Oh you hit the nail on the head with that one. How much easier he can make a job go. First thing you learn on a gandy gang is never ever upset the grapple operator! Thanks for writing in and for watching the show today Josef.
@ccrx 6700 I had a guy at CN who could place a bridge with a 250 ton America crane. If you need 2 inches to the west 1 inch to the south, no problem. Put him in a 15 ton hyrail crane, forget about it. Total weapon. Had to dive off the bridge tie pile more than once.
It is amazing isn't it. Got another video coming out sometime on him loading 78 foot sticks, that flex is incredible. Question for you: what is #2 rail? It comes from the mill with a white paint mark on the rail head. text me: 724 998 7387
Awesome! You are right sir. I always us both on my smaller truck, it was the way I was instructed. Really appreciate your writing in and for watching the show tonight my good man.
Dave, what is common to you is new & fascinating to many of us. Be sure to thank the grapple truck operator for allowing you to video him. You would be a great spokesman for your company. Were I in charge, I'd have your picture everywhere from billboards to cell phones. God bless you Dave & your lovely wife & thanks for another rootin', tootin', railroad video!
Well gee, what a really swell comment, I'm blushing.... I do try to cultivate a healthy PR for the company, our work here and our workers. Glad your not in charge tho, don't want my picture everywhere.... LOL Thanks so much for writing in and watching today my friend.
Got to love hydraulics! I've got several 2 man rail tongs and hope I never have to use them ever again!!!! Thanks for checking out the show tonight Sam, we do appreciate that. PS: that loco on HSC looks awesome after the paint job! Was very much of an improvement.
Thanks for another informative video. These hi-rail trucks are versatile. I used to conduct the Sperry car. The allied gang would follow us as we tested with a load of stick rail. If we found a defective rail the gang would change it out and perform any other repairs as needed. I would take a Form D line 2 and own the track. We would get a lot accomplished in four hours, this was the time allotted for the outage since commuter service would resume at 1545 from Hoboken. I learned a lot from the MOW gangs. I could hardly wait for the Sperry job to come up for bid, got me out of uniform and kept my skills sharp. Many of the conductors did not like to Sperry car since it took a lot of moxie to work this car. The Sperry crews were a great group of people and good cooks.
Awesome comment Gary! Really enjoyed reading it. We follow the Sperry truck, only we will take a rail drill and put joint bars on a defect until we can find time to change out the rail there. Of course running coal on class 2 track is far different than commuter, your standards are much more stringent and that is great. We also have gotten Nordco and Herzog in to test for us, none of the 3 ever offered to cook for me.... LOL
@@ccrx6700 I guess the Sperry service uses a hi-rail vehicle. Back then it was a rail only car which looked like a big trolley car. The crews from Sperry lived on this car as it traveled from railroad to railroad. This rail car contained living and kitchen quarters and was capable of tying up at obscure locations if necessary. Each railroad that contracted Sperry's service supplied a conductor/pilot for the car's movement over its lines. Also a MOW official rode in the rear with the testing crew. When the car reversed direction the conductor moved to the testing end to guide the car back to the originating point. Speed while in transit not exceeding 50mph where track speed permitted. Blocks were placed behind the car while in transit and the conductor had to report clear after designated points so the block could be cleared. 19 orders gave way to Form D authority for testing movement. Easiest way with the Form D was the line 2 so one could move either direction while testing. This way the conductor owned the track and could allow movements of other equipment in the owned section. Passenger trains were excluded. We tested at night on the busier commuter lines when regular service ended.
@@garykuipers2696 Awesome Gary, I understand now. We've obviously never had a Sperry car being we don't interchange with anybody, but do understand now the cooking. One Nordco truck we had in here did have a hot plate in it....LOL I was really surprised at the speed. These trucks that come in here go about 10. Have never seen a Sperry car in person, just pics of one and never gave that a thought from reading your original comment. Did very much enjoy reading how you did things with them and took track authority. Thanks so much for replying back my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Dave, your channel is the best source of information. I'm sure active and retired railroaders view your videos; they enable us to relive our days on the high iron. Rail fans are great people but they don't get to see everything that is accomplished during a railroader's work day. Thank goodness for the rail fans, though. Their films from the past recorded the operations of old. Your videos present the day to day nuts and bolts operations and hardships experienced in railroad operations. I come from a railroad family and my oldest son continues the tradition.
