NBC Revolution - Did they ever hear of "STEAM"

I like the series so far, but I believe you're onto something that the writers need to consider.

 

Not to mention, Im sure we'd all love to see some live steam in operation. Which locos might make the cast? Anything in the Chicago area that would run with a little effort?

And where are they going to get the people with the necessary skills to build those steam locomotives?  Or the means to make the iron and steel to make those steam locomotives. They'd have better luck adapting the diesel engines to a direct or hydraulic drive (aka the old  Budd RDC's or the old AlcoHaulics).  This is all assuming the underlying premise made any sense.  

 

The real reason you won't see this is the cost of access to the equipment (aka real steam engines) and the insane insurance costs to cover liability for the film crew in the event of an accident.

I'm trying real hard to like that show. But it's pretty much The Postman meets Falling Skys minus the aliens. It better get good quick or i don't think it will even survive a full first season.

Yea you are right about that stupid show and how things would quit wor

People still watch NBC....this I can't believe...

In such a scenario, what need would there even be for railroads?  There would be no economy, as millions would have starved to death in the first few years, and then everyone else would have settled into a subsistence existence where they struggle just to have food, clothing and shelter, or into a more brutal existence fighting over resources.  There would be no goods being produced in any quantity that would even require a railroad to transport.

 

Once order is restored, if ever, steam would be the obvious choice to start over with, but most of the skills would have to be re-learned (with many of the mistakes of the past repeated).

 

Andy

Wow.  It's a TV show.

"operate steam locomotives again".............You need two separate things in great quantities to generate this much steam. Heat and water. Water's the easy part. Heat's another story. What will be burned to generate the heat? Oil, coal? Maybe wood chips? The EPA is in a tizzy right now to have all coal burning generating stations shut down because of their tremendous emissions output, even with the scrubbers. 

 

Why not nuclear power? The Navy is very successful in using and controlling this form of power, so why not have a steam engine with a nuclear core for heat? No burnt emissions, no smoke, nothing but water vapor. Now I ask you, do you want these types of locomotives running around the country or a clean burning diesel or non-polluting electric engine? The excursion engines in operation today have all the necessary paperwork and insurance needed to operate, but I suspect not a lot of people are as thrilled to see all the black smoke pouring from their stacks when they come barreling thru their towns or cities.

 

And you think that the UP keeps it's steam engines just for fun? 12/21/2012 is just 3 months away!@#!@#!#!#

 

Do not forget about diesel engines (cars / trucks / tractors) you do not need electricity to start those either.

 

Signaling.. lanterns and people power

 

It will be interesting to find out how the black out works. Is it a nullfication field? a continuous e.m.p that is contiuously pulsed (the pendants that allow power) would indicate that scenerio. Nullify the pulse in a small area.

 

The other show to watch is Last Resort (All of my boomer friends were laughing at this one)

 

I have a basement to finish later guys.

On a related NBC-Steam note....

Who watched Parks and Rec last night? Andy climbing on the pilot of the Southern Cresent Pacific was hilarious. "Is this the train from Back to the Future 3?"

 

I think watching TV is, for the most part, silly.  Not that I don't watch, I do, but when I'm done my head usually feels even emptier than when I started, if such a thing is even possible.

 

Pete

 

 

I read books, watch PBS on the weekends, and have a large collection of old movies (not to mention the toy trains). Who needs junk such as this show? 

i was amused by the fact that power was lost, causing airplanes to crash, but their wing lights are still functioning (so we can see them tumble out of the sky).

 

oh, and the download to the flash drive completes despite fluctuating power.  right.  we know that would work.  

 

i will probably stop watching this sooner than i stopped watching falling skies.  

 

 

Bring back FireFly!!!  Serenity must fly again!!

Good catch on the collision lights..

 

Long live the Brown Coats!

.......and this relates to "3rail-o27, Hi- Rail and Classic O Guage" , how? I guess it beats a "poor QC" rehash but geeze, now we're ranting about T.V shows and stations? Wheres the new Lionel catalog already?!, then we can get back to the buisness of *****in and moanin about prices,poor illustrations, and unprototypical road names.

"...their wing lights are still functioning..."

 

Batteries and/or RAT (ram air turbine) 

 

Probably not a good idea to get people postulating on the workings of A&P on a toy train forum. A lose-lose.

NBC? What's that....couldn't prove it by me that they're still on the air. If I watch anything, it's real reality.

 

Gilly

I'm not a fan of anything on NBC, aside from the local news programming.  I doubt I'll ever see that new show, and really don't know what it's supposed to be about.

