Way back in the 1930's, my Dad as a young boy would walk the rails after the coal cars passed through the neighborhood. With a cardboard box in his hands, he would pick up the pieces of coal and bring them back to his home to feed the coal & wood burning furnace in heating the house in winter. If this coal car opened in his neighborhood, there would be hundreds of kids and adults scrambling to fill their boxes and pockets with coal chunks, to store and later feed their home furnaces.
I was told that my grandfather did the same in Virginia for his wood stove. I grew up with one but Daddy had accounts with coal suppliers because we didn’t live along tracks *typed too fast* wood and coal stove
Back in the steam days many firemen would throw shovels full of coal that had dirt and crap on it by the side of the tracks. People picked them up, washed them, dried them and threw it in their coal furnace. I think i saw a picture of a 3 foot pile of junk coal and kids around that pile.
A broken knuckle pin, two hoppers dumping coal, weak batteries on a locomotive and 5 degrees out, wow Dave when it rains it pours!!! At least no derailments, you guys did a great job extracting those hoppers out of those coal piles!!!!
I really enjoy things like this being put out there so we can see what railroaders have to deal with, another day at the office it takes special hard working people to get the job done!!
r.r. work is one thing, heating coal, for the house is another. #2 in mom's step fathers house was some thing else. dumped coal looks like coal we would not have in the house, as it looks like it would be too small for either furnace. house heating big one facing street - one side of the chimney & other side small one, facing the back yard. beginning of long story, cut short, right now. sorry. and sorrybto see 115 tons spilled on to the eaeth in the middle of no where, or is it no place? wow.
Glad you enjoyed the show, appreciate your watching tonight my friend, and that morning I was wishing I was a model railroader instead of being out there....LOL
Hello from a UK old railwayman, 51 years. I love your way of clearing that coal spill, sheer genius! We used to get the shovels out unless there was a digger available. Sometimes we'd use the digger to lift a derailed wagon back on, then rub dirt into the damaged sleepers [ties] so no-one ever knew! Also, full respect for not swearing, here we'd be on about 5 F*@#*S a minute in a situation like that!
Being a family friendly channel here, had to edit out all the words that were used that would have sounded like that.... :-) Some things UK and US railroads still have in common.... LOL You did for sure make me laugh. Glad you enjoyed the show today my friend.
During the beginning of the video my engineering brain was going through all of the ways that the coal spill might be dealt with, and the conclusions I was coming to all sucked. When you laid a timber across the tracks in front of the wheels and started plowing the coal I became positively giddy. Thank you so much for the wonderful video, and many thanks to your company for allowing you to share glimpses of their business.
Glad you enjoyed the show Steve, we do appreciate your tuning in to the channel and watching and for the very nice comment my friend. And, Hulcher was in today and started vac up the mess and got a good bit of it done, will be a much future vid on that coming out.
@@ccrx6700 Before we had the fancy ballast hoppers, we used regular pocket hopper cars to distribute ballast. With a crosstie in front of the wheels and a chain to restrain the pocket door, we popped open the latch and pulled the train to spread the stone. Same as you did with the coal. It's an old, old, old method.
It’s a great day when something like this happens and no one was injured, that coal will be there tomorrow! Everyone please stay safe and keep Well! Stay warm too!
Why do I picture that old ad for Morton Salt where the girl's salt container is tipped backwards spilling on the ground "When it rains it pours" Cleanup on Tracks 1. Bring the jumper cables and all my tools and equipment. It is amazing how something as simple as a strong board helps you spread the coal as you drag the truck thru the gushing content. I did see this technique on a track building Project where the ballast was delivered in conventional hoppers and the board did the trick with no derailment. Stay safe and warm as you tackle this frustrating situation.
WOW, I guess the colder the weather is it always brings out the most trouble with equipment, I cant remember how many times during very frigid days that our equipment world act uncooperative such as hydraulics on our trucks or the hyrail trucks in general and so on, I guess like we all say just another day on the railroad. What a mess with all the coal but your right it could have been worse if they hadn't stayed on the track or something else. Have a great rest of the evening Dave and thanks for sharing your eventful day with us.
