Episode 17: The Hangover (minus the Rule G Violations)

In this week's episode of Off the Rails with Rowdy and Bethan, we're calling this one the "Hangover Edition." Neither is actually hungover, just running on fumes after submitting our CRISI grant and getting Polson 70 back under steam. The result? A completely unscripted episode in which no one is entirely sure what was talked about... but apparently it was a lot.

1.) The final push to submit our nearly $30 million CRISI grant application and what the last few days looked like behind the scenes. At the time of filming, Bethan still hadn't submitted it.
2.) Getting Polson 70 back into service following her 1,472-day inspection and rebuild, personnel meltdowns and all. 
3.) Rowdy's problematic internet presence. 
4.) The Oregon Trail, favorite presidents, whether heritage railroading is a viable career, legal pads, spot plates, World War II, and a variety of other topics that production wouldn't have put on the agenda.
5.) In the News! This week's news segment covers paperwork at Railtown.

Got a question or topic you want us to cover? Send it our way—we'd love to hear from you.

So grab your coffee (or whatever is getting you through the day), crank up the phonograph, and let's go Off the Rails.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Off the Rails, the podcast where steam locomotives meet modern maps. Joint executive director of the Mount Rainier Sonic Railroad, Beth and Mahr, and Rowdy Pierce, Superintendent, Professional Catherine, and occasional how to go tour. Together they pull back the curtain on the wild, weird, and often hilarious world of tourist steam railroads. You'll get a front row speak to the ins and outs of this truly unique business. So grab your ticket, hold on to your sense of humor, and join us for a ride into the unpredictable world of steam. This is Off the Rail.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Welcome to Off the Rails with Rowdy and Bethon. Bethan's back. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

How long has it been since we've done one together?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Well, we did uh Beth and Eric and then Rowdy Kelvin. So it's been like over a month since the people have heard from us both. And because um oh so this this podcast is just entitled The Hangover. Yeah, that's what it feels like. Um so typically speaking, the way we go about doing this podcast is there's like a script, quote unquote, that's broken into three or four parts. And it's the intro, it's like two topics, and then the in the news readers quest.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

It's almost like an episode of the O'Reilly factor.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yeah. Let's I mean, I have some issues with that. I have read every book he's written. He's written.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

But um That's not very liberal of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

So I got this whole Quaker thing going on, and it's a little bit like a Catholic priest, and sometimes you really like things you're not supposed to. Like little boys. Like I was gonna say, like military history.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Um Hey brother, you're dying back there. Are you okay?

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Um we're so we're we're down half of production today, which is so we're left supervised by Kelvin, who is arguably more responsible than both of us, but not as responsible as Jared. And um because of all the hangover things we're gonna talk about, um, there is no script. There is a legal pad with things I wrote down while I was driving.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Yeah. And I'm going into those blind, so you're just gonna get rowdy raw and uncut-ish.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Hi, we're the production team. Welcome to Off the Rails with Calvin and Jared taking over for Rowdy and Bethany, who are no longer in the studio. So, what do you think? Well, my friend, I I don't think it's as hard as what they make it out to be. I think we're doing a pretty good job so far. So I kind of like it on this side of the lights. Yeah, it's kind of nice. It's kind of good. Yeah, yeah. Behind the camera is cold, in front of the camera is warm, and nobody's yelling at us. Exactly. Nobody's insulting us while they're you know benefiting from our production. Exactly. Now I can actually defend myself every time Rowdy says Calvin's trying to cut. Yeah, right? Right. And how like how many beeps do you have to like how many nights is it 10 o'clock at night? You're editing a video, and you're like, insert beep. No, guys, these are hour-long episodes, and I have to go through that hour-long episode about 50 times. So you can imagine how many times I have to watch that over and over again. Over and over and over. But we're really here because we have a message. Um something really important. I'm wondering if you're still watching, why have you not sponsored this podcast? I'm talking to you. We're talking to you guys right there. Off the rails doesn't make itself. Calvin makes off the rails with the talent. The talent. We need you guys. We need you guys. So sponsor, get your sponsorships in. You guys got a business, you got something you want to highlight, anything like that, you guys reach out to us, let us know. We'll put a little 30-second, one-minute spot, whatever it is that you guys are looking for. Yep. Check out the website. You can check out Wiffem.org or leave a comment in this podcast or on this YouTube. Premier sponsorships are available, standard sponsorships are available. If you are interested in getting Rail fans to know your business, you want to be on the podcast. And we want to get our next paycheck. Now's the time, guys. Make it happen. Make it happen. Rowdy!

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Sorry, there was a um an incident that had to be discussed off camera because I have uh I have three children, but your mind went right to the gutter.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

No, it it wasn't a gutter situation.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

It was the hangover. The hangover. Let's get to the hangover.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Why are we hungover? We're not literally hungover. I am sick because this is what happens.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

I haven't wanted to get out of bed for the last two days.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Yeah. So I have not submitted Chrissy yet, but it is all uploaded. And it is done. So I have finished Chrissy. Um, and by I I mean there's a team of people that finished it.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

And at the same time, you have the team of people.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

We have got the 70s back up and going. And a lot of the railroad world kind of noticed.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah. So we're both just coming out of the haze in the fog and looking at the post-apocalyptic world around us.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

So there's sort of so Rowdy and I, uh, God, we've worked together for a long time at this point. And um we've got a pretty good read on most of our staff because we've also spent a lot of time with them. And we've gotten very good at predicting everyone's behavior.

