# Oh, shit. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012 "2005-06-12T22:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/1 "2005-06-12T22:39:16Z")
That was the two-word quote on a poster my grandfather put on the inside door of the guest (of course) bathroom. It was a reproduction of a wood block print with gentleman standing around in top and bowler hats viewing a train engine that had made it half way across a broken trestle. With that in mind, I’m sure you’ll understand why that phrase was the first one to come to mind upon viewing [this page](http://www.rockinghamremembered.com/CoalTrain.html). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/2 "2005-06-12T22:45:04Z")
There’s not a big enough :eek: … ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/3 "2005-06-12T23:15:47Z")
> [@](#): > > …a wood block print with gentleman standing around in top and bowler hats viewing a train engine that had made it half way across a broken trestle. Talk about burning your bridges… There was a poster with a drawing of two teams of RR-track layers who met up in the middle of a vast expanse of prairie… about two feet out of alignment. I think “Oh, shit!” was the caption on that one, too. IKEA used to carry a small poster of a B&W photo of a train locomotive which had ploughed right through the retaining wall at an elevated station (and came to a stop, nose to the cobblestones, on the street below) in France. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/4 "2005-06-12T23:16:24Z")
I remember that poster. I had one in my room in college. As for the photos in the link, “wow,” “ouch,” and yeah, “oh shit!” ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/5 "2005-06-12T23:27:50Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > IKEA used to carry a small poster of a B&W photo of a train locomotive which had ploughed right through the retaining wall at an elevated station (and came to a stop, nose to the cobblestones, on the street below) in France. The street sellers in Paris are fond of that one. The station was Montparnesse, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/6 "2005-06-12T23:45:16Z")
Yep, that’s it. I was too lazy to look up Montparnasse to learn if it was a Parisian district or a different city altogether. I hung the train wreck poster in the kitchen during a moment of unsparing self-mockery. Given my ineptitude in cooking and baking, it’s a fitting commentary. :o ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/7 "2005-06-13T00:38:07Z")
I really shouldn’t be laughing at the pictures in that link. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/8 "2005-06-13T04:51:24Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > Yep, that’s it. I was too lazy to look up Montparnasse to learn if it was a Parisian district or a different city altogether. Yep. [Here it is.](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/5/56/Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1865.jpg) That picture is also on the cover of a book I used in college called “An Introduction to Error Analysis” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/9 "2005-06-13T04:57:29Z")
> [@drewbert](#): > > Yep. [Here it is.](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/5/56/Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1865.jpg) That picture is also on the cover of a book I used in college called “An Introduction to Error Analysis” 😃 That’s the one I kept finding while searching for a pic of grampa’s poster. I should’ve grabbed it off the door when I left. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/10 "2005-06-13T07:55:35Z")
> [@chique](#): > > That was the two-word quote on a poster my grandfather put on the inside door of the guest (of course) bathroom. It was a reproduction of a wood block print with gentleman standing around in top and bowler hats viewing a train engine that had made it half way across a broken trestle. That’s amazing. My grandparents had the same poster with the same caption. If you find a copy on-line, let me know. (My e-mail is in my profile; I guess you can view guest profiles. I’m gonna become a real member soon, anyhow.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/11 "2005-06-14T02:10:09Z")
Here’s the modern version of this perennial favorite … [http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/TPC/Funny\_Pictures/0001-1000/0001-0100/0074/TPC\_0074.htm](http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/TPC/Funny_Pictures/0001-1000/0001-0100/0074/TPC_0074.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/12 "2005-06-14T02:32:44Z")
> [@Strinka](#): > > I really shouldn’t be laughing at the pictures in that link. As long as no one was hurt, I think it’s hilarious. Does anyone but me find the picture of the wreck at Montparnasse oddly beautiful? The light and the dark, the old and the new. It’s not supposed to be there, yet it _is_ there. Beautifully wrong. ---
**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/13 "2005-06-14T13:45:48Z")
[This one](http://www.acusafe.com/Incidents/Collapse_Steam/incident-collapsingsteamOilCar.html) gets bandied about my workplace quite a bit. Click on the two small images for details. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/14 "2005-06-14T15:39:35Z")
Are bridges of creosoted wood common? It really sounds like a bad idea, as demonstrated by the OP’s link. Or do they not burn down as frequently as it sounds like they would? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/15 "2005-06-14T15:45:55Z")
> [@chique](#): > > That was the two-word quote on a poster my grandfather put on the inside door of the guest (of course) bathroom. It was a reproduction of a wood block print with gentleman standing around in top and bowler hats viewing a train engine that had made it half way across a broken trestle. My grandfather had the same poster. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/16 "2005-06-14T16:29:51Z")
I’m reminded of “The General.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/17 "2005-06-14T16:48:50Z")
> [@drewbert](#): > > Yep. [Here it is.](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/5/56/Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1865.jpg) That picture is also on the cover of a book I used in college called “An Introduction to Error Analysis” 😃 Hey, I used that book too! It was for junior year physics lab, if I recall correctly. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/18 "2005-06-14T22:58:23Z")
On a similar yet altogether disconnected vein… I saw a card in a shop the other day that said “Holy Shit” and had a toilet glowing golden, with a Jesus-like figure staring into it. I didn’t buy it. I bought the one with the sitting Buddha and a thought bubble that says “I hate my thighs” on it. My grandfather worked on trains all his life, but strangely had no posters of them. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/19 "2005-06-14T23:33:08Z")
I hinghly recommend this [navy safety site](http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/archive/default.htm) for some of the finest in “oh, shit” pictures, with cute little analyses of how they came about. I’m particularly fond of [this one](http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/archive/photo39.htm). (click on the picture for higher resolution) mischievous ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012/20 "2005-06-14T23:34:04Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Are bridges of creosoted wood common? It really sounds like a bad idea, as demonstrated by the OP’s link. Or do they not burn down as frequently as it sounds like they would? Not as often as they once were. The treatment with creosote makes them highly resistant to weathering and decay. Hotbox detectors also afford trainmen notice of something awry usually well in advance of the “awshit” phase. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-shit/308012.md?page=2)