We've always done it this way

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I would like to disagreeā€¦

"Hold my beer and watch this"

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Damn manā€¦ thatā€™s just good fun ā€¦ haha

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hold-my-beer-while-i-perform-this-epic-herzog-cartopper-unload

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"Put your seatbelt on, I wanna try something"

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When offered as a reflex to criticism without any further justification, sure, itā€™s dangerous.

I personally watched a former employer suffer a week of near-total-downtime on a critical system because of that mindset - this one holdout from the department refused to make a suggested config change all week because a host of reasons, one of which was the poster above. On Friday evening after they finally went home they made that change and it fixed the problem ā€¦ Iā€™d like to think that one intransigent employee came into the office on Monday to find their access card not working and security handed them handed a termination notice along with a box of their belongings.

However, there may well be solid reasons for weā€™ve always done it this way not immediately apparent to the person receiving the response - reasons other than hidebound tradition, inertia, inefficiency, or dogma.

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Iā€™m not saying at all that you havenā€™t brought up some valid points.
You have, however, it isnā€™t in the spirit of the post.

Sometimes it is just good to try something new and to relax and join in coming up with other funny or amusing comment rather than doing it like we have always done and taken the serious approach.

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Recommended safety measures: Ask, ā€œWhy?ā€

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Actually loading a backhoe into a railcar is often done this way when a track maintenance crew needs to load or unload from a car. The backhoe does have some extra modifications like the ears on the side of the bucket so it wonā€™t slide off the side. The only risky part is the hydraulics failing suddenly if you are not wearing your seatbelt or standing under the drop area. I have a family member who worked for the BNSF as part of one of the emergency response crews for train derailments and emergency track, bridge and trestle repair crew. They had their own special train with a rolling machine shop, all their tools and equipment, sleeping and dining car, etc. Everything needed to travel anywhere in the country and live onsite until the track was reopened.

ā€œAs one of the nationā€™s leading railroad contractors, Herzog recognized the need in the railroad industry for a more productive, efficient and injury free method of loading and unloading crossties. This prompted Herzogā€™s invention of equipment that has revolutionized material handling. The Herzog Cartopperā„¢ Material Handler! The nationā€™s major railroads were quick to recognize that Herzogā€™s CarTopperSM services using the Cartopperā„¢ material handler offered a more economical, safer and efficient method of handling crossties. The Cartopperā„¢ rides along the top of railcars moving from car to car unloading onto the right of way as the work train moves along the track. Once the car is unloaded the operator simply moves the Cartopperā„¢ to the next car, regardless of variance in car heights. The success of Herzogā€™s CartopperSM crosstie handling services has led to other applications in railroad construction and maintenance. Equipped with electro magnets the Cartopperā€™sā„¢ versatility to load and unload rail, plates, spikes and anchors will eliminate switching delays. Production Performance (One Machine) Cross Ties: 1000 Ties/Hour Rail: 1/3 Track Mile/Hour Aggregate: 200 Tons/Hour The flexibility of the Cartopperā„¢ Material Handling system leads to tremendous utilization in unloading of aggregate, rip rap and other bulk materials. Unloading material directly into trucks eliminates costly double handling. An advantage to using Herzogā€™s Cartopperā„¢ Material Handling services is that you do not have to install expensive unloading systems that use twice the track space and can only be used at their permanent location. By using more than one machine, the Cartopperā„¢ system can unload an entire train in a matter of hours. Committed to customer service, Herzog personnel are in constant communication with nationwide job sites, railroad transportation officials, suppliers and customers, eliminating costly delays resulting in increased production.ā€

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It works with humans too ā€¦ and even at Dallas Makerspace :stuck_out_tongue:

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thatā€™s a great 2:30 min watch

Iā€™d say the most dangerous phrase is, ā€œYou got mailā€. I can think of others but lets avoid Godwinā€™s law.