Thanks for checking out tonight's video Ken, we do appreciate that my friend. And as an old rail foreman once said on another RR, if you can pick it up and carry it away, you can have it. Your right, I think our rail is safe from growing legs.
Dave, your videos are always a pleasure to watch. When I move a piece of rail on my HO layout, I forget the whole process of the real railroads. I appreciate all of your effort to bring these videos to us. It is sure fun to see how all of the track maintenance is done. Thanks again! Stay warm and healthy.
Thanks for that link to alloy rails. That's always the thing with steel, finding the right balance between hardness and ductility, and that varies wildly from one application to another. In the auto industry, we always wanted steel with good ductility because we were always stretching and forming it. Our Millwrights called it "bubble gum steel."
So many different conditions on so many different RR's with so many different needs and applications. We have it simple here, but others don't and have to use their engineering skills to determine what application is best for their situations. Very good info you have related to us Rod about the balances and ductility in steel applications, thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.
Great video Dave as always! That GRAPPLE certainly is a plus when it comes to loading and unloading rail. And its definitely a plus to be able to move it remotely! Thanks again for sharing your videos and look fwd to seeing the next one!
Thanks for checking out tonight's video Bill, we do appreciate that my friend and for the very nice comment. Your gonna have to get a loader truck for your layout! LOL
Yes your right about that smarro71. Nothing electric here on the rails. We have a small amount of 136, mostly 132 tho. Really appreciate your taking the time to watch and may you have a very good day my friend.
The rail making process is almost state of the art now with all the research done over the years on how to make better steel. Thanks for checking out the video tonight my friend.
You and me both, I was a bit embarrassed when he did that and was wondering if I should even show it, but I understand now why it happened. Thanks for writing in and for watching Eric, we do appreciate that.
@@ccrx6700 Saw those subsequent hoists of his and one could tell he had been at it "a while". VERY articulate. There were parts where it appeared that claw was really no different than his fingertips. That takes skill, right there.
Thanks Eric great to hear you enjoyed tonight's home movie my friend. The big problem with these new trucks is the regen system, sometimes on these Western Stars they have to just let them sit for an hour or so regenerating, nobody likes that part of them.
@@ccrx6700 You're welcome bud! My friend who works for the DPW and drives plow trucks prefers to drive the Kenworths over the Western Stars. I have personally always preferred the PACCAR made trucks.
Thank you very much for this very interesting and informative video presentation, it is great to see how quickly he could load and unload the rail sticks. It is great to see the new rail with the stickers still on the side. It is always fascinating to see the work that you and the other men do in keeping the railroad in such good condition.
Thanks for checking out tonight's video Scott, we do appreciate that my friend and lot's good stuff coming your way, got some real block busters this spring you will love.
I always think it looks like the rail will fall when it is picked up at one end, those grabs must have a lo of pressure to hold it. Your notes are interesting. We also mark our rails with paint but the meaning for each colour is different to yours another thing is the longer rail you use ours are only 60 feet. I had not heard of alloy rail until I recently saw about a type now used in wet tunnels that is more resistant to rust.
Really glad you enjoyed the video and the description my friend. Not a whole lot of folks read the description, am glad you do. I'm not familiar with alloy rail either, other than it exists. Interesting about the different colors! The sticks the guy was loading in the video are 39 foot, had mentioned about the 78 footers cause they thermite welded 2 sticks together. Will have some videos of those 78 footers out sometime in the future. I would be most interested in the rails you mentioned about being resistant to rust. We have such a problem here with the coal laying against the rails and the acid in the coal eating the steel away. Hope you can sometime send me some more info or links so I can check that out.