Yep, unfortunately it is but that's what we do Steve as you well know better than anyone, deal with the problems the RR gods send us..... LOL Appreciate your watching my friend
That was one of those days that you say: "Darn this is too much to happen and all at once!" but you create a plan for clean up and repair and execute. That, is what you folks do - you guys are true professionals (even at 5 degrees F!). Only a moment to spend on being upset and then hard at it fixing things. A bad day for the coal mine - loss of load and loss of productive time :(
Very observant! Yes they do, here they call them number 1, 2 or 3 loco and thus the stripe (s) for each separate one. Glad you enjoyed the video my friend.
When I was an 18-year-old Signalman's Helper on Traveling Signal Gang 3 on the Southern Division of the ATSF (based in Temple, TX), I learned two facts of life: "It never rains on the Santa Fe," and "Santa Fe days are never eight hours." I loved that job; I have never worked harder physical labor before or since. Worked with great guys from all across the nation. We were a safe crew, and almost everyone worked together well - and worked hard! We also had great leadership from our crew chief and a company man.
Wow thanks so much for sharing the very nice comment PanAm. I bet those were some really good memories. How nice it is to hear you guys worked so well together. Railroading as you know can be very hard work but when you have guys who work together to get the job done it makes a whole lot of difference. ATSF was a great RR in it's day. Great leadership is a huge positive plus for you guys. Very grateful for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the video my friend.
OMG! How terrible, Dave! I wish you and your co-workers these best in trying to fix this and clean up everything. I hate seeing trouble happen to my favorite rail line!!
Unfortunately Pete we have had 3 more cars dump out on main since this video was made, sometime in future you will see those, it makes me sick to my stomach to see the coal fouling my ballast. Thanks for watching tonight's home movie my friend.
@@kleetus92 not a engineer but any means, but as arm chair engineer, colf air shrinks, train needs add more air to the lines to make up for it. Up north here where we get -30, lot of trains also add a "air car" but sounds like there was air in the lines according to them talking 🤔
@@katienkids6464 Yeah, but why would that cause the unloaders to randomly operate? They're ran from straight air I believe. They are positive pressure to open, and positive pressure to close... once you're no longer commanding a position change, the shuttle valve should return to center... unless the control valve is leaking when it shrinks...
It's a very rare thing for us Shane, had a loco shut down about 4 years ago coming down the track and they had to tow it in with the other one, so yep it was cool I could catch it. Thank you very much for writing in, and for watching the show today Shane.
This was a superb video My husband and I enjoy all your videos We learn so much every time and gain an appreciation of what you do There’s something fascinating about trains - not just the trains but the people who work on them and what they do for us Thank you !!! 🙏👍🏻
Thank you very much Lydia. We do appreciate the very nice comment and for your continued support of this channel. We're really glad to hear you guys are enjoying.
Hi Dave, that must be an understatement of the day, "what a mess" As always a fascinating video and thank you and all the crew for braving the cold to show us and explain. Rgds. Peter.
@@ccrx6700 Yep, my father in law was telling me a while back about growing up in Kentucky. The old C&O Lexington Sub ran right behind his house, and he and his brothers used to glean coal all the time :D
Terrible for you guys absolutely enthralling for us. What a great vid. Real world this. Cheers for filming the drama Dave. Much appreciated that you managed to think of us in all this. It's content like this that keeps us coming back.
Brilliant work guys. 👍 Spent years working in transport at coal mines, watching huge coal trains leaving but never thought something like that would happen. Great job. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺
So sad that happened. I know how you feel, when I had a day like that, I wanted to go back home, go back to bed and get up again. As if it would go away. LOL I guess if you are looking for something good, no one was hurt and like you said at least no cars derailed. Thanks for sharing this. Hopefully, the next day was better.
Im a track maintenance guy in the UK, I was amazed that coal car stayed on the road!!! We had a ballast train do similar here a few years ago, result- 3 ballast cars off the track! Looks like you now have a lot of contaminated ballast to deal with. Get the vacuum machine in there I guess!!
