The Birch Grove is a 10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleeper built by Budd for the Sunset Limited. Amtrak acquired the car from the SP and retired the car after Superliner sleepers joined the fleet. Not sure when CSX acquired the car but I’m pretty sure they didn’t rebuild the interior. CSX didn’t even bother to get rid of the SP markings. It’s definitely sleeping quarters for the inspectors.
There are also locomotives that have been outfitted with track measuring equipment that send their data in real time to MofW's headquarters computer applications and generate instructions that are e-mailed to the local Track Supervisor's of locations on their territory that require in person visual inspection and remediation of the defects found.
They need to do something like this for metro trains. At least the one I normally take to work, they wait until it is so bad that I hear other passengers complaining that they feel like the train is going to flip over onto its side before we hear an announcement that they are going to do track maintenance. Especially when the train is climbing up to an overpass with it being straight down on either side and it is rocking back and forth like crazy, while they finally fixed that, I think ridership was dropping off just because of that.
I really love your content and I enjoy it I really like how you teach us all of the scenarios and types of danger that happened on this railroad and hopefully you can eventually reach 1 million subs God bless you and have a good day
40 year engineer vet of CNW/UP in Chicago and I believe the mainlines running commuter trains had high rail inspection every week or day. We often saw the high-rail trucks on the main and heard them talking to the dispatcher. If something was found the truck would stop and they would jump out of the truck to have a closer look. Pete Valdivia was one of the engineering employees doing the inspections and talking to the dispatcher. Funny how you remember those names after all those years!
Thw DO NOT HUMP boxcar seems to make a regular appearance on CSX I031, an itermodal train that runs on the RF&P sub through Ashland, VA. Nice in depth explanation about this boxcar.
My dad was an engineer. The primary activity in marshalling yards is sorting cars on incoming trains into their various destinations. The rail layout resembles a fork, with a hump at the neck of the fork. The car(s) at the end of the train are uncoupled, then the engineer backs up to shove the car(s) 'over the hump', where switches route the car(s) onto the appropriate track. The hump produces a gravity assist to this process.
CN and CP still use manual track inspection cars. Might take the railways time to adopt the ATAC car tech because most stretches of track have zero wireless coverage for many kilometers. Many parts of the Alberta and BC rockes especially have Wireless dead zones.
@@brodriguez11000ironically I followed a ford Transit van on Friday arvo on a Sydney (AU) motorway and the first thing that got my attention was a pair of boxes above each back corner on the rear. Then I saw the yellow “warning, laser in use” stickers. When I got closer, the sign on the back said “road surface assessment in progress.” First time I’ve ever seen one.
The UP has at least one of these box cars for track inspection. The car traveled from Long Beacc Ca on intermodal trains. The switcher i worked always had þo place the car on the headend of the train. Car went to Dallas Houston Chicago
Now that's some very interesting technology. Here in the Netherlands we have similar autonomous equipment, although instead of it being mounted permanently in a wagon here we have equipment that can actually be mounted on the couplers of regular trains. Although like in the USA, most inspections are still done by dedicated inspection trains.
As electronic sensors continue to get cheaper and smaller, it wouldn’t surprise me if we eventually reach a point where we integrate full track geometry sensors into every locomotive. (Kinda like how passenger cars no longer need to be put onto a dynamometer to perform emissions testing, because the ODB-2 sensors measure everything needed.)
A long long time ago I worked for an FRA contractor named Ensco. We did some of the original work on track inspection vehicles including rail flaw and, in my case, track geometry vehicles. Last I knew (several years back), the FRA still owned and operated inspection vehicles. Coverage of that program might be of interest to your viewers. I'm not sure of that program's current status but there is a long history of FRA-backed development and operation of inspection resources. Could be interesting?
I saw a train at a crossing while heading to work early morning last winter. It was still dark at 5:45 am. Was not sure what I was watching go by. Sure peeked my curiosity. Now I know. Pretty sure it was the newer geometry train with the nice paint job. In the dark it was pretty well lit up and moving slow. We are probably several hundred yards from this crossing and close enough I can here the horns giving me time to step to the shop doors and watch the trains go by. CSX country and we are a few miles from a yard. I keep a scanner at work and can listen to the locals and dispatch. Thanks for the vid. South Alabama.
Living out West (Kali) my only contact with CSX is runthrough power. This type of information is really helpful in giving me ideas on what to look for with our "home" railroads: UP and BNSF. Also, I'm hoping to visit family in Michigan this fall and you'll be the main source of information for my 'fanning. Anyone want to pitch in with suggestions for railfanning in areas between Lansing / Ann Arbor / Detroit: things to do and see, places to avoid, any special events in Sept/Oct timeframe? Thank you for offering up some great ideas (not just this video, but others as well) for 'hunting trains! Thanks folks! Highball The Rollby... Ghost of the SP
I have seen that ATAC boxcars at night, very impressive. I have also seen the track geometry train, I believe W003, with 9969 pulling it. Since the locomotive is an ex-passenger unit, the train doesn't need a generator car.