@@ccrx6700 I am not sure where I red about it now but have an idea it could of been on a site where rail manufactures post articles. I will have a look there for you
@@ccrx6700 Well that did not take as long as I expected I found a video on here Shame the music is so loud over the commentary. I guess it would cost a fortune to ship t over there and you would need to contact BS to see if it could be made to your weight. Still interesting to see what a difference the coating makes. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A8sHx2-gNuE.html
@@cedarcam Awesome! I really like that idea. Watched the video and cannot thank you enough for sending it. Had no idea anything like this existed. That certainly would be the ticket for those areas around our load out and unloader where the rail is constantly covered with coal. I'm going to approach management with this idea. but you're right, getting it here would be quite an expense. But what an expense it will be if we have a derailment because the rail corroded and being covered with coal I can't inspect it. You wouldn't believe how the base of some of the rail in these areas gets eaten away by the coal acid, along with the spikes. Wonder if they have spikes coated with that? WE looked into stainless steel spikes long time ago and they were outrageously priced. Interesting they called the bottom of the rail the foot and we call it the base.
@@ccrx6700 I am really pleased you are going to look into the possibility of using some of this rail. I had not realised coal was so corrosive so it could be worth the cost if it is going to save a few replacement costs. We do not use spikes like you have but do have them Maybe you could send a batch over to be coated if you do order some rail. I bet stainless would be a fortune yes. We have a mixture of the same names you use and ones we use which is interesting to me as well. The switches we call points and some of the component parts have different names to the ones we use
Thank you Valerie, really great to hear you enjoyed tonight's show my friend. Brandon is a pretty good operator for a younger man. As you watch this video he is currently in Florida on a rail job and drove that truck all the way down there, gotta be young to do that ...LOL
You certainly could! Many of these trucks around here for logging purposes. With all these natural gas pipelines around here it's amazing the huge forestry equipment that is showing up, I've never seem to be in the right place at the right time to catch any of that actually working tho. Thanks for tuning in to the show today my friend.
Thanks for checking out tonight's video, we do appreciate that my friend and for the very nice comment. Very interesting user name you have there, I love Doritos with cheese and cottage cheese!
We're getting hit with freezing rain and snow this evening in Indiana, so as I come back from Alabama I'm in for a slow drive, it will be in PA by tomorrow so I hope you and your crew had time to finish Dave!!!
Hunh... brings to mind the old kids riddle part of "4...5...6, pick up sticks." I don't think kids would want to pick up rail sticks, hoo-wee. Big stuff.
Thanks my friend and yes there are. Rail brands and rail stamps and I've been wanting to do a complete video on showing the rail identification marks for some time now, but so much other stuff has gotten in the way, I'm sure you can relate to that! Do appreciate your tuning in from your busy day and checking out the home movie tonight my good man.
@@ccrx6700 Thanks Dave. i learned the date of manufacture from my grandfather, but he never mentioned the other stuff. I look forward to the video, but take your time 😊
@@donaldwittmuss6079 Whatever rail the engineering department decides to use for any one application. We use all 132 heat treated (head hardened) rail here, green is the only other color than orange that we would see here. Hope that helps explain better.
Good suggestion and someday I will do that for you, it's a lot more laborious than using this grapple truck. Thanks for writing in and watching tonight my friend.
You and me both Kent! Takes some practice to do that without hitting yourself with a rail, I've seen some in the past come pretty close to knocking themselves off the seat. Thanks for writing in and watching today my friend.
Once that muscle memory gets in place it's a struggle to try and run a different control pattern. Thanks for checking out the video tonight my friend, we do appreciate that.
