Cab Ride In An EMD SW1500 :)

[weimedog]

Was really fortunate to have the opportunity for a "Cab Ride" in an excursion trains Locomotive  DIDN'T plan for a video therefor used a phone. THINK I need to try and return if for no other reason to do the ride "justice" as it wa beyond cool for me. 

Cab Ride At Kentucky Railroad Museum 2022, If You Are Mechanically Inclined A MUST Experience! - YouTube

[moodnacreek]

Back in the 70's when the old Erie R.R. was shutting down the Maybrook N.Y. yard, on a Sunday we took a switcher for a ride as my friend had a reverser key. Besides being a federal offence I was scared to death. As I remember we cranked the hand break off, put the weight back on the dead man, released the engine air brake and notched up. What a feeling. swaying side to side and then notch back and all that weight going forward like it's never going to slow down. My friend would have thrown a switch and we would have left the yard but I demanded we put it back. That's the kind of stuff we did back then. I can talk about it now.

[sawguy21]

That would have earned you a date with a judge!  I got to ride in a switcher at a railway museum, I thought it was really cool but my young friend was scared to death of the noise. He was 3 or 4.

[aigheadish]

This is sweet! I'll have to watch again so I can hear what's being said when he's messing with the controls.

I have a couple train driving simulation games on my computer in VR. I don't remember their names right now (whoops, I do remember one is called Derail Valley) but one of them feels very much like this video. I wouldn't have thought much about the complexities of driving a train but in the video game it gets crazy quickly, but not video game crazy, just keeping up with all the various knobs and levers and buttons that I assume (especially after seeing the dashboard in this video) are pretty legit.

Thanks for sharing.

[Resonator]

Been many years since I was into trains (as a hobby), was always amazed at the longevity of those machines. Some of those diesel locomotives would go 30, 40, 50 years or more and still be running. They were made with relatively simple technology, and were designed to be rebuilt over and over. The only major upgrades usually were the electronic controls. They also would come in after years of working, and the very heavy steel frames would be bent into an arch from front to back from banging in countless freight cars. Switchers would get sold after a long service life on a big railroad, only to be bought by elevators throughout the midwest and end up running many years longer moving cars of grain. 

[weimedog]

I have to admit my original interest with trains for the video's was when I was at Highway, the track was right by our home base. SO especially at night shift, saw them frequently and just thought they were cool. SO used them as a "cover" for the video's something for variety. BUT as always happens that desire to learn more and understand gets a holds and now I can't get enough of them. From the history to the operations...just amazing stuff to me. So I video and learn more. Hoping to get to volunteer for a local museum and start the trek to being closer to them

[aigheadish]

I think trains are neat enough to play video games with them and I've done some investigation of how to run them but that's about as far as my knowledge goes. I like to watch the train channel on Pluto.tv as well. I spent a fair amount of time as a youngster walking the train tracks that were on the route to school and I think the power is amazing. I've always been somewhat intrigued since we first put pennies on the track and came back after school to see how big they'd gotten.