from one end of a train to another, the more I think eliminating the caboose was a bad idea. Put one guy in the loco, another in the caboose. Problem solved without adding crew cost. Or in the age of DPU's, have them function as a caboose.
So now the crew van has to get to both ends of the train to swap out crews. Not to mention that doing a crew briefing on a 13,000 train will have to be via radio...
BLS53- I think you're on to something. Don't OTR trucks often have co-drivers? One in the sleeping compartment and one behind the wheel? A caboose would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it?
How 'bout a large terminal full of belching steam locomotives. Wouldn't the environmental crowd love that?
Better than the fragrance of jet fuel permeating O'Hare Field.
York1 BaltACD Neither steam nor cabooses will become the requirements What about wigwag signals? Please don't rain on my parade of hope.
BaltACD Neither steam nor cabooses will become the requirements
What about wigwag signals? Please don't rain on my parade of hope.
Build it and MAYBE someone will install it. to paraphrase 'Field of Dreams'
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
York1What about wigwag signals? Please don't rain on my parade of hope.
When approximately did these go out of vogue?
BaltACDNeither steam nor cabooses will become the requirements
York1 John
BaltACDPopular as curiosity's, not as first rank firearms.
Not first-rank? These guys might disagree with you! Here's first-rank, as in:
"First rank, FIRE!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3k8Bv35bJE
Lighten up a bit Balt, we're having fun being silly, you know? Beats all the gloom, doom, and discontent that's been going on around here lately.
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