Trains on TV

Secret Weapon

New Member
Hey,
Probobly fell off a barge going from Hoboken/Jersey City area to NYC. ;) Erie,DL&W,&EL had alot boxcars & engines in the Hudson River :D
 

newhaven

New Member
I noticed this program mentioned while I was flipping channels last night.

Also on my channel surfing in the past I found that my Dish Network has a channel called RFDTv (Rural Network). They have two programs about trains on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm EST. The first program (Trackside) has train related material for the real world and included rail fanning. Some of the programs are fairly detailed in history of certain rail lines and train companies. The second rpgram is about toy trains and model railroading. It is made more for kids, but some of the Lionel trains sets are interesting to see.

I figure this channel is kind of limited, but maybe someone out there has access to it. They also used to have an hour long train program (Trains Unlimited?) at 9:00 am on Saturdays, but with summer fix-up and yardwork around the house I don't know if this is still on. :cool:
 

jon-monon

Active Member
N Gauger said:
The History channel has a show about trains

Monday 9-20-04 9:pM EDT

Deep Sea Detectives

2 old steam engines found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey.

Man, that's messin' with South Park!


Man, they will dump anything in the ocean off of New Jersey!

Wonder how many pairs of cement shoes they spotted on the way out :D
 
well, actually, it appears these were unusually large 2-2-2T engines from the 1850s....probably destined for the Cumberland Valley, but never arrived. very similar to, but much bigger than the Smithsonian's 'Pioneer' 2-2-2T
 

Chessie6459

Gauge Oldtimer
that was a great show, i watched it twice and just couldn't believe it. like the they said on there it looks like they are in a race across the bottom of the ocean lol :D :D
 

ddavidv

Member
Interesting show, but I wouldn't call it "great". The locos were indeed unique and historically interesting. I found the show to be rather dumbed-down, repetitive and ultimately not satisfying. I missed a bit of the first half, but why did they never go to Boston and research the departure point of these locos to see if they could determine where they came from? Seems to me they had an idea who made them, but never traced it.
What puzzles me the most, if they were jettisoned to save a ship, how did they land upright and so perfectly aligned on the ocean floor? I think there's a lot more questions that could be asked.
Still, not a horrible way for a train and history buff to spend an hour.
 

eightyeightfan1

Now I'm AMP'd
I saw the show too. It was cool.
Later that same night while in the bath.......reading room, I was looking through an old issue of Railfan and Railroading(Feb 2003) magazine, and there on the top of page 14....a picture of an 2-2-2! looked like one of the ones that were under water.
Coincedence?(theme to Twighlight Zone)
Look out...Theres a stop sign ahead........
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
ddavidv said:
Interesting show, but I wouldn't call it "great". The locos were indeed unique and historically interesting. I found the show to be rather dumbed-down, repetitive and ultimately not satisfying. I missed a bit of the first half, but why did they never go to Boston and research the departure point of these locos to see if they could determine where they came from? Seems to me they had an idea who made them, but never traced it.
What puzzles me the most, if they were jettisoned to save a ship, how did they land upright and so perfectly aligned on the ocean floor? I think there's a lot more questions that could be asked.
Still, not a horrible way for a train and history buff to spend an hour.

Some of that was explained in the beginning. The boilers would have been empty (air) the wheels were steel - They turned over just like a cat & landed on their feet - in 85 ft of water it would have taken hardly no time at all to land on the bottom (8 Stories). The alignment was "just luck" :)

The reason they couldnt go find any manufacturers is that the records are all general - no conclusive evidebce left. They did menation that these were "possibly Experimental" locos - because they were bigger than the Pioneers used at that time. But they looked basically the same. If they were experimental - the last thing a buyer wanted was a paper trail for another company to follow.

It was more of an interest to someone who has done research, in that, it tells everyone else what we go through to re-create history. And this was only 2 Locos... Imagine having to re-create the history of a manufacturer (Baldwin Locomotive Works) :) :)
 
Another point:

The company that probably made the Locos has been out of business for over 140 years, going under in 1858. The records are gone for the company itself
 

ausien

Active Member
Anyhthing about trains that takes a minute, hour, day, week, e.c.t. is a goooood way to spend the time.... Have a good one... Steve
 
I saw the show also I always watch that series. They had two posibities for the engines leaving the ship. The first was they were pushed off to save the ship. The other was that the rocking of the ship dumped then into the ocean. I find it hard to believe that the engines were pushed off by the crew. The crew would have done one at a time instead of both at once. I support the storm washed them both off together. The crew might have untied them from the deck before the storm washed them over board. That is the only thing that would have them both land next to each other next to the rest of the ships deck cargo. If it was just the two engines could have been luck but the spare parts for the engines were close by also.
 
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