# Septa "Railrodeo"



## Acela150 (Sep 3, 2010)

Septa is having a railrodeo on the 25th. My Dad won tickets. Any idea on what they do? Did anybody else win on Amtrak Unlimited??

Steve


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## AlanB (Sep 3, 2010)

Steve,

SEPTA had a page up at one point talking about some of the things that you could do and see. But apparently when the revamped the website not to long ago, that page got moved or deleted.

From what I recall seeing when someone first posted about it a while back, they'll have the new Silverliner's on display, other equipment, and supposedly a shop tour IIRC. I'm sure that there were a few other things, but alas I just don't remember what else I saw when I looked at that page a few months back.

Still in all, it should probably be a pretty decent day for you. Enjoy! And congrats!


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## Ryan (Sep 3, 2010)

That's awesome!

WMATA used to do something like that down here, but it's fallen by the wayside recently.


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## WhoozOn1st (Sep 3, 2010)

Rail Rodeos were once a cherished, if somewhat obscure, western tradition. They consisted of contests in a number of categories, beginning with compulsories such as Precision Switching, Platform Spotting Accuracy, Quick Crew Change, and "Pit Stop" competitions for fueling and restocking provisions.

While these basic areas were important to teams in building a solid overall base score, the real crowd pleasers were the "freestyle" events:

Speed Boarding. A timed event, each team brought its train to a full stop, boarded the same number of passengers, and got underway again. Physically throwing passengers onto the trains was at first frowned upon as bad form, but came to be accepted as the preferred technique.

Drunk Passenger Toss. Performed at speed and judged for style, distance, and number of bounces.

Cornfield Meet Leap For Life. Another style and distance competition consisting of several heats at different speeds. In contrast to the Drunk Passenger Toss, contestants who bounced invariably received low scores, with judges placing a premium on groundrolling and hitting the ground running.

Grade Crossing Derby. Radio-controlled motor vehicles were run on a road beside a speeding train, then guided across the tracks in front of it. Timing was critical, as hitting a vehicle squarely counted for more than a mere sideswipe, while setting a vehicle to spinning was considered the best, and most difficult, of all.

Sadly these colorful competitions are no more, but remain in fond memory as part of the rich history of American railroading.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Sep 5, 2010)

Yikes! Who got used for the drunk passenger toss! :lol:


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## DET63 (Sep 8, 2010)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Yikes! Who got used for the drunk passenger toss! :lol:


Probably someone who wouldn't want to do it again!


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