Does Denzel read the scripts they give him?
Ok, seriously, another train movie? Cuz Pelham 123 was so good?
But this time it's Unstoppable and he's working with a new kid, Captain Kir... uh, Chris Pine, and Rosario Dawson is the inexplicably hot train dispatcher concerned about an "unmanned train" loaded with "toxic chemicals" that's going to collide with a train full of "100's of school kids" with no "air brakes"...
Seriously did a bunch of high 14 year old boys write this one?
And obviously, they were high 14 year old boys that didn't have access to the internet, because a quick look in Wikipedia's entry on "Dead man switches" gives us this:
A dead man's switch...is a switch that is automatically operated in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death or loss of consciousness.
The switch usually stops a machine, and is a form of fail-safe. They are commonly used in locomotives, aircraft refuelling, freight elevators, lawn mowers, tractors, personal watercrafts, outboard motors, chainsaws, snowblowers, tread machines, snowmobiles, and many *medical imaging devices.
Locomotives are the FIRST ONES THEY NAME as having dead man switches.
Now, sure, I worked for a Locomotive Electronic's manufacturers for years, so perhaps I know a few things about trains the average stoned 14 year old doesn't. Like that there are SEVERAL dead man switches in modern trains. Some are foot activated, some are hip activated (for reals) and some are just buttons, some require a code, on and on. And if one doesn't get reset, the train stops. This is what happens when a train engineer suffers a medical emergency. The train stops. And even if the engineer manages to wedge one of the switches, the others will go off, and the train stops. Not to mention that the engineers have to check in via phone and the train itself is in CONSTANT CONTACT with a satellite! Which also can shut down the engines if need be. Oh yeah, that satellite can also SLOW THE ENGINES down too! Drivers hated us for selling that feature, they couldn't "make time" anymore. They also hated our dead man switches because our founders had been railway engineers so they knew all the "tricks" for getting around dead man switches. And we sold switches that could be set to go off from every 90 seconds to every 90 minutes. Seriously, they fucking hated us.
BUT!
We made fucking sure that there was no way in HELL a train would become "UNSTOPPABLE".
Morons!
Also, I am not going to touch the "air brakes" bit because I'm going to bet you they get it backwards in the movie... do you know how many air manifolds and switches there are on a train? How many annoying 35, 45 & 120 psi switches (like the kind I spent a YEAR spec'ing in and tested every damn week for nigh on 4 years because they are SUCH an important part that we couldn't ever relax the 100% inspection level and they had to pass with less than 0.3PSI variance?!) Ok, this is me NOT talking about the air systems on a fucking train....
*Isn't it good to know that if your xray tech becomes incapacitated you won't be bombarded with xrays until you die? Dead men switches, saving your lives every damn day!
But this time it's Unstoppable and he's working with a new kid, Captain Kir... uh, Chris Pine, and Rosario Dawson is the inexplicably hot train dispatcher concerned about an "unmanned train" loaded with "toxic chemicals" that's going to collide with a train full of "100's of school kids" with no "air brakes"...
Seriously did a bunch of high 14 year old boys write this one?
And obviously, they were high 14 year old boys that didn't have access to the internet, because a quick look in Wikipedia's entry on "Dead man switches" gives us this:
A dead man's switch...is a switch that is automatically operated in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death or loss of consciousness.
The switch usually stops a machine, and is a form of fail-safe. They are commonly used in locomotives, aircraft refuelling, freight elevators, lawn mowers, tractors, personal watercrafts, outboard motors, chainsaws, snowblowers, tread machines, snowmobiles, and many *medical imaging devices.
Locomotives are the FIRST ONES THEY NAME as having dead man switches.
Now, sure, I worked for a Locomotive Electronic's manufacturers for years, so perhaps I know a few things about trains the average stoned 14 year old doesn't. Like that there are SEVERAL dead man switches in modern trains. Some are foot activated, some are hip activated (for reals) and some are just buttons, some require a code, on and on. And if one doesn't get reset, the train stops. This is what happens when a train engineer suffers a medical emergency. The train stops. And even if the engineer manages to wedge one of the switches, the others will go off, and the train stops. Not to mention that the engineers have to check in via phone and the train itself is in CONSTANT CONTACT with a satellite! Which also can shut down the engines if need be. Oh yeah, that satellite can also SLOW THE ENGINES down too! Drivers hated us for selling that feature, they couldn't "make time" anymore. They also hated our dead man switches because our founders had been railway engineers so they knew all the "tricks" for getting around dead man switches. And we sold switches that could be set to go off from every 90 seconds to every 90 minutes. Seriously, they fucking hated us.
BUT!
We made fucking sure that there was no way in HELL a train would become "UNSTOPPABLE".
Morons!
Also, I am not going to touch the "air brakes" bit because I'm going to bet you they get it backwards in the movie... do you know how many air manifolds and switches there are on a train? How many annoying 35, 45 & 120 psi switches (like the kind I spent a YEAR spec'ing in and tested every damn week for nigh on 4 years because they are SUCH an important part that we couldn't ever relax the 100% inspection level and they had to pass with less than 0.3PSI variance?!) Ok, this is me NOT talking about the air systems on a fucking train....
*Isn't it good to know that if your xray tech becomes incapacitated you won't be bombarded with xrays until you die? Dead men switches, saving your lives every damn day!