Who Watched 'Unstoppable' last night?

[aussiebrfan]

Hey!! Next thing you will be saying the deathstar wasn't real. ......

 

WAIT A MINUTE!  WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!

[dibber25]

There's all sorts of questions around those two locos!!! like why not simply have a man on the back porch who could jump to 777 fairly easily, instead of dangling him from a helicopter (he'd still have had to get down off the cab roof even if he'd landed successfully!) & a "22 year old ex-Marine"..?? Left the boredom of the Army to join a Railroad?? Yeah, right... I digress. The worst flouting of physics in the film is where the train barrels around the elevated curve "up on two wheels"

I watched it with my mate and took him through all the howlers as they happened. I think we enjoyed it even more that way

Yes, I wonder how it didn't roll that rail over. There's also that risible B movie whose name escapes me, where there's a 'state of the art' new loco - actually a BC Rail M-420 - and the clumsy old engineer spills his coffee into the computer........ (CJL)

[Wolf27]

Wasn't it Avalanche Express Chris?

 

Or perhaps not. I remember one about a runaway train full of returning skiers that was brought to a stop using the newest loco they had driven by their oldest driver. Is that the one?

 

cheers

 

Shane

[njee20]

Yes, I wonder how it didn't roll that rail over. There's also that risible B movie whose name escapes me, where there's a 'state of the art' new loco - actually a BC Rail M-420 - and the clumsy old engineer spills his coffee into the computer........ (CJL)

There's that word again... "Risible". It mush be hard not to be able to just enjoy something for what it is (train based Hollywood action) without feeling the need to don your metaphorical anorak and nasally voice so you can point out all the flaws!

 

The film would indeed be more accurate if the throttle didn't move unassisted to notch 8, but it would also be rather shorter and i suspect less appealing as a Hollywood movie prospect!

 

Do you think there's a medical forum denouncing Casualty for similar inaccuracies?!

[F-UnitMad]

Wasn't there something about the real event the film is loosely based on, to do with the throttle lever being lightly spring loaded? Sure I read somewhere that because the driver was careless and didn't fully slot the lever where he should have (as in the film) it was able to release from that position & slip through the notches.

Anyway the best bit of Unstopable for me is during the short "career updates" at the end, when now ex-driver Dewey is described as "working in the fast food industry"...

[Edwin_m]

According to Wikipedia the real incident was caused when the engineer put the throttle to maximum to get maximum dynamic braking, but failed to set the control to "brake" instead of "power".  I guess that could have been done in the film but might have required a rather clumsy explanation by one character to another so the audience knew what was going on. 

[Prof Klyzlr]

Dear F-unit, RMWebbers,

 

Wasn't there something about the real event the film is loosely based on, to do with the throttle lever being lightly spring loaded? Sure I read somewhere that because the driver was careless and didn't fully slot the lever where he should have (as in the film) it was able to release from that position & slip through the notches.
Anyway the best bit of Unstopable for me is during the short "career updates" at the end, when now ex-driver Dewey is described as "working in the fast food industry"...

 

 

Note the orange "Dynamic Brake" label above the TOP lever,

and the "Power Throttle" label above the MIDDLE lever.

 

 

Even with the Power/Dynamic selector "mis-set" as confirmed by the NTSB report,
there's no physical/mechanical relationship between the Power/Dynamic selector lever position and the entirely seperate "8-notch + Idle" Throttle lever.

 

In CSX 8888's case
- Train brakes/"train-line" isolated, and therefore not functional
(IE the only braking wheels available to stop the movement were the loco wheels.
The hows, whys, and was-it-safe-to-move-a-train-that-big-without-train-brakes-cut-in questions are entirely seperate matters).

- Power/Dynamic selector mis-set/not-completely-set to "Dynamic" mode
(Ergo, loco was still in "Power" mode, despite the engineer's perception otherwise)
 

- Throttle manually put into "Notch 8"/max-power
(which would have been "max dynamic braking" IF the Power/Dynamic selector had actually been set as the engineer thought it was)

- Independent/Loco brakes set into Emergency, (which BTW an SD40-2 in "Notch 8" can easily overpower)
which has the byproduct effect of disabling the Alerter/"Dead Man's Handle"...
(thus allowing the loco to "run free" for soo long and soo far, despite being "driverless")

 

Everything else from there is just "realtime problem-solving approaches to a multi-1000ton uncontrolled rolling-steel challenge"...