Well now how cool is that, and you gonna have to make a video showing that! Remember tho, that AREMA specs say that only 1 paint color can be shown on a rail, unless there is also the need to show green, then that usually is painted on the base or web of the rail. Thanks for checking in tonight my friend. PS: was telling my friend over at Dennis B Trains he needed to get some mud spots in his layout track so I could come out and crib it for him... LOL
Hey Dave !! Always a pleasure to watch your videos !!! Kinda wonder why that coal car decided to derail at that joint other than worn bearing ?? Did they say anything when they inspected it after that ?? Have a good week & yes ,,another storm this week !!
Glad you enjoyed tonight's show K B. If you are speaking about the derailed car that hit the heel block in the shorts video. A car door had opened up when it was loaded and they didn't look to see if the wheels had come off track, they just assumed it was still on track.
That was pretty cool Dave. I noticed he didn't drop the rail once one end was on the ground. Would it break if he did that ? Thanks for sharing Dave , take care .
Thank you Jerry, really glad you enjoyed tonight's home movie my friend. Great question sir and you are very observant! No sir it would not break, rail is incredibly flexible. He was just being smooth with his operation.
Awesome video man, this is your truck driving subscriber from Kentucky. I am in Wyoming and tonight with the windchill will be 40 below And the high tomorrow is -7
Glad you enjoyed Christopher. Oh man that's brutal! Hope you don't have fuel line freeze up. Keep that truck running and be very safe and careful out there my friend.
Great video. How far ahead do you have to plan in order to get time on the tracks for maintenance? Are there projects that are planned a year ahead? Are those plans subject to change, based on your assessment of the safety of the track? Thanks :)
Everything changes daily here..... We do get some dead track when they have a longwall move and work is planned for those shut downs, usually every 6 months there is a move, so planning takes place in those 6 months. And yes if there is a safety issue that is a real concern that is usually addressed immediately if possible, so many different events happen there is no one exact formula. I think you understand a bit better how things work here. Thanks for tuning in and watching the video my friend.
Tut tut, remote control trucks, as a wagon driver Dave I'm not sure if I like the sound of that! Brilliant, and a credit to your operator and his skills. Question again, why 78 ft. rail sections, 60,100 or 120 I think I could understand, haven't worked out if this equates to silly metric. Thanks again for your time to make the film.
Thanks for watching Peter and for the nice comment. These were 39 foot sticks he was loading. They had welded two 39 foot sticks together to get the 78 footers and will show a video sometime in the future of him loading and dragging them. Hope that explains it for ya. Do appreciate your watching the video today my friend.
Thanks for the video today. I love seeing the big-boy-tools out doing some real work! With the relay rail, it seems like one time you mentioned that that 2 sticks joined together had another name. I haven't been able to find that video. Do you recall that?
@Bruce Paul Mainline tracks use CWR because jointed rail is not allowed. Yard tracks or Industry tracks use 39ft or 78ft sections of rail and use joint bars to connect the rail.
Glad you enjoyed the video Bruce, we do appreciate your writing in and for watching today. We will never have CWR here because we do not interchange with another RR so it would be impossible to get those 12 or 1400 foot sticks in here, sure would be nice if we could tho!
Thanks for checking out tonight's video Mark, we do appreciate that my friend. Brandon is a pretty cool headed guy, he doesn't get shook up much out here, he was focused on what he was doing and probably didn't even know I was filming.
Thanks Dave for another great video. I enjoyed watching the moving the tracks and the machinery that it takes. Also Dave what is a sperry defect. 😀❤👍🇨🇦
Glad you enjoyed tonight's show Ray. Good question and someone else asked that and I forgot to put that in the description, it's in there now. A Sperry defect is an internal defect found by the ultrasonic rail testers. When the ultrasonic rail testers find an internal defect in the rail, we then call that a Sperry rail. Sperry is one of the original rail defect detection systems. Sperry, along with Nordco and Herzog have all done our rail testing here over the years, it's just who is available at the time. But if Nordco comes in and finds a defect, we still out of habit, call that a Sperry rail.
Dave, Could you explain what a Sperry defect is. Is it a Crack or fracture in the steel? Fun watching machines do the hard work people used to do. Be safe.