SPEAKER_04 5:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

So, like, throughout the Chrissy process, I will call you, or I would call you, and I would go, so I hate it all and I want to start over. And your response would be, yeah, it's about right on schedule.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

And then like three days ago, I was like, I feel sicker than shit. And you were like, Yeah, it's about right on schedule.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

Chris had a nervous breakdown, and we're like, Yeah, that's right on that.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

That's right on schedule. The 72-hour Chris does so well if he's got 20 minutes to finish something, or if he's got like weeks to finish something.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

And you we'll talk about it. You know, well, let's talk about the 70s. So 70s out, 70s on the train. She's back to primary mode of power.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

It's Tuesday, they're firing it up right now to take it for a joyride out to Eatonville and back.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Yeah. To go deliver ties.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

To go deliver ties. Um which to be fair, they were they were hating being here on Sunday. And I was just like, hey, you know, we got a work train we gotta run on Tuesday. You can if you guys want, we could take the 70, but that's only if you want to. Yeah. And they were here at eight o'clock firing it up. Yeah. So And they're not getting paid to do it. They are like, we are just here to enjoy the fruits of our labors, which you can't pryate out of the damn thing right now.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah, it's and that's one of the topics for later. If someone asked a really good question in the in the comments, is you know, is a career and heritage rail really viable? And we're I think we're gonna probably my guess is you're gonna talk, you're gonna say something to the effect of, well, you need to learn the hate it.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Um find a different hobby. So the the process of the 70, um FRA came out to inspect. And then after, you know, gave us blessings, go forth and chug my children. And then after that point, it's not like you can just run the locomotive because there's still shit you gotta do. Wanna walk us through it? Or do you want me to just keep talking while you say?

SPEAKER_04 8:15

I mean, you you know, we got there's a rod brass that's a little loose, yeah, and it needs to have a whole brand new rod.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

I was gonna talk about the things that happened, like to get it out the door after the FRA visit. So that was the marathon.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Yeah. Because when the FRA visited and said in in the last, and that was the last YouTube video. Um, the locomotive they'll see another one before then. Yeah. But so that was the last YouTube video. The next one was kind of more of the putting the locomotive together is coming out.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

So that's what we're talking about now.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Yeah. So they walked out the door, and like Chris and Nate were on it. And then um, so the valve gear needed to be finished rebuilding.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

The which meant what kind of valve gear is it, Rowdy?

SPEAKER_04 9:08

Stevenson Link. Okay, it's I I so I just sometimes want to go back in time and tell the guys at Pulson to order another 90-ton logging Mikado, like they did with the 90, and make sure we end up with it 100 years later. Um, I'm sure. Um, but so it's got Stevenson Link, and at the end of last year, we noticed that the eccentric straps on the cams were out way out of whack.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

David Anzer, who I know is gonna listen to this podcast eventually, is texting me. Did you get it submitted? No, because I'm still having panic attacks. Thank you, David.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

And so we rebuilt the valve gear and all the stuff that was loose there, and Chris was had to take off like three times. Because you know, Chris, it has to be perfect. Yeah. And so um he had to take it off three times to make minor adjustments here and there. Um we did a quick and dirty job, and I I know the the fan club is gonna jump all over me for this and and and spout about it on the internet. But we did a quick and dirty paint job, as in it's got high performance, cheap rustolium on the jacket.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Rustoleum's finest.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

Because, you know, in a couple of months it's gonna be painted a different color.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

We're gonna we're gonna talk about the some of the reasons and the justifications, but let's talk about the mechanical stuff.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

So they they started on that, and then pretty soon um it was like the entire staff at up to and including maintenance away, were like, we gotta get this thing out the door. So they just started working 12 to 16 hour days, putting parts back on.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

So you and I had a talk. Um, and that talk was, bro, we barely made payroll.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

By like a few hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Because the big black thing that's been pulling the train for the last four to six months has been sucking down a couple grand a weekend. And most sane managers probably would have laid people off. But yeah, but we didn't. We figured it out.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

You figured it out. Well, so we figured it out, but so I had that conversation with you, and I don't know whether the crew was overhearing it or what, but they sort of all went, well, we can just work our butts off and get the 70 out and save us a whole weekend of diesel and diesel bill.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Um because we're up to the point where we're running Wednesday through Sunday. Yeah. And last week was the first full week of Wednesday through Sunday, and the diesel took mostly all of it, and that was rough.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

At, you know, close to seven dollars a gallon. Yeah. That was rough. Yeah. That was a hard week. So, um, they kicked and the seven, so to put it into perspective, fuel-wise, the 70 burned 250 gallons on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

At a and that's with a little bit of a shoddy fuel delivery, too.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

And that was well, that was with the same crappy fuel that was left over in it from Christmas. But we I think we burned a good chunk of that out. And on Sunday, we burned 250 gallons of fuel on three trains. Four trains if you count the deadhead, which you know, I'm not good at in the 300 bucks. It's about 350 bucks or something like that for the entire day. Whereas the diesel was about $900 for the same day.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah. So there's your mathing. Yeah. So, okay, so work that was done after the FRA. Let's let's give the rundown, summarize it.

SPEAKER_04 12:39

The the basically the broad stroke of it is the FRA gave us the go-ahead, they said the inspection was great, I got the report, and a week later the steam locomotive was reassembled.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, but I mean there was a lot of work to do it. And I think a lot of um a lot of folks were expecting a press release saying the 70 is back. And because we're Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad, we didn't do that. Um for a few reasons.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

There were people all over the place expecting when the looking for when they could come up and see the locomotive. And I when we were doing the break-in runs over this last weekend, I very strategically did not take the locomotive past a certain point on the railroad to keep it out of the public eye. So what we would do is each trip, we would make adjustments, look for things, try to figure some stuff out, you know, because we we had to re-time the locomotive. So we're messing with the timing every trip to try to get it just right. And so we would meet the train in the middle of the tree farm, which is after the big the Squally River.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

It's after any public crossings.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

It's after any public crossings, and it's in the trees, so where you can't you can't get to the you can't see it. And you know, everybody on the train we get all yay, because there's a steam engine there, and we'd pull them up the rest of the way. I think the we didn't take it out into the public domain until Saturday night.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah, so and I um just cryptically, I kept so Mount Renuscenic Railroad is known for long-winded posts on Facebook in particular. I wonder why that is.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

Not me.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Yeah, it's me. Um and I just did cryptic nonsense. So I posted like a shot of the 70 with just ACDC back in black because the jacketing was black lyrics, and everyone went, yay! And then I posted another video, and um that was on one of the test runs, is I just I went down um yeah, I hitchhiked um on the engine and then went down and took a shot of it just going across the bridge. Um, you know, and and posted that one, and we haven't still haven't done a full press release. I think I just in one of the comments I said, like, pretend this is a really official press release, like hey, thanks bye. Um because we have seen time and time again, someone does a big press release, their engine's gonna be out. The engine, this engine is back on this day. It does not matter how many test runs you do before that point. The engine will break. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

