RAILforum: secret tricks on trains

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Posted by littletrain (Member # 2660) on :

in all of your trips on amtrak have any of u learned any inside tricks, i learned that their is a way to lock the bathroom from the outside. u could make a couple problems having a whole car of locked bathrooms couldnt you . any other little tricks that u may have picked up i would love to hear them.

Posted by amtraxmaniac (Member # 2251) on :

Why the hell am I laughing. That's just flat mean! You definately have my twisted sense of humor littletrain, but I would never go that far!

Although, a preteen twurp taught me about 4 months ago that you can drive every person in your Superliner Coach crazy by repeatingly playing with the adjustable leg rest for hours on end late at night. I think a few of use wanted to BREAK his legs by about 2:00am.

Watch those fingers Littletrain-If a nauseous passenger catches you trying to do that it may be 'Fingers go bye-bye'.

Patrick

PS-Wait a minute-if they can be locked from the outside, they can be unlocked as well...well after somebody craps their britches while some poor coach car attendants figures out how to do it.

Posted by zephyr (Member # 1651) on :

Ah, yes, the "inside tricks". How did you find out about their existence? Who leaked this super secret information to you? Was it mikesmith? dilly? RRICH? Chucky? Who did it?

Tell us your source, and we'll let you in on the "inside tricks". You can become one of us--if you just let us know who talked.

*** gone (dang, I love discovering d-o-g is a bad word), that bathroom door-thing is minor league. We got "inside tricks" that fritz the air conditioner in summer, fries the heater in winter, KO's all of the toilets in a Superliner, scrambles all PA announcements, makes all onboard personnel grumpy, makes all dinners in the diner served cold, and, best of all, makes all trains run late.

Littletrain, just cough up the name of who told you about the "inside tricks." Do it, and you can become a member of our jolly band of pranksters.

[This message has been edited by zephyr (edited 10-22-2003).]

Posted by AMTRAKLVR (Member # 2843) on :

Maybe what is needed is for someone to try locking the restroom closed from the outside while you are inside.

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

Does anyone know the trick to make the lounge cars swivel? It must be a trick. I've seen seats that have been swiveled, but I've never been able to make one go round myself. There's a lever underneath that's supposed to release it, but whenever I try it the seat remains locked firmly in place. I've tried it while sitting, I've tried it while standing, in different chairs on different trains.

Once I even asked an employee for help with no success. Yet the kids in the lounge car seem to make them go with no trouble.

Oh, I just answered my own question. You have to be a kid to make it work! Littletrain, can you do mine next time?

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

Posted by Fumes5 (Member # 1437) on :

Mr Toy,

It indeed is a "trick" and to find one, you sit in one that a kid has already "released" no i all reality, you need to find one that still has the knob attached to the lever and pull it straight out, sometimes twisting in a clockwise motion as you pull, good luck on you next trip. There are many more tricks that you can also play, like disabling the lights from dimming at night

-Fumes5

Posted by UncleBuck44 (Member # 2049) on :

An against the rules trick is opening up the downstairs window on the door and sticking a video camera out the window to get the best shots ever on a train.
Im always very very extremely cautious when doing this, but yes IT IS AGAINST AMTRAK RULES.
But hey if you want the best video shots try it, but watch out for Amtrak employees. ANd dont leave the window open for to longing, only short increments

Posted by mrhall53 (Member # 1580) on :

Concerning the videocamera out the window, I read somewhere that Amtrak frowns on that not only because of the obvious liability issues, but because the detrius from the toilets, if you get my drift, are chopped up, santized and sprayed on the track bed. But it billows in the wind.

Posted by Fumes5 (Member # 1437) on :

Hi,

As far as the toilet waste being sprayed on the right of way that is BS. All of the waste is sent to a vacumized (Made up??) chamber, musch like on an airplane, it is then tranfered to a septic truck at the stations.

As far as actualy getting i troubble for opening the window, if you xplain to your car attendent what your plans are and why you want to do this, most of the time they will allow it, but only while they are present, and only on the side that has no right of way next to it.

