Greatest Train Movie

So, what does it refer to?

The camera crew the camera dolly and the camera operator and director's shadows as they push the camera dolly up the beach, all seen at bottom of the screen during the Omaha beach scene in "The Longest Day" as the camera pans up the beach from the water's edge with the landing going on into the far distance.

In message , Christopher A. Lee writes

Places where there is no radio signal.

Trains receive their authority to proceed through a section from the dispatcher(s). These days they receive this authority by radio. The dispatcher gives a complete description of the authority detailing what section the train has authority to proceed into including mile post numbers, etc. The train engineer (=driver for us Brits) then repeats the whole item back to the dispatcher and it is only when this has been done (correctly) that the train has authority to proceed.

If a moving train's authority has to be amended, or if the dispatcher wants to contact the train in case of emergency they will do this by radio. If there is no radio signal (mountains, etc) then the train is in 'dark territory' and cannot by contacted by normal means.

Dark Territory.

A railway line with no signals where Time-Table and Train Order (TT&TO) govern the movement of trains.

Interesting.

In the UK they have RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) for long single track sections like the Camrian main line the East Suffolk line and routes in Northern Scotland, But trains are still controlled by the equivalent of signals - it replaces the physical token which permitted the train to enter the single track block, and has stop boards where the stop signals used to be.

The distant signals (yellow) are also fixed boards a convenient distance before the stop boards. These are protected by traditional AWS so if the driver doesn't apply the brakes the train is brought to a less gentle stop,

The driver asks for the token and presses a button to receive it on a different frequency that doesn't carry speech, after which he is given permission to pass the stop board and enter the section.

It was introduced after a storm brought down 40 miles of telegraph line in the North of Scotland and it was easier to use radio between signal boxes rather than replace the telegraph lines. Initially they still used a physical token but then it was realised that if they were using radio then the token could also be sent electronically.

With sprung turnouts at passing points, this was simple, effective and almost foolproof.

It is currently being phased out and replaced by the Europe-wide ERTMS in cab signalling system.

Thanks, have to look for that.

Let's not discount "Unstoppable".

Very real. Certainly got the executives right. I could almost hear them thinking they should leave the railroad business and sell real estate.

DockScience wrote: : : Certainly got the executives right. : Anybody read Carol Bartzs' comments in Fortune magazine about being fired from her CEO poition at Yahoo?

I am sure the many employees she terminated said the same thing about her.

Bruce