RAILROAD ALASKA REALITY TV SERIES

I wouldn't take this too seriously, I enjoy it for the scenery and a glimpse at winter operations up north.

quote:

But have you done it in sub-zero temps? 

That is the best time to do it. Sometimes cars will make their own track in the ice and all that is needed is to pull the car right back up on the rail.

Not really.  It's just a matter of different strokes for different folks.

 

I don't mind the TV being jam packed full of reality shows; I just choose not to watch them.

 

And big Alaska RR fan that I am, I have a pretty good hunch that I haven't missed much about the ARR by not being able to view this series.

Well Allan, then you are missing out IMHO. If for no other reason than the eye candy that is watching the Alaska RR run in the snow in Alaska in HD. I would certainly never turn down an opportunity to watch my favorite RR in HD. How many other opportunities do you have to watch the Alaska in HD?

 

You can also purchase episodes via various streaming outlets. I use VUDU personally.

Allan hasn't missed a thing. More is shown about the "Off-griders" than any actual train footage. Which, by the way, is a jumbled up mess.

That's your opinion which you are entitled to. I respectfully, but absolutely disagree with you.

There will be no scale modeling for me. An O scale Hurricane Gulch would be nearly 200ft with a scale Denali (Mt. McKinley) at 5000ft

 

 

Moonman,

 

 your math is a bit off, O Scale is 48:1 or 1/4 INCH to the foot, not 1/4 SCALE.

 

Denali (Mt Mckinley) at 20,237' (according to wikipedia) would be 421.6' tall assuming your floor is at your "scale Sealevel" so it is still not practical to model "in Scale"

 

Hurricane Gulch at 800' long would scale out to 16.6' in length, doable for a few, but not many would want to dedicate that much layout real estate to one feature.

 

Doug

Sone parts are ok. I will still watch the last one.

Hey Popsrr, don't be embarrased about watching it.  I lived and worked in Alaska for several years and I have still a lot of interest in both the ARR and the Bush people.  The show certainly isn't perfect but so what.  There are a lot of stupid shows set in Alaska but this one is interesting.  I just ignore the annoying bits.  Allan should open his mind a bit and watch - he might see something that wasn't in the Pentrex videos.

Don't worry too much about me.  Last I checked, I had a mind that was as open as many and perhaps more open than most.  But it is my own mind and it performs fairly independently based on my own tastes and life experiences.

 

Besides, I don't "do" cable TV since I'm not a regular viewer and would rather spend the $ on other things…trains, for example.

 

I have Alaska RR videos from Pentrex and and a number of other sources, and buy new ones when they are released.  May even buy this program if/when it becomes available in DVD form.  For now, though, I'm quite content just to read the comments posted here. 

I fail to see why this matters, some like it and some don't.  If you like it then watch it, and if not...then don't.

Gotcha Allan.  No problem. 

I think Chris has it right.

Thinking about the 2 threads running here, O might guess not enough people like the program and this weeks run might make it history.

That approach pretty much works for me!  

I'll watch the last show & have a laugh.

Just hang in there Allan.  Won't be too long before Kambach will be sending you their "free" DVDs.

 

Tony

Saw a rerun last night of the crew making the snow com down the mountain but shooting the shells into the hill side. I liked watching the rail section being replaced.

For what its worth...I think those of us who have not been around the real railroads like to see even little things like the rail replacement and the snow plowing on the rails. While those of you who have worked on and around the railroad it is pretty boring. SO bear with us you ole raikroad toots while we get our little view of what some folks go through to earn a living, lol

I have seen that episode as well.  Snow dangerously close...nothing a Howitzer won't fix.   

I enjoy the show since it has to do with trains.  My wife found the show for me and set up the DVR to record it.  I've seen two shows so far.  When I saw it was about the Alaska Railroad I immediately thought of Allan.  

 

Larry

Amen brother.  I can't tell you how much I hate that! 

When Kalmbach sends out material that you did not request and "all" you have to do is mail in a check if you like it......is one step away from fraud....and clearly not ethical.  In my world, any way.

I've never seen a "reality" show that is reality. From the home buying shows that in "reality" have already been purchased by the buyers to the guy proposing to his future wife in a tender moment with 15 or 20 TV crew members standing around lighting and filming. I watched about ten minutes of the first "Survivor" and realized it's more of a game show than reality. That's the last one I ever watched. Don

I thought tonight's show was the last one - there's another show next week. 

 

Tonight's wasn't too bad.  Whoever edits this stuff, should get fired.  The Seward train had 4 MACs in some shots - then 3 - then 2 MACs in others.  The engine numbers changed as well.

I watched the first two episodes and stopped.  I wanted to see a show about the railroad and not human interest stories about dolts who choose to live in an area where a lack of propane meant death.   I don't know about the next guy but if I lived in an area like that I'd have a year's supply in a shed and would never get close to running out.   I mean if you're stupid enough to build your house there I fail to see why it's paramount for the RR to come rescue you when you have a life and death situation that is totally of your own doing.

