I'm still wondering why it has to be "Extreme" trains. I originally thought the series was to be about trains in extreme places. Like mines, or nuclear power plants or some such. Or really cold places or steep grades. Seems like everything has to be "Extreme" lately. I'm going to have an EXTREME glass of milk now, and then brush my teeth in an EXTREME way with my EXTREME tooth brush. Then on to my EXTREME bed where I'll sleep EXTREMEly well under EXTREME blankets. Sorry. I had to do that.
It's the History Channel- they use hype to get folks to watch their programs (Ice Road Truckers, Tougher in Alaska). Toss in lots of wowee, whiz-bang promotion at high volume (will someone tell Geo Beach to shut the $%%^$$ up?!?!?), and it's all edge-of-disaster action. I'm sorry, but inasmuch as the recent episode of the UP's "Produce Express" reefer block was rather informative (as was his tour to UP's training facility), I wouldn't call it extreme. The host is a railroader, and knows his stuff, but that over-the-top hype kinda grates on me. Personally, it's good to have today's railroading presented by someone who at least knows what the heck he talks about.
I enjoy it for the information aspect, but the hype is getting old. The Fruit Salad episode was neat. I used to see hundreds of those ARMN cars go thru Cheyenne on a typical week. Now they are taking traffic from trucks!
