Late 1980s vintage GM SD60 locomotive when I was an IT contractor for GM. It was a new model on the test track at Electromotive in LaGrange IL and they had a sign up to check it out. Got up to about 8 mph and even with that great velocity still missed the stopping point by about 100 feet! The engineers just laughed because everyone was doing that. Braking was not a strong point - can't imagine having to stop a whole train.
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Strange things you have driven
- Thread starter Cragar
- Start date
Bulldozers and farm tractors & combines when I was young, and nearly every current (at the time) tracked and wheeled combat vehicle in both US & Warsaw Pact inventories when I was in my twenties.
Strange things you have driven?
Women.....
Women.....
I put a steering wheel on my penis once and drove me nuts. :tongue:
A while back my buddy said he got really wasted and this chick was dressing up his penis in barbie doll clothes. LOL.
Drove a Stryker for a while. 21 tons, put it in 8x8 low and it will climb pretty much anything. Driving 50mph at night without headlights was... interesting.
All kinds of ariel lifts,boom trucks, tractors for mounting wooden poles,Panagraph truck,bucket trucks including one that went up 60 ft .... drove and operated all sorts of construction equipment. 3,4,6 wheel atv's Jet skis I dont know what else its all I can think of for now
How about, NSX through the Lincoln Tunnel at 5 am! :smile:
1920's steam locomotive:smile:
I was a locomotive engineer in the 90's. I drove all kinds of yard/switch engines and General Electric and EMD road engines. Cool stuff but the coollest was a jet engine powered snow removal piece of equipment. It was real loud and blew snow, rocks and what ever else was on the ground 50 yards or more.
My wifes brother has been an engineer for about 6 years. He has hit 9 automobiles so far. Apparently it's more common than I thought it was.
Very true. The saying is that evey engineer will hit someone at some point.
In 9 years I hit one car. I was running backwards and light engine (no railcars in tow.) Running backwards the engineer can only see out one side of the engine. The conductor watches the other side. We came to an intersection at maybe 25mph, the gates were down, I sounded my horn. Next thing I hear is my conductor screaming for me to stop. I didn't see anything. I didn't hear or feel anything either. Three girls ran the gate in a small car. I cought the front left quarter of the vechicle spinning it around a bit. Everyone was ok. The car was a mess though. Although not fault in any way, the carrier paid all of their medical bills and each girl got like $50k for their stupidity.
I guess its easier to avoid court although I cant see how the RR could have lost.
Don't mess with trains!
In 9 years I hit one car. I was running backwards and light engine (no railcars in tow.) Running backwards the engineer can only see out one side of the engine. The conductor watches the other side. We came to an intersection at maybe 25mph, the gates were down, I sounded my horn. Next thing I hear is my conductor screaming for me to stop. I didn't see anything. I didn't hear or feel anything either. Three girls ran the gate in a small car. I cought the front left quarter of the vechicle spinning it around a bit. Everyone was ok. The car was a mess though. Although not fault in any way, the carrier paid all of their medical bills and each girl got like $50k for their stupidity.
I guess its easier to avoid court although I cant see how the RR could have lost.Don't mess with trains!
a childhood friend of mine was a locomotive engineer for many years. he had two situations that were determined to be "suicide by train", where a vehicle driven by a person intent on committing suicide parked on his tracks during conditions (night / weather / etc) where he was unable to stop before hitting / killing them.
the second time was too much for him to take and he retired. a shame, because he really enjoy engineering.
krauss-maffei pts1
Tow bar less aircraft tug.
2 Mercedes V10 turbo diesels w/ 4 hydraulic wheel motors.
Able to tow a fully loaded 747 (600,000 lbs.) @ 35 mph
SFO has one, we used to call it 'Super Tug' aka Fahrvergnügen
The first time the SFO ground controllers saw it the thought we were taxing the plane, they said 'did you stay TAXI or Tow?' We said...TOW :biggrin:
sorry I can't find a picture to save my life :redface:
Tow bar less aircraft tug.
2 Mercedes V10 turbo diesels w/ 4 hydraulic wheel motors.
Able to tow a fully loaded 747 (600,000 lbs.) @ 35 mph
SFO has one, we used to call it 'Super Tug' aka Fahrvergnügen
The first time the SFO ground controllers saw it the thought we were taxing the plane, they said 'did you stay TAXI or Tow?' We said...TOW :biggrin:
sorry I can't find a picture to save my life :redface:
I can't post the pics because of legal reasons but he has pics of the last incident. He hit a jeep, their fault, and threw the jeep up a hill and into a parking lot where it landed on an expensive luxury car. No one was hurt but the jeep driver is trying to sue. I still don't understand why people try and mess with trains. They always lose.Very true. The saying is that evey engineer will hit someone at some point.
In 9 years I hit one car. I was running backwards and light engine (no railcars in tow.) Running backwards the engineer can only see out one side of the engine. The conductor watches the other side. We came to an intersection at maybe 25mph, the gates were down, I sounded my horn. Next thing I hear is my conductor screaming for me to stop. I didn't see anything. I didn't hear or feel anything either. Three girls ran the gate in a small car. I cought the front left quarter of the vechicle spinning it around a bit. Everyone was ok. The car was a mess though. Although not fault in any way, the carrier paid all of their medical bills and each girl got like $50k for their stupidity.
Don't mess with trains!
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a 119 ft stern wheel paddle boat
P
P
A few years back me and a bunch of guys with Ferrari's and Lambo's did a tunnel run at 3am on a weekday which took us thru the holland brooklyn battery tunnel the south ferry tunnel and thru some parts of the city like times sq and down firth ave ... it was quite exiliterating:biggrin:
It's all about the stick shift & ball bearings.
Okay, that's pretty cool.
It wasn't one of the Disney ones was it? I was pretty impressed that even though they use guiding tracks, the throttle still has a real "driver".
Nope- it was the Victorian Princess- http://www.victorianprincess.com/abouttheship.php
I used to be the hospitality manager (bar tender) on board for 3 years when I was in college. My best friend was the captain and since I was also certified as crew I would sometimes assume pilot duties if the Captain needed to use the head. I didn't do anything tricky like docking or anything, but I did drive that boat, as well as the yacht Empress which was the other boat in the fleet at that time.
I should also edit- the website says the VP is 112 ft, so my bad- I drove a 112ft stern wheel paddleboat
P
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The most unusual thing I've ever driven is a freight train. OK, so I was 12 years old and only drove it for about half a mile, but it was a pretty cool experience! My dad used to work for EJ&E and I guess he knew the engineer and got me aboard.
a track prepped CRV is probably the weirdest thing I have driven
ground controls, lightweight flywheel, and RT615s lol, it was amazingly planted and handled much better than you would think
ground controls, lightweight flywheel, and RT615s lol, it was amazingly planted and handled much better than you would think
There is a lot of you SF guys out there. Any of you ever operate a cable car brake?
