Can someone please explain to me…
June 28th, 2009 Posted in VideoI present for your inspection, the crash scene that sets the theme of the story in the 2007 film, Rails & Ties…
This movie marks the directorial debut of Alison Eastwood, the daughter of Clint Eastwood. The film stars Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden and was written by Micky Levy.
My question is this:
Why the hell wouldn’t they put the train into emergency the moment they realized the track was fouled? Doesn’t “They did what they were supposed to, but still couldn’t stop in time” make just as good a story?
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7 Responses to “Can someone please explain to me…”
By jadebullet on Jun 28, 2009
He makes a very good point about having too many cars on the curve. If he would have thrown emergency, it would have caused the cars to buckle, and since they were going around a curve, it had the probability of causing a derailment, though not as much as if it were a freight train where the different weights of cars would only add to the buckling.
Quite frankly, I think that the wreck scene looks pretty realistic, though it does paint the engineer in a bad light.
By Dapet on Jun 29, 2009
Seems to be just some more of Hollywood Male Cow Excrement.
By morleron on Jun 29, 2009
Even though he, possibly, made a good decision about not putting the train into emergency he could still have begun ordinary braking leading up to an emergency application once most of the train was around the curve. It looks to me as though all he does is reduce power to the traction motors. Granted, he still would have hit the car, but the impact would have been less. Of course, that would probably ruin whatever point the director is trying to make in the film.
By Joe on Jun 29, 2009
Not a good theme for a movie. Promotes suicide by train.
By Dejoh on Jun 29, 2009
Did you notice the cab controls were not original equipment that came with the locomotive? Sad to say, that was the best part of the movie. The rest was soap opera.
By RGoodell on Jun 29, 2009
Joe: Promotes suicide-by-train as what, “effective?”
By Backyard on Jun 30, 2009
We missed the point did we?
The engineer held to the GCOR for his road. I think the point is, what happens from the cab point of view during a collision on a crossing at grade. The engineer made a brake application appropriate to the train/conditions.
The days of dumping the air in emergency are gone. What would happen if the engineer big-holed the brakes & the car suddenly moved out of the way? The potential for jack-knifing the train was well stated…& this was a passenger train.
At times of danger the head-end crew must keep their composure to do what must be done no matter what happens.
Engineers & conductors are trained & certified using simulators like we have + full motion for some roads.
Violations of GCOR & unstable reactions can cause even seasoned crew members with years of experience to be terminated even though the violation occurred on a simulator(NS McDonough Training Center for example).
Operation Lifesaver got a real plug on this one…yes, it’s a sad scene, one that is unfortunately played out frequently, the reason I don’t care to run real trains…