It's it's the juju of the industry. You just so Bob Harbison was up here, you know, to take pictures. He really wanted to take pictures of its first revenue run. And when's that gonna be? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Well, and and it was truthfully, we didn't.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

And he he goes, so you're not gonna do the traditional industry standard where you make this massive press release about all this stuff gonna happen, and then your locomotive goes out and breaks part way through it, and you got everybody mad at you, and it's like, yeah, exactly. No, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, it's just and it it that's that's one. It's not a comment on anyone's skill, it's more a comment on superstition.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

It's just the way it goes. But the second that you commit yourself to a date that the locomotive is gonna be done, you're gonna miss the date. The second that you say the locomotive is gonna be in revenue service over this weekend, something else is gonna crop up. It's just basically my juju one it is is just put the engine out there and people will figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah. So and then I'm just a jerk on the internet, so I just was like vague book posting. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

Um so far, everything's been, you know. Um we we like I said, there's a couple uh the one video that you posted, there was a loose driving box that decided to loosen up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

The engine hadn't been moved in six months. I know that that, and here's the thing. I know that the engine didn't sound perfect in that video, and I posted it anyway because I wanted to highlight the best part of the video was who was in the engineer seat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

It was the first couple times, I mean, I didn't get in the locomotive to run it until we actually went out to get the train on Saturday. It was been Chris and Nate on it more than I've been. Um while you were off taking that video, what was I doing? I think you were like weeding or something. No, I was up here sitting in an Adirondack chair reading your Chrissy Grant. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right. You were off on the steam engine and I was reading the Chrissy Grant. Yeah, that's fair. And then the next day, then through Saturday, because you know, we fired it Friday night, did the stuff, and then Saturday we were trying to get it on. We were trying to get it on the train, but just decided that it wasn't gonna happen, was the day that they were doing their stuff with it, and I was helping Rhonda weed.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Yeah. And, you know, sometimes you just there's other shit to do.

SPEAKER_04 18:15

I got a million and one things to do around here.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah. So um I think that what you and I are the most proud of is Chris and Nate. Oh, 100%. And and the maintenance away guys. And the maintenance.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

Yeah, the maintenance away guys are initially the guys that took the engine apart in January to get it to the point that we could sit. Against directive. Well, her directive. It was my directive. Anyway, so they just didn't want to go out and work in the snow and the rain and stuff on the railroad and we're looking for something to do with the state.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

I had just ordered a tartan tarp for the 70s so I could tuck her in with her blanket, and I had gotten the the corn stuffy. And I was gonna take a picture of her all tucked in and her jacketing and her blankie with her stuffed animal, and I showed up and the f girl was taken apart. Ruined my post.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Yep. Okay. Yep. Cool. And then, you know, February 12th.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

We started a we actually started.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

According to your manager's report.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

According to the days, we actually didn't start the 1472 until February 12th.

unknown 19:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

And we finished the we got the official blessing from the FRA inspectors on the ground January 10th. I mean June 10th. I was gonna say that was that was awful. June 10th. Hangover. Not the top note here. Uh hangover. June 10th is we got the official thumbs up from the FRA inspector on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Chris and Nate did a huge amount of the work. The vast majority. Yep. Damn good on them. Um, I think probably folks are gonna start unsubscribing because they're gonna get sick of us talking about how great Chris and Nate are.

SPEAKER_04 19:59

Well, I didn't, I mean, like I keep saying, I didn't do anything other than seal weld the tubes.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Well that's all I did. No, no, no, that's not true. Um when you fired up the engine, you sacrificed Oh, I sacrificed my facial hair again. Yeah, do you want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_04 20:14

We got it on video too. But you can't see all the fire that I was engulfed in. We drained, uh, well, we they drained about 150 gallons of don't know what nastiness out of the bottom of the 70s fuel tank. It's like water-infused oil. And so we were fighting, they were fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting to get it get it fired up. And then of course I get up there and go, oh, you just watch all urn, I'll get this thing going. So we got, you know, every frick of rag we can find in the shop, like 50 gallons of diesel in there. We're fighting, hey, crack open the oil, fire goes out. We got fuse in there, all kinds of stuff going. And so I told uh um the the burner that's in it is a reproduction burner that was left behind. And I told Chris and NASA, look, go get the burner out of the 17 because you know this burner just does not like air and it doesn't like being under 50 pounds. And so they started to walk off, and Eric and I were in there, and all of a sudden you see the little specks of fire starting to show up inside the firebox, and I was like, Oh shit. And then I was like, Oh, she's getting ready to go. And one of you was smart, and so I cranked up the atomizer, and it it decided that it was going like so Eric bailed. So Eric jumped out of the cabin.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Because he has a sense of self-preservation.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

Yeah, Eric jumped out of the cab. I kicked the firebox door shut because I was in the process of throwing rags in, and I just turned around and I felt myself be enveloped by fire.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah. And then you called me and you're like, my eyelids are burnt. I don't have a beard. I was like, Do you still have eyebrows? And you're like, I really don't know. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

Um and then Chris went-Deb looks at me and goes, Oh my god, you're crispy, because it took my beard, which was almost a month long at that point and just glued it to my face.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Yeah, Chris went and got the 4th of July uh first aid burn kit and put that on my eyelids and blah blah blah blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Yes, you burned the not reportable. Not reportable.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

July one.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

Anyway, so it's like, you know, okay, cool, that's fine. And so I went, you know, I'm just gonna go shave right now because all I can smell is burned hair. So I went and took a shower and shaved. And then that morning I had gone down to Morton to get diesel and rags, and I went to Napa, and I had a beard, and then I went back with the Jeep to get. More rags and uh Heidi, the guy one of the owners, looks at me and goes, Something changed since the last time you were here. I was like, Yes, I've been on fire since last we spoke.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

So I didn't get hurt. I got a little singed. So um Deb's reaction was completely and totally everything you would expect out of Deb is my face is smoling. And she's talking, oh my god, you're you're crispy.

unknown 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. But we but then So 70 went out.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