-Fumes

Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :

Yes, opening the vestibule window is DEFINITELY against AMTRAK rules, but I must confess that I too have done that from time to time. Normally the only time I open the window is when the train is stopped (usually I am trying to look down the track and figure out why the train is stopped -- red signals, oncoming freights, etc.) As someone else said, do not leave the window open for more than a few minutes when you do this...

And yes, Fumes5 is right about the toilet waste being sprayed outside -- that simply does not happen!!

[This message has been edited by RRRICH (edited 10-27-2003).]

Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :

Back in the days when I smoked, opening the window about two inches made for a perfect smoking vaccuum. The smoke would go right out the window. Someone within 3 feet could not even smell a hint of the cigarette smoke or cigar smoke if you kept your head near the open window. The Coast Starlight is a no smoking train, but our car attendant would let us know when she was taking a break (hint hint...wink wink...) when she found out we were smokers at the first smoke break the train took.

Yep, she got a $25 tip.

On the CZ, I think the car attendants intentionally disappear during the canyon trips because each trip had numerous cameras and videos poking out of those windows (me included). The train is moving at 37 miles an hour, so a little caution is all you need.

If any of you decide to open that window on one of your trips, be especially careful that a passing train does not take your head off. (sometimes they have loose material on those trains)
You would ruin it for the rest of us.....
(Amtrak would tighten up access to the window)

I might mention that all of this has happened in the sleepers, not in coach class.

[This message has been edited by mikesmith (edited 10-27-2003).]

Posted by UncleBuck44 (Member # 2049) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mikesmith:
be especially careful that a passing train does not take your head off.

Ah yes, Patrick Magoohan/Roger Deveraux in Silver Streak

Posted by MPALMER (Member # 125) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Fumes5:
Hi,
All of the waste is sent to a vacumized (Made up??) chamber, musch like on an airplane, it is then tranfered to a septic truck at the stations.
-Fumes

That's been true for maybe 15-20 years or so. Prior to that, the "exhaust" did indeed get dumped on the track. There was a well-publicized story (urban legend?) at the time about a fisherman in Florida who was sitting in his boat under a trestle. He was at the right place/wrong time when an Amtrak train passed overhead and, uh, you can guess the rest. The issue did go to court and at some point the law was enacted requiring holding tanks on passenger trains.

Just the same, the other poster's point is well-taken, where all kinds of junk and dirt can fly up from the track. Years ago I rode a charter train back east and leaned out the vestibule for a long time. I looked like a coal miner after a while.

Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :

That's evil, Mikesmith --LOL

Anyway, Glad to see littletrain came back to Railforum after his "dumb amtrak" posts---Anyway I always bring my 2-way radios on Amtrak and put on some headphones and you can hear the attendants talking thru the walkie Talkies...Its kind of fun with kids...And youd be the first to know of a problem..

Posted by Charles Reuben (Member # 2263) on :

littletrain, I wouldn't count on the bathrooms locking from the outside any more than I would have faith in them locking from the inside. Last time I was on Amtrak I had the good luck to catch an eyeful of a gorgeous lady assuming what art historians refer to as "the crouching Aphrodite" position in a bathroom I assume she thought was locked. She didn't seem to think it was nearly as funny as I did at the time.

It is well-known that the locks on Amtrak aren't worth a damn, or to quote the immortal David Gunn, "You'd think that after 170 years of railroading, you could have a crapper door that works."

My tricks on Amtrak are a little less mischevious but very successful in surving a coach journey. 1) When in the bathroom, the baby changing table can double as a very handy place to organize one's instruments of hygiene. 2) Prescription sleeping pills and eye masque, a zip-up blanket and travel pillow make the voyage that much more comfortable. 3) A passport is the ultimate form of identification that will satisfy just about any official query. 4) a seat in the lower level of the Superliner can pretty much be had for the asking, but not after you've bought your ticket.

I suppose there are other tricks to surviving an Amtrak long-haul trip but I can't think of them off hand. Here's a new trick that I hope will work: I will soon be taking an Explore America trip that will include stops in Albuquerque/Milwaukee/New York and Montreal and have decided to supplement my visits to the dining car with some freeze dried delights that I recently bought on e-bay: $60 worth of chicken terriyaki, beef stew and so on that I only paid $31 for. I intend to find a working outlet, boil some water and prepare a feast in a dull moment.

