This little bit - listen carefully near the end: Easy Does It? by MaxDaemon posted Aug 21, 2017 at 7:06 AM Can you hear the conductor? Now this is how we do it, baby: Let's just try that again .. by MaxDaemon posted Aug 21, 2017 at 7:08 AM Nice, deft, easy touch. Seems like some people CAN be taught!
Last time I rode Amtrak, (2008), we had a coupling as in that first video. It was in Spokane, when they added the Portland section of the Empire Builder to Number 8. The up side was after that, the engineer really made good time.
I watched that one too - it was pretty clean and quiet. I mean, I can understand though, lots of horsepower and probably not a lot of granular control. Did you hear the conductor yell "STOP!!" about the time they hit, in the first one? The comments I could hear after from the outside was to the effect that they can't take another hit like that, it's sitting too near the end of the track! .
Yes. I could hear him yell "stop!" (BLAM! I hope the equipment was unoccupied....) Interesting how in the second clip, that engineer either had better equipment or a much better touch.
Since the second clip was about five minutes later - I have a feeling someone gave him a talking to - or they routed the trainee out of the chair and put someone else in. The second try was more like a kiss than a hit. So far as occupied, I'm not sure. What looked like the "chef" - at least a guy in a chef's hat - seemed to be in charge of the operation. There were three or four people not connected with Amtrak standing around. .