 

--Greg

Darn nice of you to think of me, Larry!  And a Very Merry Christmas to you and yours!  

 

I received some stuff I ordered from the Alaska RR gift shop a couple of days ago…a parka jacket, a coffee mug, and the 2014 ARR calendar.

I saw it, too. I don't quite understand what they did to fix that "broken switch", and I don't think they really hit that dog. Creative license, and all that.

Nice to see trains on TV

I love the air horns at the commercial breaks

 

Thx

Joe S  

I watched it also and had never thought about shooting ice forming like they did on the side of the mountain. Wonder what my neighbors will say when I go out with a rifle and start shooting them off the house?

 

When the cops come I will ask them to help me shoot them off also before they haul me away

 

I did think that was a cool idea to shoot them down off the mountain!!

They darn well better not have hit a dog!  I'm a BIG dog lover, and might have to change road names if they ran over a dog.  

I watch the show when its on.

Rob

Moose, snowmobiler, or a dog, if they are on the tracks, oh well.

 

I watch, when you get by the fluff and the Bull.  It's not a bad show.

Unfortunately, the show has become another example of how "Reality TV" is anything but real.  And the Discovery Network is probably the most guilty of this.

The initial concept of this show is very interesting, IMHO.  However, the episodes have become saturated with blatantly fabricated human interest "stories" that are painfully difficult to watch. 

 

I think they "Jumped The Shark" in the episiode with the woman who was two weeks away from giving birth....whose husband had to leave for work and who was visitited by her friend with an infant who "forgot" her babies Formula...who then had to take the train back to the city to pick up the missing formula....all while allegedly dodging wolves, bad weather, the train's schedule change, etc....but somehow, it all worked out in the end...and they all lived happily ever after.  Different show, same cliche.

 

Networks love these type of shows b/c they are very cheap to produce, relatively speaking.  Why they continually go down the path of fabricated drama is a mystery to me.

 

On a positive note, nobody name Kardashian or Jenner has been on the show yet.

Yes, the one with those two young girls was over the top. Last night it was the elderly gal who ran out of heart medicine while her 84-year old husband who is recovering from a stroke was fetching water in the creek at 17 degrees, so she had to call her son on the radio telephone to bring some 100 miles on the train, and he almost missed it and there wouldn't be another passenger train for a week, and she would have another heart attack. Luckily, everything worked out; her son showed up with the medicine and her husband got back from the creek with the water. By then, it was 12 degrees.

 

But those trains sure look purty against all that snow. 

Saw the show last night. It was alright. Scenery was beautiful and some of the line issues were informative, but I'm probably not going to watch it again as it comes off as just another reality show.

If people kept their dogs on their own property they would not of got run over. The R5 main line thru Philly and suburbs hit a dog just about every day. It is the same with almost every other line also. Who's fault is it? The owners that let them run loose. 

 

John, the trouble with the switch, was that the switch heater wasn't working that allowed ice to form, preventing the points from closing properly against the running rails, which could very realistically put a train on the ground.Most model railroaders have experienced "Pickinga Switch" it happens on the full size RR's as well. They solved the problem by removing the ice, and resetting the switch heater.

 

 I agree with those that feel there is too much about the "Off-Gridders" and I also am amazed that some of them have survived as long as they have. There is a lot to overlook, but there is also a lot that is interesting, so I just take the good with the bad. The scenery is SPECTACULAR, and the ARR paint scheme was made to order for those SD70(MAC?)'s, may not be my FAVORITE paint scheme, but it really does look good on those units.

 

 To ME, those air horns at the commecial breaks are starting to get rather annoying by now.

 

I watch the show, Enjoy a lot of it, and suffer through the rest, the show wasn't tailor made for me, or most on the forums, it will be interesting to see if there is a season 2, 3,4 or?

 

Doug

A rumor or story I heard, not sure if it is true.

 

For the ARR to get their MACs quickly, the first batch of 16 units - 4001-4016, were tacked onto the end of the BN order.  So they used the BN paint lines, just different colors & logos of course.

 

In the past BN leased spare ARR logos.  In the winter months the ARR parks several locos, even MACs get parked.  Not sure why BNSF hasn't looked to the ARR to help with their power problem, that they are currently having. 

At least some of those SD70's were painted at Conrail's Juniata Shop in Altoona.  One went by me at Latrobe, PA on a westbound freight and I had no camera with me.  Crap.

For me, I felt bad for the foreman of 20+ years that was laid off by the ARR.

Does anyone know if the ARR is a union organized railroad?

I know the Train Service people are in a Union, not sure about the MOW employees.  It was a bummer that Evans lost his job.  The ARR cut around 56 employees in the last batch of job cutting.  Several old timers from the Federal ownership days are retiring in the next month or 2, I'm sure there's some sort of money savings there.