"Unstoppable" movie on HBO at 8:00PM

[jeffmorris]

While searching the movies for ones to be saved to disk for later viewing in onscreen Staten Island Cable's TV guide, I found out that there will be "Unstoppable" movie on HBO at 8:00PM. It is about a run-away train with dangerous cargo. I hope that it's a good movie.

 

[colourlight]

Sounds good. Did they film it on a Trainz route?

 

[cascaderailroad]

There also was a documentary on how they filmed the movie, I believe on the History Channel or National Gegraphic channel ... I can't remember which ... But I think it is this Monday.

 

[pware]

I saw it in its cinema release and now have it on Blu-Ray. It is a good movie although even with my limited knowledge of railroading in general, I was able to pick holes in its plot but since when has Hollywood let the facts get in the way of a good yarn.

Spoiler warning:

The movie is loosely based on a real event which occurred in May 2001. The role of the two heroes in the chase loco was much closer to reality than many of the other elements in the plot - such as:-

• the location was South of Toledo, Ohio not in Pennsylvania
• the main loco involved was CSX 8888 not the fictional AWS 777
• there were no deaths or attempted helicopter insertion, which were in the movie for added dramatic effect
• the driver of the chase loco did not run across the tops of the speeding wagons as shown in the movie (neither did Denzel for that matter)

Full details can be found at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/CSX_8888_incident

Peter Ware (film critic)

 

[Thad09]

Thanks for the heads up. Its going to be recorded thanks to a DVR. Yeah technology!

 

[cascaderailroad]

I was watching it ... then my GF changed the channel ... now were watching some dumb show about humane treatment of cattle ... she's a complete ding-ga-bat !

 

[eswearingen]

Sounds to me like it's time for a new GF. I got lucky, my wife actually picks out movies like Unstoppable for us to watch on my days off. She rented it for us 1 day, and liked it so much that she bought the DVD as soon as it hit the stores.

This is not saying that I am against the humane treatment of cattle. Medium-rare to Medium is humane. Any more done than that is cruel and unusual punishment.

 

[HiBaller]

What puzzled me was why 777 released its own engine brake and dropped into Zone 8 by itself. As far as I can research, those control have to be moved by a human.

Bill

 

[jeffmorris]

I watched the movie. It was a very scary movie. I covered my ears as I thought that the runaway train was going to hit the passenger train carrying school children on a trip. Thank God that the runaway train didn't hit the passenger train.

 

[BigThing]

Errr ^^^^^^^^^^^

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Don't worry, i've already seen it

 

[Mouse84]

The biggest question is why did the engineer jump down to throw a switch that was in the right position to start with?

That was filmed on the WNYP on the ex NS Buffalo line and on the NBER. I was working the local out of Lock Haven and had to wait for the movie train to come off the NBER, out onto the Buffalo line so they could turn the train.

We were in the theater for opening night and I've only seen it 12 to 15 times so far.

I was working out of Toledo, when the incident happened on CSX. My conductor that day said that he knew that engineer quite well.

 

[jeffmorris]

The track switches were not set against the train. I thought that the second track switch was set for a wrong route. Are track switches in yards manually or remote controlled? I saw the throttle lever moving from idle to full throttle by itself. Were there two persons in the locomotives that ran in front of the runaway train? If so, could a person move to the runaway locomotive and stop it? When the runaway train almost ran off the elevated curved track, the cars were tilting and ran on one rail. Very scary movie! How did they stop the real-life runaway train?

 

[DELETED-aYx9Q4SYwhiI2h6]

I loved that movie so much I went out and bought the DVD and I'll probably watch it again tonight after church.

The only question I had involved the the dead man switch or breaks. It only works if you have the airhose hooked up to another car? Since I have no idea how a real engine works I question their reason for why the breaks didn't work. I take it the engine brake is not part of the air breaks.

Dave

 

[Mouse84]

Were there two persons in the locomotives that ran in front of the runaway train? If so, could a person move to the runaway locomotive and stop it?How did they stop the real-life runaway train?

There actually were two people on the two SD40s that pulled out in front of the runaway. One was the actor and the person in the rear loco was actually running the locos. Yes, if they had two people, one could have easily stepped from one loco onto the runaway train and brought it to a stop. They stopped the real-life runaway just like in the movie, another crew came up behind it and drug it to a stop. BTW, the police actually DID try to shoot the fuel cutoff switches, they showed that on the news.

The only question I had involved the the dead man switch or breaks. It only works if you have the airhose hooked up to another car?

No, the alerter(deadman) will not come on if the independent (engine) brake is applied to a certain point. If the alerter starts beeping and no action is taken, it opens the PCS(power Cutoff Switch) which kills the power to the traction motors and applies a penalty application of the brakes. Even if the air hoses aren't hooked up, the PCS will still kill the power.

 

[HiBaller]

I have been thinking all along that train brakes 'failed-safe' in the applied position. So, if the original consist was sitting on a makeup track wouldn't the cars all had their brakes applied? If so, then how could that puny little road engine drag all those cars along with their brakes applied? Since the air hose wasn't connected, they wouldn't have had their air reservoirs charged.

So, I guess I'm asking for a professional opinion: could this particular scenario actually have happened - and, in the order it happened?

I vote no.

Bill

 

[Mouse84]

I have been thinking all along that train brakes 'failed-safe' in the applied position. So, if the original consist was sitting on a makeup track wouldn't the cars all had their brakes applied? If so, then how could that puny little road engine drag all those cars along with their brakes applied? Since the air hose wasn't connected, they wouldn't have had their air reservoirs charged.

So, I guess I'm asking for a professional opinion: could this particular scenario actually have happened - and, in the order it happened?

I vote no.

Bill

Yes, it could and did happen. We switch cars everyday with no air. The air is bled off the cars, so that the brakes release, so that we can kick or shove cars over a hump. Most flat switching operations are done without air. At hump yards, puller crews swing large cuts of cars from the class tracks into the departure tracks without air. I've swung a 95 car cut without air and only had the engine brakes to stop.

 

[HiBaller]

Okay. So traincars are different from, say, tractor/trailer rigs then? If you lose an airhose, the trailer brakes come on with a vengeance; or, more commonly, you can't get them to release when the trailer is parked for a while and your air hose isn't connected (or leaks).

Bill

 

[jeffmorris]

Fail-Safe system on trains?

I thought that trains are supposed to have fail-safe system to prevent accidents. NYCTA subway cars usually have deadman's switch inside throttle levers which must be pushed down when driving trains. NYCTA system has automatic train stop system which stops trains if operators don't pay attention to signals. I think in UK, an alarm goes off and the operators must reset it within a few seconds or the train will automatically stop.

 

[Johnda1237]

Good movie, well...almost

We just watched our DVR copy of "Unstoppable" and we really enjoyed it, the only thing that bothered me was the characterization of the dispatcher and officials, everybody acted like total %$#%. Is this how they really acted? I have to research the real incident myself. It sure was an exciting movie!

 

[jeffmorris]

I think that the characters in the movie disagree on derailing the runaway train. The engineer tried telling people that portable derailers don't work. I think that the boss (Kevin Dunn) didn't want an accident that would put the railroad out of business.