She she choots. She chugged. Uh there's a rod brass that's needs a little it needs a whole new rod brass, is what it needs.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

It's more than a little love. It right now it's shimmed top, bottom, forward, and backward. At that point, you just need a new one. It's well, it's an inheritance that we got with the locomotive that it should never have been in the locomotive, but we could get the life out of it, and Chris made it work. It's just, you know, it's 3,500 bucks to have new rod brasses poured for it. We're just there's there's the okay. You got your wants and your needs. Wants on the 1472 were to jack the whistle up and replace everything underneath of it. The needs for the 1472 were tubes and the valve gear rebuilt. Yep. You know, so it's gonna be the same as what we've seen in the past where we're constantly working on it over the course of you know her service life at this point. But as far as it is concerned, the FRA, when they were here, not only did they inspect the boiler, but they inspected the running gear. They inspected every part of it because our new FRA inspector for Steam is is is still MP ⁇ E. But he also he also looks at part 230 as the entirety of the steam locomotive, like you should, instead of it just being the boiler. So we we checked everything and there's nothing on it outside of compliance.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

So for safety. There are some things we'll tweak. Um Rowdy, why is the jacketing black?

SPEAKER_04 24:46

The jacketing is black because everybody got sick to death, tired of wiping oil on that jacket.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Yeah. Um why is the spot plate black? People will notice. I'm gonna I'm gonna answer this one and then you can provide a real answer, okay?

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Okay. In the last podcast, there was a question: why aren't there more women in railroad preservation? There will never be an episode on what it's like to be a woman in this industry, from me at least. Um, because like I just I don't want to deal with the comments.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

You don't want to deal with the internet on that one.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

But my answer is it's because there's a woman running this fucking goddamn railroad, and it's my prerogative to change my mind. No, you can provide a real answer.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

The real answer is that that is a copy of the spot plate. That up until it's not the original one. It's not the original. We have the original. The original is safely stored, not hanging on somebody's wall. And uh it is black. And the spot plate on the 70 was black from the time it showed up at Poulson until the time it got to Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

So I was looking at Chris and Nate fire up the thing, and I went, I really wish that were black. And you went, so paint it. So I did.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Mm-hmm. So she's now all black. But the thing of it is, I know we talked about painting a Baldwin green, but that black with the silver band is really growing on everybody.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

It does look sharp. I mean, the thing, so from a social media perspective, though, the thing that's gonna be an absolute bitch is I'm like, I gotta get a whole lot of content and like else is gonna be absolute. Foaming public, I need y'all because it's now all my content's gonna look dated.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

The the other thing that's absolutely isn't that if we paint it green, it's gonna be identical to its sister in Portland, so there's gonna be no way of telling the two apart on the internet.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Okay, internet question. Is was the 1472, so because the pulsant too, I don't I think they might. We're neck and neck.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Aaron, Aaron, are you talking about how short they were?

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it because of Pulsan or the crew or what?

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Both? I uh well, it it so we were both fortunate that both the locomotives were in the boilers had had good work done to them before. Yeah. And so um when it came down to the 1472s, it was a matter of, I mean, for example, the two didn't have hardly any days on it since this last boiler job before the one they did. And so it was just a simple matter of take the tubes out, UT it, put tubes back in it. And it was kind of they were in the same boat as us. The the longest part of the process was actually getting the tubes back in. Yeah. Um, they all have day jobs too. Yeah. So Aaron and I were actually texting back and forth about it, and we don't know who who who did it faster, but we both It wasn't the goal for the fashion. It wasn't the goal, it was not the goal, but we know that we're neck and neck that we've we did the 1472 in about the same amount of time and it's purely a like light-hearted collegial, like y'all friends. Yeah. Um okay, we you you did yours and like it it's like we're within days of each other of doing this inspector.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Maybe a little bit pulsing, maybe just coincidence about engine conditions, having a good crew.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

I don't know. Yeah, um, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 28:07

Because when they got done with the 1472 on that one, they had to drop all the drivers out of it and do a hell of a lot more work than than just the boiler, but um, so and that's a beautiful engine.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

It's a beautiful engine. I love the green jacket. But I like I'm just I'm like, listen, we might change our minds about paint colors and schemes a few times, okay? That's that's our prerogative. Well, I mean I may paint the spot plate again.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

We we talked about putting Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad on the tender, and then we're like, well, the problem with that is is that everybody's just gonna completely and totally hang us out. I'm gonna do like he's always been pulsing at this point.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

I want to do a um like a B-52 nose art thing with just Miss Piggy on it.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

This is the 70 we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

I want a Miss Piggy pin up on the side of the engine. You could do a wrap. I'll consider it. Or a magnet. I'll consider it.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Okay, let's move on. Um, so let's talk about my hangover. Um, what were some of the biggest struggles with the Chrissy grant? This is you asking me, and I'm answering legal pads.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

What were the biggest struggles for the Chrissy? This is you asking me.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Um Legal Pads. Yes. Is how many conversations and phone calls did we have regarding legal pads?

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Um, a few. I see you got the true red.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

I did. I did.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

Which is much better than the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

So I ordered the Amazon Basics legal pad, and the pages just rip out. And I don't have a brain anymore. Um and I actually realized the other day when I was texting Alan Maples, so Alan Maples, take a shot.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

Take take a shot.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Um that my memory stopped functioning when I had the twins. However, and I've been blaming the twins. However, Railroad started running again the same day, so I think I might actually blame the railroad instead of my children. So anyway, but my brain only functions with a legal pad. I went through probably a dozen legal pads. Um it was a really, really fraught situation.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

I almost bought more illegal pads at Staples last night just so that the shop had to supply illegal pads.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

You know how I knew true red was the best ones to get? Because I kept stealing them. You kept stealing them? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

I had them because they're just out of my green pilot G2 pens.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

I almost bought some more of those for you yesterday. Only the green ones. You know how hard it is to find the green ones? Very hard. You have to buy the pack of like all the different colors?

