Western Railroad Discussion > "Railroad Alaska" TV series showing on Dish Network

I stumbled across this series this month, showing on one of Dish Network's free preview channels for April. Some good segments about what the train and track crews go through, as well as the unique dependency that the "off griders" have on the railroad along the route.
Caution: lots of added drama and music, just like many other similar shows!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/18 13:54 by RailRat.

Sure, "the brakemen get the train through".

Out

BTW: It's on "Destination America" channel on Dish Network, untill April 31st, for free, or may be already part of your subscription package

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

When that show first came on the Discovery Channel about five years ago I tuned in on one of the first episodes. I made it about half way thru and after watching all of the staged dramatics including the almost continuous dubbed in whistle sound effects, I decided that I'd had enough and switched over the the WWE instead.

They are trying to squeeze the last bucks out of that. Like you, I didn't even finish the first one.

All staged and BS. You think the railroad wouldn't want the bad PR out there.


Nudge

LOL Chico43. Yes a lot of staged dramatics but I watched it for the great scenery with the trains. Still slightly more real than the WWE in my opinion.

Chico43 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When that show first came on the Discovery Channel
> about five years ago I tuned in on one of the
> first episodes. I made it about half way thru and
> after watching all of the staged dramatics
> including the almost continuous dubbed in whistle
> sound effects, I decided that I'd had enough and
> switched over the the WWE instead.

Yes it was staged and yes, the contrived drama got worse as the seasons progressed. The people were real, though the producer wanted them to be "more colorful" than they are in real life. In the beginning the show was highly rated by regular (non-railfan) viewers so the railroad stuck with it. It was amazing how many tourists riding our passenger trains had become acquainted with the railroad through the TV show. So I guess, from a PR viewpoint, it was initially successful. Then a new production house took over and it got even more goofy and my understanding is that the company became unhappy with the arrangement and decided not to participate after season 3.

All of the "characters" in the show were actual rails, people I work with, but almost nothing about the story lines was authentic. I appeared in several episodes, mostly unbeknownst to me until after the fact. One day I was working our flagstop passenger train, the Hurricane Turn, and I was clomping through the snow to line us into the siding at Deadhorse and I heard a helicopter above. Even though we were far from civilization, I didn't think much of it because we were right along the Susitna River and there are often helicopter patrols looking at the break-up that time of year. Little did I know it was the film crew for the show. They filmed me lining us into the siding, and out after the meet. Part of it became a segment of one episode. I had no idea until a friend/co-worker told me a few days after it aired. I'm glad my face wasn't recognizable though, although my bald noggin was. The show was embarrassing overall.

For what it's worth, both Danny and "Animal" (Lynn) retired over the past couple of winters. They are missed around the property.

Apparently there is a similar show on Discovery done in Canada called "Rocky Mountain Railroad". I've only seen the trailers but it looks almost identical in premise and made-up drama to the Alaska show.

The best episode was the one they showed on a Thanksgiving Day. They mounted the camera outside on the front of the engine and went on about a 200 mile run. Just the sounds of the engine,whistle & bell,and the noises that the tracks make as you roll ahead. No Wanda, No Danny, No Animal, No Bill, just the sounds of the trip. It lasted for hours. They should sell it on DVD. Don't forget,"We gotta move this freight".

That show is a joke. Right up there with Unstoppable.

Fredo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The best episode was the one they showed on a
> Thanksgiving Day. They mounted the camera outside
> on the front of the engine and went on about a 200
> mile run. Just the sounds of the engine,whistle &
> bell,and the noises that the tracks make as you
> roll ahead. No Wanda, No Danny, No Animal, No
> Bill, just the sounds of the trip. It lasted for
> hours. They should sell it on DVD. Don't
> forget,"We gotta move this freight".

yea, i dvr'd that one on thanksgiving day a few years ago. it was good........

66

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LOL Chico43. Yes a lot of staged dramatics but I
> watched it for the great scenery with the trains.
> Still slightly more real than the WWE in my
> opinion.
>
> Chico43 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > When that show first came on the Discovery
> Channel
> > about five years ago I tuned in on one of the
> > first episodes. I made it about half way thru
> and
> > after watching all of the staged dramatics
> > including the almost continuous dubbed in
> whistle
> > sound effects, I decided that I'd had enough
> and
> > switched over the the WWE instead.

Yes, Staged dramatics, and out of sequence scenes of the trains, etc very annoying, hard to watch as a railfan, but I put up with it anyway, some stuff was interesting, plus I'm running out of good stuff to watch!
Would have liked to see at least one episode where nothing but railroading happens, like that Thanksgiving episode, hope they show that one!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Way to stupid a program except for some shots of the back woods.

Reality dreck, like all the others.