 

Most of my TV viewing is limited to PBS, and I will leave ALL reality shows and most all commercial network programs to the rest of you, aside from "Big Bang Theory" and "The Mentalist."  I don't even waste my money on cable...leaves me more $ for trains.

I have a question. What does NBC have to do with television?

The NBC series the Office is set in Scranton, PA. Scranton, PA is the home of Steamtown. The real shooting location of the Office is somewhere in California, so they totally miss out on visiting real locations in Scranton, like Steamtown. The people working for NBC forgot about steam power.

 

Andrew 

I'm pretty sure an EMP won't take out a battery so most older(pre 1960) cars would still run as would most motorcycles (kick start). Simple generators should also start so you would still have electricity, a diesel generator would be ideal. They say that school kids in the  USA are lagging behind the rest of the world in science, that's OK, they go to Hollywood and write scripts for shows like this that don't even make an attempt to be realistic because the writers are totally clueless. From what I've seen there's a bit of bow and arrow action on Revolution, I guess the EMP took out guns too, must be pretty hard to reload and use a shotgun or blackpowder rifle. I like the scene of the ones walking by Wrigley Field and it's all overgrown but the characters still look pretty fresh and clean and their clothes are not too shabby. Anyone of us who's been camping for an extended period of time in the back country don't even look that fresh after one week let alone several years.

 

Jerry

The writers/producers are trying to cash in on the buzz from the "hunger games" franchise, 2nd movie will be out soon.  No idea why they chose such a half *'d premise for their dystopia but that's never stopped them in the past.

Not seen this. Is it like a post EMP pulse sort of thing?

 

Nick "Call me Snake" H

"Batteries and/or RAT (ram air turbine) "

ALL electricity dead in this scenario.  besides, these planes were all shown in flat spins heading straight down, doubt a RAT would be functioning under those conditions.

"Is it like a post EMP pulse sort of thing?"

a rolling total shut down of electricity around the world (the brief global view of it happening seemed to suggest a starting point on the US East Coast).  cause unknown but we have seen that a device exists that can restore electricity in a very localized situation.

In an episode of the Office Michael runs off and is found hiding in a boxcar. You can see the green Lakawana coaches from Steamtown in the background.

There was a post catastrophe TV show a few years ago called "Jericho"that was cancelled after one season. Like this show cars and electricity don't work.  In the season finalie (actually series) the town was attacked by outsiders who had restored a steam engine.

I don't know why but I like this type of show or movie. Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Walking Dead, Lost and so much other diatomic Sci fi like Daybreak Zero by John Barnes or The Coasts series by Kim Stanley Robinson. I find it an interesting way to get characters to get to basic issues of Survival and what is really important in human interaction.

That said this show is not that great. The people an clothes are very clean for people who have not had any new clothing in 15 years. The Erol Flinn sword fight scene made me laugh out loud.

That was pretty much the premise behind the "Mad Max" films.

 

Rusty

 

Didn't NBC also give us that wonderful bomb "Super Train?"

 

Stuart

I watched a few minutes of it and then turned to the weather channel.

I haven't watched it yet, just the previews. There was a science fiction short story in the fifties that had a similar idea. IIRC in that story, some type of space creature (basically a big transparent cloud) surrounded Earth and "ate" electricity, so everyone had to go back to wood and coal and steam. In the story people ended up happier than they had been...but of course that was a common storyline back then. About half of the episodes of the "Twilight Zone" are about people trying to go back to the "olden days" for a simpler life because the modern world (of 1960) was too crazy.

Not for the weather, but surely for the over-dramatized "It can happen..." doomsday type programming that they currently over-promote. 

 

Comcast/NBC Universal's Weather Channel has less and less actual weather.  Even their highly advertised "local on the 8's" weather is often not shown (even during actual severe weather conditions) during these dramatized series.  If I need a view of local weather & radar I prefer the ease and speed of the websites/apps for either Accuweather or even The Weather Channel.

 

I guess there are a still a few gems on network TV (or so I'm told), but they seem harder and harder and to find.  Generally, current TV writing is pathetic and insulting to one's intelligence.  Time for a trip to the local library.

My wife has the TV permanently tuned to "Real Housewives of WTF?" so I missed this show.

Doesn't anyone watch Brian Williams?

Never heard of him. What team does he play for (and what sport for that matter)??

Alan, do you really live somewhere where an antenna still works.................

He seem's popular with Letterman.

oh, the other thing i found amusing was this:  when the woman goes to the secret transmitter, she goes through a door with four locks. FOUR LOCKS?  There is nothing, NOTHING I SAY, behind the door with four locks!