Dr Zarkoff Wrote:
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> >Conductor Chris Pine steps between cars to couple
> up without asking for and receiving "three step"
> protection,
>
> We used to do this all the time, before radios and
> pack sets dumbed things down.

Yup. And one of the (few) realistic things I saw in the movie is how the "NUG" (New Useless Guy) was on his cell phone a lot.

> >And the scene where the big GE's roll around a
> curve tipping up on one rail is simply a Hollywood
> fantasy.
>
> I've seen this happen with real-live box cars in
> downtown SF. Had one engineer tell me it happened
> with his locomotive at Santa Clara. Another
> brakeman described scooping up ballast with the
> steps when going too fast through the turnout(s)
> at Elmhurst. There are AAR movies of loaded hopper
> cars rocking back and forth at speed, lifting the
> wheels several inches alternately off each rail
> head.

It also happened to the crew on the southbound RVSJ that made an undesired diverging route movement at the junction switch at Melrose, courtesy of a previous-shift dispatcher error. On the plus side, they proved the theory that a 10 MPH switch can be taken at three times that speed!