Disaster City

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I don't know how many of you all watch Jeopardy!, but one of last night's (Wednesday, February 24, 2016) categories was "Disaster City". Basically, a place were law enforcement and first responder can train for events like Train Wrecks.

The picture of Amtrak cars tossed about caught my attention.

Some info...

https://teex.org/Pages/about-us/transportation-disaster-training-area.aspx

 

[zephyr17]

A couple of nice Budd cars there...

 

[Bob Dylan]

A couple of nice Budd cars there...

Yep, and the old Superliner too! Wonder what Wreck it came from?
Oops, I shoulda recognized the ATSF Hi-Level which was the Model for Superliners! Thanks,my bad!

 

[CCC1007]

A couple of nice Budd cars there...

Yep, and the old Superliner too! Wonder what Wreck it came from?

it appears to be a hi level coach dorm car, ex-ATSF

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Another link...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/N+Dowling+Rd,+College+Station,+TX/@30.575716,-96.349749,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s15938630!2e1!3e10!6s%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2FTpekY3ek3OQCG4cOwY_9bSc7zOVEYsEe7_c8W5rwlssYF4iDEvJGqjPc0DVmWSEiKCVhc7jciSQsWp8wtrnFfsN202pE4g%3Dw203-h152!7i1280!8i960!4m2!3m1!1s0x8646834887e073df:0xfdc555660f3ce737

 

[Anderson]

My first thought was "How much would it take Amtrak to restore them?" My second thought was "No, VIA."

(I'm writing this sitting in a VIA Budd en route to Montreal.)

Reminds me of telling a friend in the National Guard enough about trains that he was able to brief/correct his training course on the matter of trains...

 

[Seaboard92]

All of those cars except the hilevel are ex southern pacific I believe.

 

[Anderson]

...that is somehow appropriate. After all, SP did provide everyone else with the demo model for wrecking service...

 

[tp49]

And the night before that episode aired there was a category on the 1970's where the question was directly about Amtrak.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

They're using the District of Columbia as a first responder training camp you say? h34r:

 

[trainman74]

And the night before that episode aired there was a category on the 1970's where the question was directly about Amtrak.

I happened to get a screen shot:

 

[HenryK]

What was Amtrak? Or what was the National Rail Passenger Corporation? How would Alex Trebek rule on that one?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

What was Amtrak? Or what was the National Rail Passenger Corporation? How would Alex Trebek rule on that one?

The guy who "got it" said What is (or was) Amtrak?...with hesitation.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

What was Amtrak? Or what was the National Rail Passenger Corporation? How would Alex Trebek rule on that one?

What if someone gave the answer Railpax (though I believe that name had been cut over well before 1 May 71)?

 

[FormerOBS]

I find it interesting, and sensible, that the valuable high speed trucks have been removed and replaced with simple cast freight trucks.

Tom

 

[trainman74]

What if someone gave the answer Railpax (though I believe that name had been cut over well before 1 May 71)?

The judges would look it up, and I'm pretty sure they would decide that it doesn't fit the "it began service May 1, 1971" part of the clue (since the National Railroad Passenger Corporation was not known as "Railpax" at that time).

General advice to contestants on "Jeopardy!" is to not "show off" when giving responses. On this one, you can be positive that what they're looking for is "Amtrak," so don't try to overcomplicate it by trying to demonstrate your extra knowledge with "Railpax" (or even "National Railroad Passenger Corporation").

 

[Anderson]

NRPC would probably be upheld by the judges, so if for some reason someone defaulted to that it would likely be upheld. Railpax...not so much.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

While probably not applicable to this one game, one has to be always aware of the category.

If the category was "words that end in K", Amtrak would be correct, but not NRPC. On the flip side, if the category was "four word answers", National Railroad Passenger Corporation would be correct, but not Amtrak.

 

[Anderson]

I saw "four word answers" and immediately the idea of a Celebrity Jeopardy skit involving "Four Letter Answers" came to mind.

 

[chakk]

If it had been the Final Jeopardy answer, would the judges have ruled it a wrong answer if a contestant wrote "What is Amtrack?" :giggle:

 

[trainman74]

If it had been the Final Jeopardy answer, would the judges have ruled it a wrong answer if a contestant wrote "What is Amtrack?" :giggle:

No, that would have been ruled correct -- the basic rule is that you're allowed to misspell a Final Jeopardy! response if it doesn't change the pronunciation.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

If it had been the Final Jeopardy answer, would the judges have ruled it a wrong answer if a contestant wrote "What is Amtrack?" :giggle:

Misspelling is OK, as long as it is still phonically correct, exactly phonically correct.

"What is Amtwack?" would be wrong.