SPEAKER_02 31:38

No, it's you you can order them off of the Amazons.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Just green. But I don't go to the Amazons. I'm a boomer and I go to Staples.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

I know.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

I know.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Which I went to Staples yesterday in the Jeep, and everybody was looking at me like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Yeah, you're a weirdo. Um, so Chrissy, um huge, huge, huge, massive, massive shout out to David Anzer and especially and um Toby Van Altworst for um David prepared the the BCA and huge chunks of the narrative. Um I did work on it too, but huge shout out. Um they are incredibly nice people and like fairly wholesome, which it's rare in this industry. It's rare. Um, and they put up with me. And you.

SPEAKER_04 32:35

Yeah, I wasn't involved in that. As I said, the only the first conversation I was involved in was when I upped the freaking ask several million dollars. Yeah, you and Toby. And then I could I I was no longer invited.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Yeah, then we uninvited you. Uh-huh. Um, so yeah, huge shout out. Um, tremendous, tremendous folks who really, really know their shit, um, are patient, kind, um, and helped us get this thing across the finish line. I think I I mean, I don't know. Do you want to summarize the spot we're in with Chrissy? We, me.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

Well, Bethon's work is phenomenal, so that everybody knows. She thinks that it's crap, but that's just typical frickin' Bethany at the end of anything that she does. And um loading. It it it's uh tremendous. It's uh I I don't really see a problem with well, I redid a bunch of shit. You just sent me that email yesterday. Why? You said, hey, read this over for me. And so I'm reading this over for you. Oh, no, no, I I just redid a bunch of shit. Here's the new stuff.

unknown 33:38

Like, fuck.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

Okay. And since then, I'm sure you've redone a bunch more shit.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Mostly formatting. Um actually, huge shout out to Hamish, uh, my intern, who was my intern last summer, who I have kept. He is so damn good. I probably need to give him a title other than intern. Um, y'all in the railroad and shortline industry, Hamish Curry will, he's a senior now, he'll be graduating. He is tremendously intelligent, with it, kind, smart, puts up with me, so he'll be able to put up with you. Um good dude. Anyway. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm in the self-doubt, doubt, loathing. I'm a little bit worried about the politics behind it. We are in a blue state, so we really tried to emphasize um that it's a royal project.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

Well, okay, you're in a blue state, but did you not notice how many R's you have for backing?

SPEAKER_02 34:35

I also didn't put D's on any of the Congrats. I didn't. That was actually that was a David suggestion. And then like the maps emphasize, I mean, it was, you know, the rural nature of the project.

SPEAKER_04 34:47

We are nowhere near Seattle.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

The bipartisan support behind it. We are nowhere near Seattle.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

All of that. Just ignore our state-centered.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

I did, I did float the idea on my own personal Facebook page. Um I did use generative AI, folks, um, of pulling the F unit out of the barn and giving her a rattle can red, white, and blue paint scheme and like using some vinyl house numbers, the renumber 4547, and putting that on the cover photo of the application.

SPEAKER_04 35:16

It's not Trump that looks at this. You do know that, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:20

But like there are selection. So there's you have the scoring committee and then you have the selection committee. Um, in theory, it's bipartisan. Anyway, um, and it's it's really apolitical.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

Hey brother, how's it going back there?

SPEAKER_02 35:36

All right, so um, and my legal pads scratch up. Oh, um, I wrote a lot of things on here. I said the hangover, Chrissy, Pulson 70, LegalPads, Career and Heritage Rail, World War II, who's your favorite president, Chrissy Nerves, the Oregon Trail, Rowdy's online presence. Let's go with Rowdy's online presence. Why are you the way you are on the internet?

SPEAKER_04 35:57

Um just because.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

Oh!

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Oh! Oh, oh. I wasn't. It was. I just make snarky comments in people's comments. You make very snarky comments, and it's not a good look for the industry. We had the most uh subscribes from our podcast ever after the Pride podcast and from our YouTube channel. I didn't have anything to do with that. You you didn't. And then I I um it was it was hard to research for that episode, and I'll segue into World War II. Um it was hard to research for that episode, so I asked a question at the head of the torch about like how do you do research of like undocumented, marginalized populations?

SPEAKER_04 37:00

Like, how is this turning? This is Eric's presence on the internet. The not Rowdy's presence. I just make snarky comments to people about, you know. The rest of the industry when you say that ego is the problem in the industry, and then you're like but you everybody thinks I'm coming at it with the ego, and I'm I'm really fucking not because I know I'm just as fucked up as everybody else, so amen. I just don't care.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Uh no, you're so, so not as bad as it used to be.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

It's way better than it was.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

You can ask Brian why.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

I like like this morning I was tagged. Um, shout out Ricky. Like Ricky tagged me in things, and I was like, I haven't read it all yet, and I know that I'm tagged just because you misbehaved.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

I the reason why you're tagged is because I just commented on how long it takes to get paid for it.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Oh, for the well, there was a to be fair, my HRA scholarship was in there was a time of much transition. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

And maybe I'm the only one that remembers sitting in that conference and having the head guy in charge saying, oh, just don't worry about the financials. Don't look at the numbers, don't look at them, just ignore that. And then it took months to see the money from your scholarship.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

That's not a good look.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

I they are trying. They are trying. But I know that I was tagged just because you did something on the internet. You were trying to get your back.

unknown 38:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

You're the one that brought it up. It's because I, well, I was literally driving. I'm like blindly writing on the various topics we can talk about so that we don't run.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

Well, no, it was the text messages. I because every if now I just ask permission with the salute to cause shit on the internet. And you on Wednesday, on Sunday, you gave me.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Seven times out of ten, I do.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

Sunday you gave me permission to cause shit on the internet. And yesterday you were like, yeah, maybe not. It's gonna look make you look bitchy. It's like, well, I am bitchy. Everything you said, I was like, well, yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

Um so let's see, we covered Lego pads.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Hangovers. Um anything to get me to shut up. I'm sorry. Get off the topic that you brought Rowdy on to. He's winding up.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

I'm there's this weird, so I'm having a really hard time. We are all super obsessed with World War II, and right now your tism is rhythming so like you're a whole marching band of World War II. Here's the problem.

