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So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

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DrEntropy

DrEntropy

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So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

...and the proggie is about circus history. I ~just~ learned why my granddad was so insistent I be allowed to go with him to see the Barnum & Bailey Circus in Pittsburgh, in 1956. It was the LAST TIME they performed from the trains! I never thought about it before...

Cagy ol' coot KNEW I'd learn of that at some future time and remember him. sheesh.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Now *that's* a coincidence.

In 1956 my dad took me and my brother down to the railyard (Ft Worth was one of the biggest rail yards west of the Mississippi).

We walked out on a pedestrian bridge over about two dozen tracks. In a few minutes, we heard a steam whistle.

We watched the *last* Santa Fe (?) steam locomotive slowly pull its boxcars in, directly under us, then stop about 500 feet down the track. Dad walked us down from the bridge, then up to the engine. Yelled something to the engineer ... and the engineer invited us all up into the cab. We pulled the whistle chain!

WOOOOO WOOOOO WO WOOOOOOO

(anyone know what that means ...?)

:laugh:

T.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

no but doesn't Rick Flair use that
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

If your speaking about the different whistle blows on a steam engine, they were an identifier for the engineer. Every engineer had his own way of blowing the whistle. Knowing the blows, and you were within ear shot of the sound, you could tell who's at the throttle of any engine.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Before we came to North America in the late 50s, my Dad worked on the railroad in England.

Occasionally, he would see and/or get to do oiling and basic maintenance on ~The Flying Scotsman~ , which was probably the ultimate steam locomotive (but not the biggest).

When we emigrated to Canada, he got a job working on those new-fangled CN diesel locomotives. I got to go into the roundhouse as a kid (in Canada).

I never saw the Barnum + Bailey circus, but my folks took me to Fossett's Circus (in Ireland) as a kid. That's a pretty good memory for me.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

WOOOOO WOOOOO WO WOOOOOOO

(anyone know what that means ...?)

:laugh:

T.

[/quote] nutmeg, a tune by aretha franklyn??? :jester:
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Anyone remember that old movie..."The Big Top" (I think it was). There was a scene where the circus-train wrecks, freeing the lions and tigers etc. and all the performers use their various skills to perform rescues, as a kid seeing that, it burned an indelible memory into my brain!!
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

It's "Q" in Morse but dunno 'bout "train"...
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

You young'uns jes don't know nothin'! If'n yer Packard stalls on the tracks, and you hear a signal ... you know there's a train comin', and you might want to get a move on.

But the engineer uses that specific signal to say "approaching a public crossing".

https://www.uprr.com/aboutup/funfacts/signals.shtml

Actually, the railroads have (had?) some additional individual company signals too. Most were used in a railyard to communicate between trains, or on the trip to communicate between engineer and the men in the caboose, or flagmen.

The state of Florida tried banning signals some years before 2005, but the accident rate (car/train) doubled. So in 2005 the Federal Railroad Administration made the signals mandatory in the USA.

young folks ... jes don't know 'bout ya ...

T.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

weewillie said:
no but doesn't Rick Flair use that
Click to expand...

:lol:

WHOOOOSH! (The sound of that little gem going over lots of folks' heads!)
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Ooof. Most train whistle signals I heard were as a kid, the one I recall was the engineer signalling his wife he would be home in 30 minutes so's she would have his dinner ready. :shocked:
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

NutmegCT said:
You young'uns jes don't know nothin'! If'n yer Packard stalls on the tracks, and you hear a signal ... you know there's a train comin',
nutmeg, i know that one! by johnny cash! :jester:
Click to expand...
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Mickey Richaud said:
weewillie said:
no but doesn't Rick Flair use that
Click to expand...

:lol:

WHOOOOSH! (The sound of that little gem going over lots of folks' heads!)
Click to expand...
Intentional my friend. Don't want anyone here knowing I know who the Nature Boy is. Ooops.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Proud to say I had t' Google it.

You're sick, Greg. :jester:
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

Mickey Richaud said:
video:youtube]https://youtube.com/watch?v=xpDMzj1tc44&feature=related[/video
Click to expand...

that is hysterical! (but where's the train?)

:laugh:

T.
 
Re: So I'm casually watchin' "The History Channel"...

...can't believe I took th' time to look at that...

:shocked:
 
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