Thank you for this video on CSX's autonomous inspection boxcars. I have seen videos of these boxcars on other UA-cam channels. Both the Wide World of Trains and the Jaw Tooth UA-cam channels have videos of freight trains with these boxcars. I did some research to try to determine how many of these boxcars are in existence. Based on the number on the boxcar in your video there are at least eight of these boxcars numbered from 994370 to the car in your video which is numbered 994377. One additional thing that I found out about these cars from your video is that these cars have solar panels for power. Your video is the first video that I have seen that shows the top of the car. The other videos that I have seen of these cars have been from ground level.
I was railfanning once last month on Friday and a Norfolk Southern said on the radio about a train horn not horning and I thought that you might want to do a video about it. This was up in Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Excellent video really enjoyed watching your video keep up the great work looking forward to seeing more content from you soon thanks again and have a wonderful day
Thank you V12! there's been a Sperry car on a Siding in the UPRR hump yard in Colton California for a while. I'm not a railfan, but have wondered what that car was & was never able to get a clear enough picture with my cheap cell phone to do a Google Search..
Thanks for the video and info, Charlie. We can Always count on you to cover Topics that most Railfans probably aren’t even familiar with. Keep up strong 💪 efforts.
I personally have seen the DO NOT HUMP boxcar the Sperry the special CSX track geometry car as well as the GMS-2. I think I've seen them all. lol Location: Cumberland, MD
On CN the Fulton sub on the intermodal we see the track checker boxcar 2-3x a week once i started seeing them 3 months later took a ride on amtrak 58 the ride is noticeably smoother so they seem to work good Just need to catch a doodle bug
Worst track I have ever seen were on the Soo line near Antioch Illinois 1/4 mile of track had no spikes. We hunted Pheasant along the line with the warning from the farmer to get over the highway parallel to tracks if we heard a train coming.
@v12productions could you please explain "hump" ? You showed a switching yard & said this car can't be humped but then moved on quickly, never explaining what exactly that meant. Thank-you for this outstanding video ! Fascinating. I don’t really know anything about trains so this taught me a lot. I'll definitely be looking for more of your videos.
There are railyards in North America where cars are rolled one or two at a time down a hill and into a yard. The switches are thrown automatically so the cars end up on the same track with other cars going to similar destinations. Humping can be 'rough' and some cars or products (or hazmats) should not be switched in this matter
Greetings from New Jersey! This is a very informative video and I’d love to see more of these. I feel better after watching this because I love watching CSX freight roll by but am always apprehensive about the safety of these trains carrying all kinds of toxic and dangerous stuff. I have a question for you and your very knowledgeable viewers. What safety measures are used to safeguard against train crews/engineers missing a signal? Or even over-speeding on curves? Is there stuff like PTC for these kinds of dangers?
I've been looking forward to this episode! Great job explaining how this equipment works! BTW, were you saying the GMS-2 has been decommissioned, or is it just doing different types of tests?
It is incredible how precisely those big metal tracks are laid, I never really thought about that before Now I wonder what technology goes into laying them in the first place
I didn't know what the lasers was. I thought the wheels was on fire or something. As I was starting to rail fan. But now of course it's a treat to see every so often.
The first time I saw ttge do not bump train and the laser I thought the trai wheels was on fire or in trouble. As I was starting to rail fans and didn't know. I was tripping out .
Why would they use concreat instead of water? Water can be drained to lighten it in an emergency. In an accident the water would burst from it's storage and reduce damage.
That is great adoption of today's technology! With that data collected they must have AI model that are trained so the can run inference against the data collections. Can update the training model and re-run it against the collected data (historical) too. Very good AI use case. Great vid !!
The Geometry Cars definitely Help keep the Tracks Inspected but Timely Repairs are Critical once this Info is Reviewed. 🤔 Human Error are a totally different story.
Interesting. The amount that the rail lines dominate both the landscape and the market, not to mention many Communities. I would hope they are using the latest and most up-to-date technology to make sure things are safe.
The Birch Grove is a 10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleeper built by Budd for the Sunset Limited. Amtrak acquired the car from the SP and retired the car after Superliner sleepers joined the fleet. Not sure when CSX acquired the car but I’m pretty sure they didn’t rebuild the interior. CSX didn’t even bother to get rid of the SP markings. It’s definitely sleeping quarters for the inspectors.
We love learning, and once again, V12 provides another informative presentation. Can't wait for the next one!
Thanks, more to come!
Another video that brings information that no one else has! Nice work, as always, your high production values are on display! Thanks, Charlie!
I always learn something new watching these videos. I like going back and watching older ones too. Thank you!
There are also locomotives that have been outfitted with track measuring equipment that send their data in real time to MofW's headquarters computer applications and generate instructions that are e-mailed to the local Track Supervisor's of locations on their territory that require in person visual inspection and remediation of the defects found.