Sorry Thomas, I planned on having that in the description and simply forgot to put it in. When the ultrasonic rail testers find an internal defect in the rail, we then call that a Sperry rail. Sperry is one of the original rail defect detection systems. Sperry, along with Nordco and Herzog have all done our rail testing here over the years, it's just who is available at the time. But if Nordco comes in and finds a defect, we still out of habit, call that a Sperry rail. That was a very good question and I'm glad you asked my friend.
Another great video! The link to the article about alloy rail was perfect- I learned just enough to see that they are way past me AND now I know more about how much I don't know. BTW- can the hydraulic controls be reversed by operators, or was it just a matter of him switching to different equipment with a different control pattern?
Thank you Alan, really pleased to hear you enjoyed. Apparently on this truck the controls were reversed, don't think you can do that with some other grapple trucks, the old ones for sure you couldn't. Appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Yes he can pick up two at one time if he wanted, but they are harder to control with the added weight. Very good question Michael. Do thank you for writing in and watching tonight my good man.
I do not miss the cold weather miss my family and friends in Washington County but not the cold. I got my Iron City boxcar from EBay MTH makes them. I looking for Cumberland Mine cars
Amazing as bad as that beer tasted how long they still made it....LOL IC Lite was even worse. Note: often you will find our USS original Ortner cars on Ebay, however remember this, we only had 40 original cars. You will find cars on Ebay with higher numbers but those were never here. I don't blame you for not missing the cold! Thanks for checking in today Mike.
Great show Dave, love grapple work. What is the reason behind your truck not having a grapple, in stead of the extra steps you need to take to load a stick.
There are different size cranes made by Palfinger for my truck. The one I have on there now is not strong enough to handle a swivel grapple. I called the manufacturer many years ago asking if I could put a grapple on my crane. That was an excellent question, you are a thinking man my friend. Thanks for watching the show tonight.
78' long pieces of rail, wow. I'm guessing you didn't pick them up at the local Lowes! How do they get delivered since your line isn't interconnected with any other RR? Wonder how that particular length got developed, why not 66' or 91'?
Excellent question sir! They thermite welded two 39 foot sticks together. Got couple of videos coming out sometime on Brandon loading those 78 footers and dragging them up track also. Not sure when those videos will be shown tho. Nobody rolls 78 footers, however they do roll 60 and 80 foot sticks. Appreciate your writing in and for watching the show my friend.
Jointed track is a maintenance nightmare, would love to have all CWR, but not interchanging with anybody makes it impossible to get 1200 foot long rail in here. Thanks so much for checking out tonight's show Brian.
Why is this sectioned rail verses a continuous welded rail? It's been a long time since I have seen sectioned rail one after another in a long time that is why I ask? Hello from San Antonio, TEXAS too!
Good question JT. We have all bolted rail here which is a maintenance nightmare.... but being that we do not interchange with any other railroad, there is just no way we could get 1200 sticks of CWR in here. Only way we could get all welded rail here is to thermite weld each 39 foot stick and at $550 per weld, that cost would be astronomical plus the time involved to change everything over. Thanks for checking in and watching my good southern neighbor.
Brandon doesn't get shook up about much, at least out here on RR, he is a good man to have on the job with you. Thanks for tuning in and watching the show tonight my friend.
Where he was picking up the rail is at a crossing so there is a lot of ballast there so we can get on and off the rail. Was that what you were referring to?
You are certainly right in the muscle memory, after doing something for thousands of hours and then having the control pattern change, is exceedingly difficult. Thanks for writing in and watching the video heartland96a
All of our original 1975 rail was 132. Over the years when we replaced rail, some of that was done with 136 and some more 132. We only have a small scattering of 136. Thanks so much for dropping in on us and watching the show my friend.
Pretty interesting how they do that. When you saw him flipping the rail over on the ground, probably wondered what in the heck is he doing and now you know.
