M
Michael Petersen
1
APPEARANCES
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Oct 16, 2026
Episode 291: Iowa Scaled Engineering
35:21
M
32:29Michael PetersenGUEST
It's the talking de- [clears throat] excuse me, talking de- defect detector.
M
32:35Michael PetersenGUEST
Um, [clears throat] yeah, so it, i- anyone who's been track side with a scanner is probably familiar with the talking defect detector.
M
32:44Michael PetersenGUEST
It, when a train passes it, um, goes over the radio and says, like, "UP detector, milepost 123.4, uh, no defects," or in the event they found something it'll tell you what the defect is, like a hot wheel or a hot journal or high impact wheel or whatever it, whatever the problem is it found.
M
33:04Michael PetersenGUEST
And the idea is to catch those problems before they become even bigger problems like a derailment.
M
33:11Michael PetersenGUEST
And so when it goes off the, the, y- if it goes off and finds a defect, the ch- the crew has to stop the train, inspect the train, maybe set out a car.

Lionel StrangHOST
But like, so okay, you and Nathan decide, "Hey, these guys aren't making it anymore, I bet you it's probably gonna be really popular." Like, are you making it for yourself or are you making it because you think it would be popular item to sell?