Due to an arthritic knee my hiking days seem to be over and now I shall spend my twilight years riding the rails in coach.

[This message has been edited by Chucky (edited 10-27-2003).]

Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :

Trains create an incredible vacuum as they move along. This will occasionally pick up a piece of ballast or debris or anything not anchored to the ground. This is why Amtrak discourages it. Also, I've seen rapidly-growing untrimmed trees scrape along the side of the coach at times in the spring. You tell me.
Also, always hold on to something rigid like an handrail. Don't poke your head all the way out like the family *** , just enough to see.

YOU'LL POKE YOUR EYE OUT WITH THAT THING!

East of Schenectady, my LSL (I won't say when) got stuck on the siding to allow the Adirondack to go by on the main. I hiked up to the front of my coach, and sure enough that vestibule window hadn't been riveted shut yet. Out comes the camera, and I wait, taking the occasional peek out the window. We had stopped on a very slight curve.
A few minutes later, I heard the telltale sound of flange squeal and poked my head out the window just in time to see train 69 MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARD MY HEAD!
My reflexes began to pull my head inside as the train screamed by. The resulting concussion of air flowing in the car as the engine went by was enough to finish knocking me (most of the way) to the floor. The photo I got was blurred phase 4 striping and amfleet I windows with the reflection of yours truly taking the picture out the window.
I never did get the engine number. That's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done on board a train.
The on board crew will often threaten to kick you off if they catch you doing that. Don't listen to them, and they will.
I have gotten some nice "train chasing sunset" photos from this unique vantage point. Is it worth it?
Now that I have a camera with the LCD screen out the back, I just hold the camera out the window unless the train is moving slowly and I am looking around.

If I catch anyone turning off the heat, locking the john doors, et cetera on a train or car I'm riding in, I'll fix the problem and then get out the camera. Sometimes the locked toilet is locked for a reason. (Retention tank odor, yum!)

Posted by UncleBuck44 (Member # 2049) on :

When I took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Portland, my dad and I wanted to go look around before we left Seattle and we had no idea there was a Parlour Car on the train so we wanted to look around that car, went to the bottom part of the Parlour Car and the whole door was still open.
It remained open for a couple more minutes so we had to get more film, so we stepped off the train while in Seattle, got some movies, then got back on as we saw most everyone was off the platform by this time. So about a miute after we got back on, the Train blows its whistle and the Train starts moving, with the entire door to the Parlour Car open.
We said "hey a perfect camera shot right before our eyes". So we whipped out the camera and took a movie of the back end of our train pulling out of the platform, with If I remember correctly, the Empire Builder on the track next to the Train in which we were on in the Seattle station platform. We took pictures of Safeco Field as it passed us by, and the support beams that cross over the tracks for the stadiums retractable roof.

The train still wasnt going much more than about 30 until the conduct man came down and closed the door.

They were some great movies.

Posted by CG96 (Member # 1408) on :

Perhaps this thread belongs in the "Railroad Games" forum. Hmmmm.

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Posted by littletrain (Member # 2660) on :

i was told how to lock the bathroom by an amtrak attendent, she was board and wanted to have a little fun with the people on the train, i was getting off at the next stop but she showed me how it locks from the outside, she said they use this for extra storage space near the ends of trips. but u could sure cause some havoc, imagine evreyone trying to go when all the bathrooms are locked. it would sure make u happy if u had gotten a delux sleeper lol

Posted by dnsommer (Member # 2825) on :

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mr. Toy:
[B]Does anyone know the trick to make the lounge cars swivel?

He didn't write, 'how do you make a lounge chair swivel?' He wrote 'how do you make a lounge car swivel?'

Dave

[This message has been edited by dnsommer (edited 10-31-2003).]

Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :

There's a tiny exterior crank underneath the car body, just to the left of the door.

Crank it to the right and the entire car swivels horizontally. Crank it to the left and the entire car swivels vertically.

Kids love it.

(Happy Halloween)