Commerce means civilization

[ou7shined]

Originally Posted by godzilla999666

Getting the fuel would not nessary be that big of a problem. Growing up on a farm, we had pumps to stick in our 500 gallon fuel storage that would work on a 12 volt car battery. Also most tractor and farm macheriny today runs on diesel. So any farm that has tractors for raising wheat/corn/milo would have fuel storage for diesel more likely than not. All the farmers that i know have at least one tank that is mobile, cause it is easier to take the tank to the field rather than run the macherinary back to the house. Thay have already established that the town is rural, and the last episode establishes that there is farms around. St. John issue was that thier gennie ran off gasoline, which is less likely to be stored on farms and also gas breaks down faster in storage if i recall correctly. But even gas doesn't break down until about 6 months.

Yep I worked in a garage and we had barrels (not cans) of both diesel and petrol which could be quite quickly emptied just using a hand crank pump.

I'm given to believe that there are monstrously long cargo trains in the US which cover long distances virtually nonstop - presumably these would carry a lot of fuel (which if decoupled from all it's trucks would go even further).

8bit you've raised some valid points... but just say you got lucky.
You find a fuelled up locomotive, you don't need keys as they've either been left in it by a fleeing operative or as I've said before you know how to hotwire a vehicle, perhaps there is no condensate in your pistons (quite likely actually) besides you loose compression or blow a cylinder in an apocalypse, hey who cares? - you just keep going until the whole lump stops.... then you find another one. You can't get it to run because you haven't engaged the electric motors etc, hey given enough time and a process of elimination flipping some switches, we get to run - besides when we find our train all the switches are pre flipped for us by our fleeing operative who hastily jumped out thus engaging the safety features. I think most people know about the dead-man's handle etc.
The locomotive outlined in 8bit's synopsis is a modern high-tech example, the one we luckily discover is much more of an industrial tractor unit... and lucky for us it's one of those long distance jobs too.
Of course operating such machinery is out with the capabilities of most people but equally there are people out the who could manage it... eventually.

[Gman5852]

Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat

The German said that I have to play nice with all the people in his community, even the ones that um...are not very swift in thought and reasoning.

I'm sorry for naming your cognitive capabilities Gman. It's really not place to insult you, even if you don't know what you are talking about.

I am sorry Gman5852.

I really am not going to make an argument out of this, but I said I didn't like a book... not exactly something to get worked up about...
EDIT:Also, from your other points, yes I did in fact read Atlas Shrugged. I also never once said this thread is worthless, I just stated I don't see what you said being true knowing what happens in the future with the comics. I don't see why I need to be referred to in your posts here.

[Master of Aeons]

Originally Posted by Master of Aeons

I guess the overlooked bit in this is that if it were salvaged, who would have done it but Lee? There are few pockets of humanity around, and getting a train running is about as unlikely as finding and using a tank.

The Governor! The Governor is the one who found a tank and used it to stage a siege on another civilization! If anyone controls the train, it's the Governor!

[Sisterofshane]

Originally Posted by Master of Aeons

The Governor! The Governor is the one who found a tank and used it to stage a siege on another civilization! If anyone controls the train, it's the Governor!

LOL, sad that the reference flew over my head, not being a reader of the comic books.

Would be fun to meet the Governor, though!

[Zeruis]

Originally Posted by Sisterofshane

LOL, sad that the reference flew over my head, not being a reader of the comic books.

Would be fun to meet the Governor, though!

I think we already have enough backstory to the Governor as it is (novels). Add him into the video game and we'd have almost a well collected amount of his life in-apocalypse. As for the train, I think it is being driven by a new survivor.

[Rommel49]

Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat

Sir, do you realize that you are a fool? That's all I'm going to say about your intelligence less the german comes round.

I'm not here to defend Ayn Rand, but let me ask. Have you even read the (entire) book? How can you be critical of something you have not seen (or read) for yourself?

Well, he is kinda right, it's an awful book. Ironically, Galt's magic engine gets something for nothing, which actually wrecks the book's premise.

[8Bit_System]

Originally Posted by ou7shined

...8bit you've raised some valid points... but just say you got lucky.
You find a fuelled up locomotive, you don't need keys as they've either been left in it by a fleeing operative or as I've said before you know how to hotwire a vehicle, perhaps there is no condensate in your pistons (quite likely actually) besides you loose compression or blow a cylinder in an apocalypse, hey who cares? - you just keep going until the whole lump stops.... then you find another one. You can't get it to run because you haven't engaged the electric motors etc, hey given enough time and a process of elimination flipping some switches, we get to run - besides when we find our train all the switches are pre flipped for us by our fleeing operative who hastily jumped out thus engaging the safety features. I think most people know about the dead-man's handle etc.
The locomotive outlined in 8bit's synopsis is a modern high-tech example, the one we luckily discover is much more of an industrial tractor unit... and lucky for us it's one of those long distance jobs too.
Of course operating such machinery is out with the capabilities of most people but equally there are people out the who could manage it... eventually.

Wow, we sure caught a lucky day there.

But who cares... let's take a ride... pressing my thumbs that it's going to a sunny beach somewhere.

[ou7shined]

Originally Posted by 8Bit_System

Wow, we sure caught a lucky day there.

But who cares... let's take a ride... pressing my thumbs that it's going to a sunny beach somewhere.

Haha we sure did... but that's Hollywood baby.

Actually when all's said and done, it probably would save a lot of explaining for Lee to just find someone who's already got the damn thing running... and cadge a lift.

[The_Cheshire_Cat]

Wow, 8-bit came in and gave some serious knowledge. Thank you very much for that.

So looks like we may see some video game magic? A train full of fuel and the "know how" to drive it? That seems like the only way.

Because other wise, the only logical explanation is that they run into someone like 8-bit in the game and has some kind of fuel supply going.

Ou7shined said something about running into someone who has the thing running and Lee catches a ride. I think that is the simplest and easiest explanation. It would explain why they are sitting in the box car in one of the scenes for ep.3 But then again it doesn't really explain anything...just allows us not to think about it.

And to the guy with a mask on his face, yeah don't worry about it. The German already talked to me privately about your feelings. So the less said the better. Take the moral victory. You deserve it. Other than that it's the past old stuff. Let's move on.

[Rock114]

What if the train ISN'T trading anymore? In my personal expirience trains make alot of noise, and as we all know, noise attracts walkers. This might be how we are introduced to the Walker Herds from the comics. Characters take train somewhere, huge horde of zombies finds them the next day. Perhaps the train was being maintained as a "just in case" scenario at some survivor hold-out along the tracks that was overrun, and wasn't actually being used for trade before our heroes found it, and just took it to get somewhere safe?

Seems to me that unless you could guarantee security for the train and the communities/hold-outs it's going to, it would be more trouble than it's worth. But on a side note, yeah, I bet there are actually PLENTY of people still alive out there, just scattered all accross the country (and/or world, as we haven't had much information about anywhere else other than Georgia and D.C. from the comics and the game). I'd imagine that there's "some" trading going on somewhere and that people have managed to rebuild a very small version of society somewhere ELSE. Woodbury is likely the largest post-outbreak settlement left in Georgia, and I personally don't think that they would be trading with any other survivor groups left, at least on a large scale like this.