Hulcher has already started vacuum up the mess, will be a future video on the cleanup. I was worried about derailing while dumping this stuff out, but we lucked out thank goodness. Do appreciate your writing in and for watching the show my RR friend.
Absolutely love what you guys do. You are the reason this country can run like it does. There always going to be bad days but you all always find a way. Great job and thank you!!!!!
As always, thanks so much for such great content Dave! I respect you a lot for keeping your composure after all that mess. We had so much rain and wind here that the power went out last night and the electric company is still working on it, but thats why I have generators. I probably got more upset having to start the generators up than you did having to clean up 115 tons of coal. Anyway, be careful fixing all that. Stay warm, stay safe , and God Bless!
😂😂😂 I have heard the words my dad has uttered when going "out to the ?! */:* generator" .... But when minutes turn to hours, & sometimes a day or 3 (they live out in the country), he sits in front of the TV happy as a clam with the generators going and the fridge fully powered up, and of course the water (well water) 😂 😂
Yes it was a mess, we had a tremendous amount of unkind things happen on the RR last winter. Hopefully this year will be a lot calmer John. Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the video my friend.
Oh man Dave, I feel your pain buddy! Total mess but at least nothing derailed. Definitely not the way you wanted to spend your day off but it is what it is. I’ve never seen anything like this up close and personal, very interesting how you put the board in front of the wheel to push the coal off the track. Great video Dave, thanks for posting 👍🏼😎🇺🇸
Hulcher has been in this week and doing some vacuum up the coal left in the track. We gonna get an excavator or hi rail clam bucket truck in to get the big stuff left along the far sides. I will make a video of that but don't have a clue yet when it will be shown. Sooner or later you will see it Stretch. Appreciate the nice comment my friend.
Hey Dave, thanks so much for sharing! What a miserable experience that must have been... and the cleanup that followed I'm sure wasn't pretty either! Your ability to stay so positive and upbeat during that entire ordeal is really admirable, though. Thank you as always for sharing! And I loved that last clip at the end - I'd never noticed before that the three different locomotives have a different number of horizontal stripes across the locomotive bodies!
Glad you enjoyed the show DietSeth, we do appreciate your tuning in to the channel and watching and for the very nice comment my friend. Very observant on the stripes! You can take pride in knowing you are the very first person to say that in a comment in the over 200 videos I have out! #1 has 1 stripe, #22 has 2 and #3098 has 3.
@@ccrx6700 Hey Dave, a few days late and many dollars short, I'm sure, but I still had to reply and let you know that I read your response to my wife and received a huge eye roll from her with an "of COURSE you were the first person to notice the locomotive stripes." I guess I have a history of of being that one person to notice minute details like that.
Typically we have 38 cars on the train. They are all 5 bay aluminum hoppers, the CYMX and OFAX cars were made by Trinity and the JACX cars (only 9 of them) were made by Freight Car America. Hope that answers what you wanted to know Dan.
Wouldn’t it be boring if everything always went according to plan! I sometimes wish things always went according to plan, but you handle problems with good humor Dave, great job!
Thanks Raymond but that's what we do, deal with the problems the RR gods send us and it does make for some pretty unique videos.... LOL Appreciate your watching my friend
Thanks for the very nice comment Rick. Wasn't a good day on the RR but sure was a good day for making a unique video! Thank you very much for writing in, and for watching the show today my friend.
Definitely could have been worse! Blessings that nothing derailed. Since this video we have had 3 more cars dump out on main line, it does make me sick to see my ballast getting so fouled. You will see those videos in the future. Appreciate your taking in tonight's home movie my friend.
@@ccrx6700 I am glad you try to look for positives in the face of many negatives! Continue to count those dear merciful blessings, and you'll make it through!
Wow Dave I feel your pain also your coworker's. This one is a real mess it is going to be a challenge to clean up. Thank you Dave for letting us see what can happen in the cold weather when the hopper doors fail. May God bless you all. 🇨🇦
Another great video. Work is overcoming obstacles. You all handled the problem superbly. Your supervisors should be proud. Now back to the spilled coal. Thanks again.
Glad you enjoyed the show Thomas, appreciate your watching tonight and for the very nice comment my friend. And actually Hulcher was in today and started cleaning it up.