SPEAKER_04 39:28

Here is the problem.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

Okay, Calvin, am I right? Production.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Here's the problem. Mom pointed it out to me the other day. Now, my dad was bad. Yeah. Like, yeah. That's the reason why you need to get my mother on the podcast. So you can ask her why I am the way I am.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

We can talk about her failures parenting. Love you, Nancy.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

Um, but so my dad lived World War II, and then my mom said the other day, she goes, I just find it funny that you're the same age that your dad was when he took this deep dive. And I know it's a problem. I know it's a problem.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

It's an indication of how problematic our relationship is. We were on the phone the other day as you were trying to get dressed.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

Yeah. Oh my gosh, the internet. Yeah. Um, so uh as as production can say, that here's the problem. When you turn, when you turn your hobby into a job, you gotta find a new hobby, right? I went and I was farting around on the internet looking for something, and I found that, you know, Airsoft has come a long way from when I was a kid. And there's all, I mean, like the World War II guns are freaking phenomenal. And so I floated it to the guys saying, hey, you know, we should buy a bunch of World War II guns and just shoot the shit out of each other. Because this was, you know, like month two of the 70 rebuild. And then next thing we know, we all have World War II Airsoft, and then I was like, well, I gotta just get the uniforms too, so everything matches. And then I think that was mostly you. No, no, Eric. Eric's going on in on it too.

SPEAKER_03 41:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

And then I spent probably a little bit too much money and time on it.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Yeah, you were the adult wandering around playing dress up right now.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

See picture posted. See picture posted. Yeah, well, yeah, no, I that that's that's like not even, I'm not even gonna lie. So I'm used to doing it.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

In trying to be.

SPEAKER_04 41:26

Only the difference is that instead of going peep pew, peep pew, peep pew, I'm actually pulling a trigger and shooting somebody.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

Mostly Kelvin.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

No, I got Nate pretty damn good.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

This is not our recommended course of action for an employee morale and wellness program, y'all. I will say they've all done more push-ups in the last month collectively than they have in their entire lifetimes. Okay, so I went on a I'm just, you know what? I I went on a deep dive about trying to do World War II stuff on the research for the podcast, and I just I it was challenging. I'm gonna you know what? We're just gonna skip past that. Um, let's see, what else do we have? Who's your favorite president? Who do you think the best president was?

SPEAKER_04 42:11

Theodore Roosevelt. Why? I mean, the dude got freaking shot and continued to give a speech.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

Oh, that's why, because he talks so much. You find that inspirational. Aspirational aspirational, perhaps.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Uh-huh. Okay, but like in the reason between domestic foreign, like it's a tie between Theodore Roosevelt and um probably U.S. Grant.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Oh, you are obsessed with Grant.

SPEAKER_04 42:42

I I think Grant is just a, you know, I think Grant got the shitty end of the stick with, you know, have to be the president at the end of the Civil War. But, you know. You know, Lincoln was okay too, but we I mean, I could say Reagan in there, but I know that you would freaking get triggered.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

No, I have some hot takes. Like, if I could divide favorite or I believe maybe most effective presidents into like domestic and foreign, like I would have LBJ on the list. Only strictly talking domestic policy and not who he is as a person. Like just his ability to get shit passed, like through the right.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

But he liked to show his dick to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

Yeah, and also like, you know, Vietnam.

SPEAKER_04 43:27

Um that too.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

Minor things. And then like hot take, like H.W. Bush in terms of foreign policy didn't suck. Like end of the Cold War. I mean, yeah, you had Iraq won, which I think then turned into a legacy issue with Iraq v two, Bush v two, but um hot take, that's a Republican.

SPEAKER_04 43:47

Yeah, I I know that like Eisenhower people consider him to be a good president.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

The problem was this is a railroad podcast, so we can't.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

But the thing about Eisenhower was that. This has nothing to do with our mission and I think. Exactly. But after World War II, nobody wanted to go against Ike because, well, Ike was World War II.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

But but and again, this was because we didn't have script today, and I was just writing random shit down. You're the one that brought you brought up freaking presidents. As a railroad podcast, we can't support Ike.

unknown 44:20

No.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Interstate highway systems, the downfall of the railroads. Um okay, how are things going on the Oregon Trail?

SPEAKER_04 44:28

What? Where's our third car? Oh, it hasn't even left freaking. Well, it was in Tennessee and now it's back in Alabama. There's been a 2D railment since then.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Uh affected by.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Oh, affected by.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Affected by. And there's some blame on the big boy. Y'all, if you know anyone in NS that can make that damn thing move, we really don't want to have to pay for cranes twice to unload two cars.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

It is like sitting there like, we will get it to you as quick as we possibly can, which if they can go quicker than the other two, that's gonna be a frickin' miracle. But NS just does not seem to be able to get it to a BN interchange.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

If anyone knows anyone at NS that can get that dang thing moving. Like, this is gonna be the difference of like 60 F and grand with cranes. Yes and like OMG.

SPEAKER_04 45:21

Well, what I say the other day, it'd just be easier to put the thing up for sale on the freaking floor. Flat car and say, hey, if you can figure out how to get it to your organization, you can have the damn thing. At this point, like it, it, it's, it, yeah. Um, okay, so and I'm just gonna go for bra on that because you know that's gonna get me into the rant about the fucking murder.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Okay, anyway, um, I have one question for our listeners slash viewers, and one question from our listeners slash viewers, a question for them. In a hypothetical world, if um the internet foaming influencer known to us as heist were to come out to Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad, what sort of shenanigans do you want to see happen online? Please provide us with a whole list of things. Pretty please. Oh, so like topics for future podcasts, because next time we're not gonna do this unscripted. And um Yeah.

unknown 46:32

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Um You're just trying to stay away from the Beth and Rowdy World War II podcast, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 46:43

I don't think we should put that in this channel. I don't think that that should be affiliated with the railroad. Because I would say that 100% of our conversations that we have, which is an extraordinary amount of conversations, do reference World War II.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Because I would say we are probably equally messed up in the head with slightly different flavors.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

So anyway. We both agree that Italy was stupid, but oh God, it just the execution of it. Well, and Mark Clark, what do you freaking expect?

SPEAKER_02 47:24

See, you can't do that because then it pulls me back and I start thinking about it. And like Sicily just mmm mm-mm. Like, why Sicily, y'all?

