I used to live in Missoula,MT by the rail yard. I could stand on my back porch and watch. I was really surprised how fast i got used to what noise there was. Even at night i thought id have problems sleeping but i didnt.
It's called kicking cars. It's done at a thousand yards every day. You just need enough guys on the ground to throw the switches and crank on the brakes sometimes, but it saves tons of time vs. pushing each car into its spot with the loco.
Nice video, filmed trains yesterday in Christiansburg and Radford VA caught 9,IM/piggyback, empty coal hopper train with 3 mid helper DPUS 1 end train DPU, some manifest with end train DPU engines some IMs,pot ash,great day!🛤🚂
at 9:30 a BNSF occupies the island of the crossing. The far gate does not come down. This is a activation failure and needs to be reported and this vid shown to the railroad and the FRA. This is the kind of thing that gets people killed if not addressed and corrected.
Its called "kicking cars" and has been used as an efficient way of sorting cars. Hump yards even use this procedure when flat switching is needed to get the job done. But is can be dangerous if one trips over his feet or forgets to stay focused.
