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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Super 8
[ANALYSIS]Where is the railway?
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TheGunslinger
Kilroy

Joined: 18 May 2010
Posts: 1

 		Is it possible to map the stars in the opening shot to get a sense of direction or better location?

PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 5:46 pm
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vapor
Entrenched


Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 1188
Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
ketos234 wrote:
Searched the US national database of rail crossings, using DBFView and the files from http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Downloaddbf.aspx (Contains crossing number, mileposts and lat/longs)

In their format there is *always* a dot after the first 4 characters, and are at most 6 characters

Checked for 0070(4/5/6)4, 0170(4/5/6)4, 2170(4/5/6)4, 0I70(4/5/6)4, 2I70(4/5/6)4.

Once you trim out the implausible ones for a trip from Nevada to Ohio, you're left with:

38.8540040, -91.3119130 (7044, 483576L)
38.7140660, -84.8254850 (7044, 345690H, pain to get a train through)
38.7140660, -84.8254850 (7054, Urban, 535414F)
40.6192120, -98.6481580 (17044, pain to get a train through, appears as both 073513A and 083190J)

None of them look great from the point of view of the track layout as seen in the trailer or the relation of the crossing to local towns.

It looks like a dead end, unless there are other numbers that ought to be checked.


Would it help if I told you that most of the time mileposts are measured in decimal fractions of miles? 21 + 70.64 is 21.013 miles from 0 + 0.0

PostPosted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:22 pm
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slinkydge
Decorated


Joined: 16 May 2010
Posts: 248
Location: london
Melodyman wrote:
Found this as an example of what normal railway markings look like.. Compared to the one in the trailer, one looks authentic, the other looks ..?


good one!

Question: why would the numbers be written sideways across the pole and not top to bottom like normal markers?

PostPosted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:16 am
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vapor
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Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 1188
Location: Dallas, TX ya'll

 		Another possible location
So I've been going through the Ohio database of RR crossing we got from http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/Downloaddbf.aspx

In the file specifications it states that the data in the Milepost column

Quote:
There is an implied decimal point after the first 4 characters.


All data in the milepost column is 6 digits so I filtered the column by "00210" leaving the last digit blank. This gave me all railroad crossings in Ohio from milepost 0021.00 to 0021.09 (the milepost in the trailer is 0021.013)

That gave me 12 RR crossings. After looking at them, the most likely location in my opinion is located in a village called Lewisburg, OH. The coordinates of the crossing is 39.9106860, -84.4945450. The crossing is at milepost 0021.02 so it is pretty close to 0021.013.

You can tell by google maps that it's a closed railway now but at one time it was part of the old Indianapolis Line. When Penn Central owned the track, the area through Lewisburg was active. There was a direct route from Indianapolis to Dayton, in fact. When Conrail aquired it in 1985, it abandoned the track. Even though it is now abandoned, it is now owned by CSX.

I can see how a train leaving Area 51 might travel through Indianapolis to get to Dayton. It is more or less due East of Area 51 in fact.

Anyway, it's not concrete but I think it's a pretty good contender. Now if only I can find a smoking barrel, like a map with 21 + 70.64 along that route I can stop obsessing over this puzzle.

PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2010 3:08 am
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vapor
Entrenched


Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 1188
Location: Dallas, TX ya'll

 		Sorry for DP but wanted to add to what I recently found and it's been over a week since anything was posted here.

So with a bit of renewed interest in this puzzle I went digging a bit more and found some more info to reinforce my previous speculation.

I still believe that the train would have been traveling along a line from Indianapolis, Indiana to Columbus, Ohio, with a stop at WPAFB in Dayton. It would have likely been traveling on the Columbus to Indianapolis Main Line.

http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/Maps/Itlk/itlk_col_ind_main.html

That shows a list of stations along that line with milepost locations. So let's assume that the train was in Ohio when it derailed and was on the Columbus to Indianapolis Main Line, somewhere between Dayton and New Paris.

Milepost along that stretch of railway were measured from Xenia, OH. The closest stop to milepost 21 is at mailepost 17.7, which is Wolf Creek station. No city is mentioned on that site but I'm guessing it's somewhere around the switch at 39.850869,-84.445758

If you follow the line from the switch northwest to Verona for about 4 miles, it puts you right at about 39.9106860, -84.4945450 where we see a crossing signal at milepost 21.02.

If you follow the more westerly line from the switch towards West Manchester for about 4 miles it puts you somewhere around here

So I'm fairly well convinced that the derailment occurred in Lewsiburg, OH just NW of Verona or possibly south of that along the line to West Manchester.

PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 11:58 am
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ljm
Decorated

Joined: 20 May 2009
Posts: 182
vapor wrote:
Sorry for DP but wanted to add to what I recently found and it's been over a week since anything was posted here.

So with a bit of renewed interest in this puzzle I went digging a bit more and found some more info to reinforce my previous speculation.

I still believe that the train would have been traveling along a line from Indianapolis, Indiana to Columbus, Ohio, with a stop at WPAFB in Dayton. It would have likely been traveling on the Columbus to Indianapolis Main Line.

http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/Maps/Itlk/itlk_col_ind_main.html

That shows a list of stations along that line with milepost locations. So let's assume that the train was in Ohio when it derailed and was on the Columbus to Indianapolis Main Line, somewhere between Dayton and New Paris.

Milepost along that stretch of railway were measured from Xenia, OH. The closest stop to milepost 21 is at mailepost 17.7, which is Wolf Creek station. No city is mentioned on that site but I'm guessing it's somewhere around the switch at 39.850869,-84.445758

If you follow the line from the switch northwest to Verona for about 4 miles, it puts you right at about 39.9106860, -84.4945450 where we see a crossing signal at milepost 21.02.

If you follow the more westerly line from the switch towards West Manchester for about 4 miles it puts you somewhere around here

So I'm fairly well convinced that the derailment occurred in Lewsiburg, OH just NW of Verona or possibly south of that along the line to West Manchester.


Best post in a while and also very compelling. So who lives in Ohio and feels like going for a drive?

PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 2:55 pm
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Headman
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Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 839
Location: Michigan

 		I used Google maps street view to get as close as I could.



PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 9:25 pm
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