Thanks for another great video Dave and good job getting everything moving again . It's like the luck of the Irish , if it wasn't for bad luck , there might not be any luck .
Yep, but things could have been a lot worse, at least nothing derailed and all is well now. Appreciate your tuning in and viewing tonight's show my friend.
Dave your optimism in the midst of catastrophe is admirable. Your company is blessed to have you as an employee. You are a breath of fresh air most sorely needed in these times. Luv ya man.
Yep, unfortunately it is a mess Matt, but that's what we do, deal with the problems the RR gods send us..... LOL Appreciate your watching my friend and your certainly welcome.
Great video Dave and sorry it had to be the start of a bad day. Thankfully this incident didn't cause a derailment that could've been an even BIGGER mess! The method of using the piece of timber to help empty the car is quite an impressive idea! Thanks again for sharing your videos Dave along with your time and effort to get the BEST FOOTAGE!
I'm ashamed to say after 24 yrs as class 1 truck truck driver in western Canada ... I never thought about the miles of airlines on each train. I have a new perspective and much more respect than I did. Well done boys
Thank you Robert for taking the time to watch and write in. yep, trains like trucks rely on air. You no longer need to be ashamed.... :-) May you have a most blessed day my friend.
There should be a lockout mechanism so that all locks on each hopper car's doors should be secured before air pressure build up and brake release can occur.
There is a lock on the doors, however many of them are worn out and need replaced, we actually replaced one yesterday on a car here. They are really difficult to inspect, and to change one you have to pull the truck set out from under that end of the car, not a lot of room to work in tight quarters.
@@ccrx6700 The doors should default to closed, just as the brakes default to "on", and just as something has to be done to turn the brakes "off" - something should have to be done to permit the doors to open.. Likewise the locks on the doors shouhld default to on and should control the brakes: one lock open and the brakes are "on". ALL lock secured closed for brakes to be taken off.
Another day in the life of a short line railroader. All the things, good and bad, most of us never see. Yes, at least you didn't derail! Thank Heaven for small favors! Thank you for showing us the reality of short-line railroading! 👍
What a great video. Thanks for sharing a different side with a major stuff up. I can't add any more to what has been said already. Thanks from Australia.
We would call that a conflaguration, just a made up word but fits this mess. Glad everyone was safe and had no derailment. After this, you guys are due some better days ahead. Thanks Dave, sure makes you look forward to warmer days!
Well Rick we had some other choice adjectives to describe it, but since this is a family friendly channel, we will stick with your selection.... LOL Appreciate your watching the show my friend.
Done that way too many times, we used to spread ballast like that also, dump it out and have a timber behind the hi rail truck. Do appreciate your watching tonight's show my friend.
Wow what a mess! Looking on the bright side, I'd say it wasn't all bad because no one got hurt and the cars stayed on the tracks. Thanks for sharing, Dave.
Yes things could have been a lot worse. Your right, most folks have no clue what all goes on behind the scenes with railroading. I am very fortunate to be able to share this with others, but I know other railroads like yours have numerous challenges to deal with on a daily basis. Sure wish you could video, I surely would watch them.
I'd Lile to help you out some but I'm about reedy to retire, and never worked on a RR, BUT my uncle was a conductor, he was the conductor on the Miamisburg Olio big phosphorus train wreck in the 1990s. I even got evacuated, channel 7 picked up a reporter from where I lived in a helicopter, and it was absolute ridiculous how the evacuation was carried out. Cops om bullhorns, people driving on sidewalks etc..
You guys have my respect for dealing with that incident. The video of your efforts is excellent, also. One thing that I saw- An axle wasn't turning when the hopper was being dragged to clear the coal. Did it get damaged?
Very pleased to hear you enjoyed the video Mervyn. We do appreciate the nice comment and for watching sir. The resistance created by pushing the coal was what was stopping the wheels from rotating, no damage to the wheel, it slid rather easily.