SPEAKER_04 47:35

Napoleon said.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

I know the boom, and you don't know. You don't go through the top, but we all know that. Um okay. Do we think that a career and heritage railroading is viable? Oh fuck. I know it's I saw that question and I was like, honest to God, that could be the topic of an entire podcast.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

It it it honestly could, because it's a damn good question. It's a damn good question. You have got to understand that when you go into the tourist railroad world, it is. I mean, how many people just since we've been fired back up if we chewed up and spit out? Because what they think and what reality is is two totally different things. They think, oh, you get on the locomotive and you just go out and play with it. And then you realize that there is more time in the shop working on the thing to be able to go out and do that than there actually is.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

And so much of it is the business behind it.

SPEAKER_04 48:33

The business behind it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

Right? Is there is a science to this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:37

It's not the entirety of the train. What we always say. The train is the vessel that carries it.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

But there's so much other business that happens that is so like time-consuming, labor-inducive. Like you're the amount of paperwork. There's a shit ton of paperwork.

SPEAKER_04 48:55

I mean, the amount of paperwork dealing with the work.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

We're working with the general public. Events are worse.

SPEAKER_04 49:01

It's just You know, events are work work. To do it and do it well. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

It it's not so it's a small niche industry. So if you wanted to get into this industry, yeah, you need to do some grunt work and put your time in. And you better so that you understand all the moving parts. And I don't think that any one person should just specialize in mechanical or operations. I think you need to work on board, you need to work retail, you need to work some events. You need to understand the entirety of the operation because a lot of operations you get into this like headbutting between operating events.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

How many operations can you name off the top of your head where the mechanical and operational department freaking butt heads with the administrative so many training?

SPEAKER_02 49:48

So many because all the guys on the train went, we're the most important thing. And I think it's a lack of understanding of just how much work everyone does. Yeah. And I do see that the mechanical crew gets a lot of the credit, and the event staff who's, you know, schlepping stuff around doesn't because it's not quite as glamorous.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

That was something I always was like, you know, like well, I mean, it's like right now you guys are getting ready for Christmas already. Oh, yeah. You've been getting ready for Christmas for a couple of months, and no one understands that to do Christmas and do Christmas well, you have got to be. I mean, Eric has got to have all of his shit ordered by the end of May so that shows up in September. So we don't have the freaking lost container at sea like we did last year.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:26

You know, it there's so many moving parts that you you know, and people will. It's like I I had the question the other day, well, when are you gonna do a photo charter? Do you understand just how much work goes into a photo charter for one?

SPEAKER_02 50:39

Yeah. You know So, I mean, and so it's a small industry too. So within a few years of being in this industry, especially if you're networking, you're gonna know pretty much everyone, or you're gonna be one degree of separation away.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

And the and the thing of it is that as much as people try to keep that quiet, reputations matter because people won't come right out and say things on the internet. But in the background, there's people always me, me, me, me, me, me, yeah. Well, they call it down at black uh uh Oklahoma as the Blackbird talk to me me, me, me, me. With the little birds sitting on the fence chirping at each other. That's exactly what it's.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

And I think some of the reason you and I have done what we've done with the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad and the podcast and all that is because neither of us want to go anywhere else or are planning to. I think if we weren't here, we probably wouldn't work in the industry. I mean, maybe shortline stuff, because I don't even think I do that.

SPEAKER_04 51:33

But I might touch I might touch it as like a contractor like I did before doing track work and and that kind of stuff, but I would not touch the industry again. It's it's a it's a it's a toxical industry. It's a toxic industry.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

It doesn't need to be, but it's hard to stay above it.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

It's hard to stay above it.

SPEAKER_04 51:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

And having opinions inherently means that you will create conflict at some point. If you're there are some of the people that I really, really admire and manage to be involved in the industry and universally liked Alan. Take a shot, and that is its own kind of art. Yeah. That I I'm I I do not possess that skill.

SPEAKER_04 52:16

100%. Because I mean, when especially when it comes down, well, what was it that somebody said the other day? The steam locomotives, when you get that involved too, comes with its own inherent drama.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

So it's it is steadily becoming more viable.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

It is. As people start to realize that, you know, I mean, what what is it that is what are what are we as a as a railroad? What are we? We are a site attraction to the big we're a tourist attraction. We are a tourist attraction. We are no different than the railroad at Disneyland, other than we'd make less.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

And they all realize that this isn't this is showbiz.

SPEAKER_04 52:55

Showbiz, 100%. You know, your caricature, you're putting on a um a mask.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

Yeah, and they they all know that and they own it and they realize it. And yeah, is it still a railroad? 100%. But it's it's show business. So you gotta be comfortable with that. You gotta be comfortable with the fact that you're gonna need a thick skin, both from the general public, from internally within your operation, from the rest of the industry. Um I do think it it is becoming a viable career, but it's also it's hard to it's hard to break through. You get you and you have to hate it to a degree. You can't be so reverential about these things that you're not willing to paint a locomotive. Or, you know, you want to do things so perfectly.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

And that's what like in one of the things we talked about with Nate and Chris is they're both um They've set the bar at perfect and they don't want to go below it. Is through their own work, um, they have set the expectation in the bar for themselves at perfection. That is not reasonable and that is not sustainable. No. So at some point, something will happen, and we as an organization will miss that bar. And it will not be their fault. But the internet will have things to say.

SPEAKER_04 54:13

Well, and that was the reason why behind, you know, us being so quiet about the 70 was that, you know, we we were not expecting it to go out and run all day on Sunday. We were just like, okay, we're gonna run try to run it on Saturday. And we had our issues that we found our way through. And then we said, well, don't do we feel confident to put it on the train on Sunday, and we did. And it went all day long with, you know, I mean, it had issues here and there. I mean, we still gotta do some adjustments to the timing. It's not 100% perfect, and we know that, but it functioned, and it functions safely. You know, and now are we gonna run it tomorrow? Yeah. Yeah. Are we gonna start getting back into what we were doing before where it's on the head of damn near every train we're running? Yeah. But if you go out and say, well, we're gonna run the train on Saturday for the general public, and then you spend two hours fighting fuel to try to get the thing fired up, guess what? I would much rather the public be guessing what we're doing than the public knowing what we are doing.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Yeah, and and failing, right? And we we try and be transparent, but there are genuinely things that we don't know. When is the engine gonna be good to go and that she's our you know, chief mode of power? We don't know that because we don't know what's gonna happen when we take the damn thing out on the road and you know figure out what clanky bangs we got.