Those are tie plugs. They look similar to spikes but don't have a head on them. When we pull a spike out, the tie plugs are driven down into the hole to keep moisture and dirt out. Can drive a new spike down thru them also. Thanks for writing in and asking.
@@ccrx6700 I figured that’s what it was for but never have ever seen it. And for it to be laying outside on the ground after demo of the railroad ties when the retaining wall was built in 2005 is incredible. I really thought it was a spike then seen it was wood. Good to know a guy who would have the answer. How often are they used?
@@scratchbuiltdozer The ones we got in here were creosoted so they would last a long time. Happy to help you with an answer. We no longer use the plugs, we use a product now called Sure Spike. It's a granular powder that looks like gun powder, just pour it in the spike hole, keeps water out better than the tie plugs. If you watch my video on spikes I show it in that one. Some RR's use an epoxy to fill the holes, it works the best but have to keep the glue warm in the winter, it's called Spike Fast. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nInJFLjxcZs.html
@@ccrx6700 I just don’t recall that video but will watch it now. Always enjoy your videos and learn something new in just about every video. Keep ‘em coming!
Excellent question William! The hardest thing on track itself as far as weather goes is the freeze/thaw cycle. I would much rather have it freeze and stay frozen than to have it freeze and then thaw and over and over again. Biggest problem with high heat is the danger of track buckles (heat or sun kinks as you would recognize the term). In really cold weather rail gets brittle, that's a big reason why I don't tamp when it gets below 32, along with frozen ballast. When rail temps get above 90, then the rail is very flexible and gets like a rubber band and when lining track at those high temps, it can go all over the place. Your question deserves an entire video to go over all this in detail, but I think you get a better understanding for now.
@@ccrx6700 WHILE CWR MIGHT BE HARDER FOR YOU TO MAINTAIN, AND I ALSO FOUGHT THE FREEZE/THAW THING ON ROADBED, BREAKING SIGNAL BONDS ETC..... OUR MOW GUYS WORKLOAD DROPPED WITH CWR AND I'M GUESSING THATS WHY THE 78 FT STICKS ARE BEING USE BY U
Glad you enjoyed tonight's home movie Rick. A brand new 39 foot stick of rail here (132 pound rail) is 1,720 pounds. In case you don't know, the 132 means it weighs 132 pounds per yard. Obviously if it were 136 or 140 Lb. rail it would weigh more.
If you think this is great unloading / loading then you need to see the overhead crane drivers at the rail - plant in Whyalla they load/ unload 6 rails at a time.
That would be pretty neat to watch! I've seen one video of someone unloading rail from a cargo ship, it was a long time ago but believe they picked up 12 rails at a time, some big hydraulic stuff to do that. Thanks for writing in and watching this video Bill.
Neat to watch. However, the best thing I ever saw was how a backhoe operator with a bucket just wide enough to get between ties, loading his backhoe into a tandem axle dump truck. Also watching a track hoe operator getting his track hoe up onto coal hopper cars to unload cars that had unloading functions fail. Scared the daylights out of me but they did it like it was nothing.
I saw a video of a track hoe climbing into a hopper car, that indeed was scary. NS here has several ballast hoppers where they have an excavator on top unloading them, saw him tram between 2 cars in person and my knees were shaking..... Thanks for writing in and watching the video my friend.
A brand new 39 foot stick of 132 pound rail weighs 1720 Lbs. 132 means that is what it weighs per yard. Thanks for asking John and appreciate your watching the video sir.
132 is the weight of the rail per yard. There are different weights of rail out there. Typical rail for us is 132, however many RR's are using 136 or 140 pound rail for main line now.
I have always wondered why these guys never did that? When I'm loading rail with my hi rail I always spin around the back. Thanks for writing in and watching the show my friend.
2/22/22 is called a palindrome, you can read it forward or backwards and it's the same. That particular date won't happen again until 100 years from now! I don't think we'll be around by then my friend, but hopefully 100 years from now You Tube will still be in existence and will still be playing my videos.....LOL
