Looks like the train crew was an Engineer, Brakeman, and Conductor. Switching operations is great action. It's not the location, but the switching. Thanks for the video.
The conductor or switchman has a list of what cars are full or empty and where to place them. I love watching the process. Those industries are fun to watch being switched because there is raw materials track and outbound finished product. The boxcars coming out are cushion cars with the extended coupler. Great catches Mark.
Love the switching. It will be nice when you get the radio working. Today's work looked like they moved some hoppers around so it could pick up empties, and then picked up loaded box cars took them out to the siding and brought back some empty boxcars so the plant can fill them up with finished products. Just a guess!
Hi there. It is very interessting to see this local switching. I like local switching, to learn the details of that. Very fine video. Hope we can see more, 👍
To answer your question about the little company switcher locomotive, it is called a Rail King switcher. I believe they can only switch a couple of cars at a time depending on load and length. I'm with you on this one, that I have no idea why they were performing the switching moves the way they were, but guess they have their reasons. A radio does help but also doesn't necessarily answer the questions as to why they perform the moves they do. Either way I enjoy watching trains perform switching moves. Love the switching videos so keep them coming! Thanks for sharing as always. Happy rail fanning!
The generic name is "railcar mover" (wow, imaginative), often known by the trade name Trackmobile. I agree that those ones look like Rail King units -- for the simple reason that Rail King paint theirs orange, while Trackmobile paint them yellow. Especially the one on the right is quite a large unit. They can shift a lot cars at once, though not quickly. They actually jack up the car they're connected to, so the car's weight gives extra adhesion to their wheels. That means the highest capacity Rail King and Trachmobile models have tractive effort over 62,000lbs -- a hair more than a GP40-2!
GAF company is General Aniline & Film. The company started as a paint manufacturer based on New Jersey. Now one of the largest mfgr./producer of roofing materials.
All of your content is interesting, It is amazing to me as well how they know how to organize those cars. Keep speculating for us, maybe if you could get the radio to charge that would be great. Thanks for sharing your videos.
Love switching Mark, lots of activity and "speculation"!! :)!! Be fun to see switching of cement and coal at the plant just east of Summit sometime -- that local if you could. Much appreciated!!
I enjoy your videos, always learn something.. Seeing the switching is great. Would be good if your radio worked so you would know what is going on with the cars. Thank you.
I’m guessing that they were swapping loads and empties as far as that first couple of moves with the CH’s. Those probably come in loaded with roofing granules. There’s a GAF plant on the former WC, in Wisconsin, that makes roofing granules and ships them out in 2-bay CH’s. The box cars are probably being loaded with finished product and shipped out. The cut that they pulled out, they shoved into a siding by the main. That’s the cars that they seemed to leave behind. The cut they shoved back into the plant were different cars to start the cycle over again. I’m guessing the cars left by the main will be picked up by a train going in the opposite direction they went in, when they left town. It looks like they have a penchant for 50 foot high cube box cars, as opposed to 60 footers. The Railbox cars were all FBOX (50 footers) as opposed to the more common TBOX cars, which are 60 footers. That makes me think that the box cars are being loaded with something heavy, like roofing shingles. Enjoyed this video. I love switching videos.
The orange switcher units are railcar movers -- better known by the trade name Trackmobile. Looks like those ones are made by Rail King, though that's based on the naive characteristic that Rail Kings are usually orange, while Trackmobiles are usually yellow. They're mighty little things. They actually jack up the railcar they're connected to, to get extra adhesion. That gives the largest railcar movers over 62,000lbs of tractive effort, which is very slightly more than a GP40-2. But they're much lower power (up to about 350hp) so they don't move fast with a load.
I always enjoy seeing trains on the branches and Spurs and this was a combination of everything. By chance do you know what this GAF plant produces? Until they sold out about 2 years ago there was a GAF plant @ Kremlin WI on the CN (former WC nee SOO) that produces Roofing granules and those cars go to numerous locations in the Midwest to places that make shingles. They still use those GACX covered hoppers and prior to the large lease fleets the UP & MP cars loaded with Frac sand in Northwest Wisconsin. A great track layout especially the sharp "S" curves coming in and out. Of course I must salute the green CNW box car the last cars they ever purchased and presently many are hauling paper out of Maine
Yeah I like the fact you can get to it without much driving, plus moving railcars and engines are nicer than stopped ones, was watching another channel first train of the day came into the yard stooped tied down and was dormant for 3 hours but those were edited out, a new crew and they were up and running and he chased the train the rest of the day, I like all of your railroad work, if you throw in say switching with main line action 10/90 TU or spur line and mainline. This other guy has like three spurlines near him and he goes and fills his day with spurline action and a smattering of mainline, it's all good I'm easy to get along with.
I have playlists "Yards and Switching" and "Branch Lines" when I do either, it's usually a long video on it's own, so I don't mix it with other types of moves. But should I just happen to catch one or the other in a short move, mixing them is a good idea. Thanks!
I enjoy switching doesnt matter if its repetitive to me because its not always the exact same thing everytime. Id also like seeing the winery getting switched out in Edison
A lot of you have enjoyed the switching, so I'll try to get more. I don't think the winery uses rail anymore, but I'll look into it. Thanks for checking it out!
The box cars looked loaded to me. I'd expect they receive raw materials in hoppers and ship product in box cars -- unless you can think of a raw material that would come in in boxes.
Mark freight crews consist of an engineer in the cab and the conductor is the guy that gets out and does everything else. Sometimes there is a second conductor but im not very knowledgeable on when they have more than 2 person crews. Sometimes they split the work other times there is a third guy because he is being trained. Could be job training or territory training or maybe they just want an extra guy on this specific job because it makes things go smoother. Those orange vehicles the company uses are called "trackmobiles".
There are nighttime locals, but I don't have the equipment for shooting decent video at night. BNSF only has one local in this area and it is always around midnight.