SPEAKER_04 55:35

Well, and and and you know, the the but he's probably not gonna let me say anything, but I'm just gonna fucking say it. Chris had himself under a tremendous amount of pressure the day before we ran the 70. Calvin can attest to that. He's behind the camera shaking, sh nodding.

SPEAKER_02 55:52

Not nodding, not shaking.

SPEAKER_04 55:54

He he was he was he had put himself under an extreme amount of pressure to the point where he damn near broke. And what was the conversation that was had with them? It was like, dude, what's the matter? If this doesn't work, if this doesn't work, is I put so much into this, and what if it doesn't work? Like, okay, what if?

SPEAKER_02 56:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:10

What if it doesn't work?

SPEAKER_02 56:11

And the thing is, none of us, none, and what I told those boys is that none of us would have had an inkling of a negative thought because we've seen, we know how skilled they are, we've seen the work they can do. But yeah, this is science, but it's also art.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

And there's the the video of it running for the first time that unfortunately, because of things being said inside the video, we'll never be able to put that out in the public. And you know, it it There's lots of talk about body parts. And then nipples and other things.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

And and hardening.

SPEAKER_04 56:43

Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Um It was a rectifying.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

Oh God. Um but it's a re it's a really good video because that it's the engine sounds so good and they're all just so, so, so happy for Chris.

SPEAKER_04 56:55

Mm-hmm. Because uh well it is But but Chris and Chris and Eric fought the air pump governor for almost two hours before Rowdy found that it was just a loose union.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

Yeah. But I mean I think the point though is And they finally took it out.

SPEAKER_04 57:08

They what I'm getting to is that they finally took it out in that video because I told Chris it was getting to be the end of the day, he was getting frazzled. It's like, okay, the brakes work, it works, it can run under its own power. He is not gonna feel good until this thing goes down that hill and comes back up, and he can he can have proof in the pudding that his work was satisfied.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

But but I'm going back to the question though, is you put a video on the internet and one or two people comment and say, You got some clank bang going on. And then someone who's just spent four months of their life busting their butt and is just so invested in it, that shit kills you. I mean, that shit kills you. And my god, we both try to read the comments and try not to, because well, I mean, the biggest critics in the comments are also a family club, so yeah, it's just it's hard. You know, every bridge video of the bridge I've put out, I've got comments about how I look, how I speak, why don't you do this, why don't you do that?

SPEAKER_04 58:15

The internet is, I mean, here's the thing. Half the the the thing that makes the internet what it is is that we've lost it's so anonymity. There's a lot of the things that people say on the internet that if they were to say to somebody's face, they get smacked.

SPEAKER_02 58:28

Inheritage railroading is inherently a public-facing job.

SPEAKER_04 58:34

And there's people out there that think better than you, and they just don't realize that you know what, you probably just need to keep your fucking mouth shut because you're a disrespectful piece of shit.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

Um in the news this week, um Railtown.

SPEAKER_04 58:48

I had to I had to eliminate the sea sucker out of that just so that you could freaking cut me off.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

In the news this week, Railtown 1897, stating thank you to Nick Ozarak, host of the Roundhouse podcast, for saying this might be a good topic. Um, has temporarily paused trains and canceled rides due to a paperwork problem. Um specifically, Kyle Roberson, staff parks recreation specialist, who's the designated park manager. Trains, everybody understands that they are on rails, but trains operate on paperwork. Fact. Um, we have certain paperwork requirements for any and all assets, including train crew, and sometimes the paperwork isn't completed properly or completely. One of the things about Heritage Railways is there's certain exemptions for forms on paperwork and programs that are generally not historic or would not otherwise impede historic operations, and exemptions change from time to time. One year something must be exempted, another year it's no longer exempted.

SPEAKER_04 59:44

The moral of the story here for me is we do a lot of paperwork, and sometimes things change, and sometimes the moral of the story is that, you know, we got into this conversation, I got into it with one of our.

SPEAKER_02 59:57

I'm saying they took the responsible course.

SPEAKER_04 59:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

Rather than rather than saying, oh, you know, I don't I don't know what all the circumstances are, but I believe that that was in my opinion.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:09

And you know, people are gonna either agree with me or they're not. Well, goody. The two risk what we found about tourist railroads and heritage railroads is that they're exempted from so much shit. Okay. Yeah, just because you're exempted doesn't mean you should be exempted. I mean, look at look at look at some of our our buddies in the area that are trying to get away from running 240, 242 programs and and all that other kind of stuff. Just do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

I mean, your own internal policies can be more restrictive, but once you put that on paper, then you have to comply with it. I mean, so there's a lot of different levels of paperwork. And discovering a problem with a self-audit is way better than the feds discovering it for you. Um, we take the safe course, and yeah, railroads went on paperwork. I mean, we're talking to a few different people about different apps and tech solutions to manage our compliance and our our paperwork because it's huge. There's a lot. There's a lot to it.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:10

There is there's a lot. There's a lot more than what people really think.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Yeah. And I mean, this is just a little mountain, Scenic Railroad. This isn't BNSF, you know. So um, let's see. We should be wrapping up. However, I will go into the comments, and I have not read the comments. We'll do a reading of the comments for listener questions. I know I highlighted the one. What what comments we're at? Yeah, anywhere. We we just do a f we we do an FAQ section.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:40

Do the comments of the OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

We don't have an OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:45

Are you sure about that?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

Uh anyway, I think we're just gonna World War II! Yeah. Thanks for tuning in. Check us out in two weeks. Off the rails with Rowdy and Bevan. Let us know what you want to talk about so I have a script, please.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:08

And that wraps up this episode of Off the Rails. A huge thank you to our totally real, definitely not made up production crew. Sound designed by Microphone, catering by Cornelius Cobb, track maintenance provided by Rusty Switches, and marketing brilliance courtesy of souvenir. I'm your host, reminding you to keep your hands inside the train at all times, because around here things always go off the rails.