Just another day in the Office Dave. I liked the Timber Plough,, good thinking there. A few good men, with shovels lol. Nobody was hurt is the main thing. You take care up there . 👍😎
We used to use the timber to spread ballast. A hi rail dump truck would dump while backing up with the timber or tie behind it's rear hi rail wheels and spread the ballast. Glad I could show this cause it's not something a lot of folks have seen. Appreciate your watching Ian.
Wow, I thought you had a big derailment at first. That looks like a huge mess that has to be cleaned up. More video content. Is all the coal now waste material ?
Hulcher has been in this week and doing some vacuum up the coal left in the track. We gonna get an excavator or hi rail clam bucket truck in to get the big stuff left along the far sides. I will make a video of that but don't have a clue yet when it will be shown. Cleaned up coal will be sent back to the prep plant for re cleaning Scott.
This is fascinating to me I love it, I did not know you could ties on the wheels and they would roll with a timber in front of the trucks, nice 👍 and the vacuum truck will suck it up right , thanks BigAl California.
Yeesss a double-header! Nice! Wow when it gets that cold everything sure works differently. That's was a brutal morning. Do you really have days off or is that just a goal you hope to happen someday? 😳😉
You have my sympathy on that one. I never would have imagined that cold would wreak so much havoc on railroad equipment. Is there any way to prevent the coal freezing to the doors and causing all of these problems or is it just a matter of needing warmer weather?
When they get to the power plant they have warming houses that warm the whole car up. Sometimes many at a time, if they have rotary couplers it dumps the car over upside down one at a time. I used to deal with the old steel cars. The little power plant I worked at only used 5 cars a day.
Thanks. They spray the cars with a slide release agent but some coal still freezes, wet coal traveling down track at 25 MP at 5 degrees, hard to keep it all from freezing. Appreciate your watching the show tonight my friend.
That was a pretty slick move putting that timber in there to smooth the coal out while it was dragging and dumping. Bet that made the rest of the job easier rather than having a pile of coal mounding up in the middle of the track.
We've had many car doors open up by accident over the years Shane and this is how we empty them, thank goodness nothing derailed this time, it certainly has in the past caused some wheels to come off doing this. Then you have to come up with the regulator and push the coal away from the track, a pain, but that's railroading. Thanks so much for visiting with us today and watching my friend.
Yes we were very lucky Jim that no one got hurt and everything stayed on the rails.Very much appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Boy, what a mess! Glad you can still keep your positive attitude, Dave. And in the last scene, "Awesome" indeed with the sound of #1 working there. Very throaty even at low throttle notches.
It is a mess and it makes me sick seeing my ballast getting fouled with all that coal, but things could have been a lot worse, at least nothing derailed. Appreciate your taking in the home movie tonight my friend.
Wow what a mess Dave. I am sorry for you my friend. I know you have worked hard on the ballast and know you have a huge mess to clean up and you will have to clean and work on the ballast again.
Thanks and actually Hulcher was in today to start vac up this mess, they doing a good job cleaning so far, just takes time. Appreciate your writing in and watching my friend.
I used to farm on the side, loved it, but farming is harder work than RR! All those days of baling hay from sunup till after midnight, digging post holes by hand.... actually Hulcher came in today and started vac up the coal and got a good bit of it done, will have a future video out on that sometime. Appreciate your watching and writing in Robert.
Great video and I appreciate seeing it.sorry for the crews and the mess but thank you for sharing so much. it shows how much work there is in railroading!
Yep and they all come in handy with these older locos seems like one is broke down all the time or in need of repair.Do appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in today Robert.
We used to use a tie when dumping ballast with a hi rail dump. Put it behind the rear hi rail wheels and dump going backwards. The tie spread the ballast out evenly. Glad you enjoyed the show and we do appreciate your watching sir.
It isn't just the output power, but the tractive effort that these machines can impart - To not just move all that weight, but plow through all that junk like it's nothing. Utterly staggering.
Your right in that. Life is full of contrast and knowing what you don't want only gives an appreciation for what you do want. Thanks for writing in and watching the show today my friend.
Winter can be a real PIA on the railroad. Like you said, at least it didn’t derail. Lucky the water didn’t dump since it was so cold. I’ve had that happen and then the air compressor froze and cracked. Hopefully you can get all that coal cleaned up.
