Challenger Challenge

roryglasgow

Active Member
My son and I went and saw the Challenger in Crockett, Texas today. We had a very good time (and I even have a head cold). I got some great pictures, too! Unfortunately, my digital camera has mysteriously quit working, and I can't upload the images :curse: :cry:

It was amazed to see so many people turn out for the event. I live in Huntsville, which is about an hour south of Crockett. There were people waiting at strategic locations all along the route hoping to catch a glimpse of the train and snap a few pictures. There were probably at least 200 people at the station in Crockett.

I met some very interesting people, including one older lady who worked for the Houston and Texas Central railroad in Ennis. Her job was to load the tenders with coal. Sometimes she had to drive the engines to get them lined up for refueling. She showed me a picture of herself sitting in the cab of a switcher. If I had a better presence of mind (remember, I have a cold), I would have asked her more questions, including what years she worked for the railroad. I'm assuming it was during World War II.

An interesting point: a train pulled by a couple of ho-hum diesels came through a while before the Challenger. We all watched it passed, and waved at the engineer, but it in no way invoked the sense of awe and excitement of seeing a real steam engine coming down the tracks!

If I can get the camera fixed, or find a compatible card reader, I'll post the pictures.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Rory,

Looking forward to the pics.

FWIW I had the same problem with my digital camera. it turned out it wasn't the camera, but the cable. One of the wires had broken loose at the camera connector. I could not find a replacement anywhere, even on-line. I finally got in touch with Vivitar and the sent me a new one, well, after I gave them $26 bucks.:rolleyes: In the meantime I did manage to fix the old one so now I have a backup.

The moral of this story is that there are no "universal" USB cables that fits all cameras. If you're lucky, it could be one that someone stocks.

Good luck,
 

roryglasgow

Active Member
I wish it were that simple, Don. The camera itself won't even come on. At first I thought the batteries were dead, but after putting in two different pair of good batteries, it still wouldn't work. I don't know what happened to it. It seems to have "crashed" right after I filmed a movie of the Challenger rolling by. Maybe I need to call some of those guys at NASA who fixed the Spirit rover...
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
Rory,

Well, it was worth the try, just in case. Your problem is not as easily solved as mine was. At least mine power up and could take pictures.

Even the mars Spirit needed some power before it could be brought back to life,:rolleyes: but it's worth a shot to see if NASA will fix it for you, especially if they know you have some rail shots in it, :D so good luck.
 
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