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

[dibber25]

Wasn't it Avalanche Express Chris?

 

Or perhaps not. I remember one about a runaway train full of returning skiers that was brought to a stop using the newest loco they had driven by their oldest driver. Is that the one?

 

cheers

 

Shane

No, Avalanche Express was yet another. A bit more reasonable, from what I remember - and shot using Rio Grande equipment? (CJL)

[rodshaw]

There's that word again... "Risible". It mush be hard not to be able to just enjoy something for what it is (train based Hollywood action) without feeling the need to don your metaphorical anorak and nasally voice so you can point out all the flaws!

 

The film would indeed be more accurate if the throttle didn't move unassisted to notch 8, but it would also be rather shorter and i suspect less appealing as a Hollywood movie prospect!

 

Do you think there's a medical forum denouncing Casualty for similar inaccuracies?!

 

I think it's a cracking film. Just for the views of chunky trains if nothing else. Can't get my wife to watch it more than once though!

 

I like the theoretical 'expert' who has come in to give a talk to the kids about safety and keeps lobbing tentative suggestions in, managing to sound as if he's never seen a real train in his life.

[Pacific231G]

I think it's a cracking film. Just for the views of chunky trains if nothing else. Can't get my wife to watch it more than once though!

 

I like the theoretical 'expert' who has come in to give a talk to the kids about safety and keeps lobbing tentative suggestions in, managing to sound as if he's never seen a real train in his life.

Wasn't he a consultant? They just have to sound expert to managers who know even less.

[Edwin_m]

I think it's a cracking film. Just for the views of chunky trains if nothing else. Can't get my wife to watch it more than once though!

 

I like the theoretical 'expert' who has come in to give a talk to the kids about safety and keeps lobbing tentative suggestions in, managing to sound as if he's never seen a real train in his life.

If that was the man from the FRA who was hanging around in the dispatcher's office then I thought his contributions were supposed to be helpful (exact properties of the dangerous chemical, how best to handle the brakes) as a contrast to the idiot in head office. 

[dullsteamer]

I don't expect Hollywood to get the basics or the details of railrays right, never have and never will. What does annoy me is the way they habitually portray railway workers as ignorant hicks or bad tempered yobbos.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark - who is neither.

[mandealco]

Hi

There's a very interesting interview at:

http://theroundhousepodcast.com/2015/09/26/wnyp-carl-belke/

 

Carl Belke's railroad story is great to listen to.  He was at one time the President of the D&H and now leads the Western New York & Pennsylvania RR.  In the interview he talks about the making of "Unstoppable" on the WNYP.  He explains the use of props rather than CGI effects and how the derailment was carried out.  He also describes the poor nature of the Northeasten rail scene in the years before Conrail, and how he ended up at the WNYP.  Carl also talks about the reason the WNYP's uses Alco/MLW locomotives.

 

Carl's a real gentleman and if ever you get the chance to travel to up state NY,  I highly recommend a visit to the WNYP.

 

Cheers

Steve

NZ

[dibber25]

There's that word again... "Risible". It mush be hard not to be able to just enjoy something for what it is (train based Hollywood action) without feeling the need to don your metaphorical anorak and nasally voice so you can point out all the flaws!

 

The film would indeed be more accurate if the throttle didn't move unassisted to notch 8, but it would also be rather shorter and i suspect less appealing as a Hollywood movie prospect!

 

Do you think there's a medical forum denouncing Casualty for similar inaccuracies?!

Sorry, can't help my nasal voice.I don't have to 'don' it. It's there all the time. I never had the courage to have the op that would have resolved it. I like watching some of the train filming but the plot, the disregard for railway safety features, the ludicrous pile-ups that suggest US emergency services are clueless, the helicopter drop of an untrained guy when an engineer could have simply walked in through the front door, and the nonsensical computer graphics with the two-wheel cornering are just some of the things which have me shouting at the screen. The portrayal of most railway employees as people who are thoughtless and clueless is also disingenuous. And, yes, my late wife used to tear into medical and laboratory scenes with 'That's not how you use that/do that etc" (CJL)