They need to do something like this for metro trains. At least the one I normally take to work, they wait until it is so bad that I hear other passengers complaining that they feel like the train is going to flip over onto its side before we hear an announcement that they are going to do track maintenance. Especially when the train is climbing up to an overpass with it being straight down on either side and it is rocking back and forth like crazy, while they finally fixed that, I think ridership was dropping off just because of that.
I really love your content and I enjoy it I really like how you teach us all of the scenarios and types of danger that happened on this railroad and hopefully you can eventually reach 1 million subs God bless you and have a good day
Amazing video v12 I was very intrigued in these boxcars. Thank you so much!
40 year engineer vet of CNW/UP in Chicago and I believe the mainlines running commuter trains had high rail inspection every week or day. We often saw the high-rail trucks on the main and heard them talking to the dispatcher. If something was found the truck would stop and they would jump out of the truck to have a closer look. Pete Valdivia was one of the engineering employees doing the inspections and talking to the dispatcher. Funny how you remember those names after all those years!
Thw DO NOT HUMP boxcar seems to make a regular appearance on CSX I031, an itermodal train that runs on the RF&P sub through Ashland, VA. Nice in depth explanation about this boxcar.
My dad was an engineer. The primary activity in marshalling yards is sorting cars on incoming trains into their various destinations. The rail layout resembles a fork, with a hump at the neck of the fork. The car(s) at the end of the train are uncoupled, then the engineer backs up to shove the car(s) 'over the hump', where switches route the car(s) onto the appropriate track. The hump produces a gravity assist to this process.
CN and CP still use manual track inspection cars. Might take the railways time to adopt the ATAC car tech because most stretches of track have zero wireless coverage for many kilometers. Many parts of the Alberta and BC rockes especially have Wireless dead zones.
CSX has a ton of equipment for track inspection. Those laser boxcars are cool. Wow
Maybe we can get something like that for roads.
@@brodriguez11000ironically I followed a ford Transit van on Friday arvo on a Sydney (AU) motorway and the first thing that got my attention was a pair of boxes above each back corner on the rear. Then I saw the yellow “warning, laser in use” stickers. When I got closer, the sign on the back said “road surface assessment in progress.” First time I’ve ever seen one.
I saw one of these "Do Not Hump" cars last week on the old NYC here in West Springfield, Pa. That train was really hauling ass!
With the amount of "childish" people in the world, that is a interesting phrase to use on the side of the car. Lol
As a 31 year old who has the maturity of a middle schooler, heheheheh hump.
@@austinfarley4971 Giggity.
Apparently Railmetrics developed the hardware and software the ATAC cars use for inspection. It's called LRAIL.
Always love the occasional Do Not Hump boxcars I see on the intermodal trains in Nashville.
Back in Bethel Connecticut there was Sperry rail. They were involved in magnafluxing and testing tracks.
The UP has at least one of these box cars for track inspection. The car traveled from Long Beacc Ca on intermodal trains. The switcher i worked always had þo place the car on the headend of the train. Car went to Dallas Houston Chicago
Now that's some very interesting technology. Here in the Netherlands we have similar autonomous equipment, although instead of it being mounted permanently in a wagon here we have equipment that can actually be mounted on the couplers of regular trains. Although like in the USA, most inspections are still done by dedicated inspection trains.
As electronic sensors continue to get cheaper and smaller, it wouldn’t surprise me if we eventually reach a point where we integrate full track geometry sensors into every locomotive. (Kinda like how passenger cars no longer need to be put onto a dynamometer to perform emissions testing, because the ODB-2 sensors measure everything needed.)
Glad I got this piece of information about CSX, Thanks V12!!!
Thanks for watching!
A long long time ago I worked for an FRA contractor named Ensco. We did some of the original work on track inspection vehicles including rail flaw and, in my case, track geometry vehicles. Last I knew (several years back), the FRA still owned and operated inspection vehicles. Coverage of that program might be of interest to your viewers. I'm not sure of that program's current status but there is a long history of FRA-backed development and operation of inspection resources. Could be interesting?
That would be interesting. I recorded one of the FRA trains two years ago.
I saw a train at a crossing while heading to work early morning last winter. It was still dark at 5:45 am. Was not sure what I was watching go by. Sure peeked my curiosity. Now I know. Pretty sure it was the newer geometry train with the nice paint job. In the dark it was pretty well lit up and moving slow. We are probably several hundred yards from this crossing and close enough I can here the horns giving me time to step to the shop doors and watch the trains go by. CSX country and we are a few miles from a yard. I keep a scanner at work and can listen to the locals and dispatch. Thanks for the vid. South Alabama.
Living out West (Kali) my only contact with CSX is runthrough power. This type of information is really helpful in giving me ideas on what to look for with our "home" railroads: UP and BNSF.
Also, I'm hoping to visit family in Michigan this fall and you'll be the main source of information for my 'fanning. Anyone want to pitch in with suggestions for railfanning in areas between Lansing / Ann Arbor / Detroit: things to do and see, places to avoid, any special events in Sept/Oct timeframe?
Thank you for offering up some great ideas (not just this video, but others as well) for 'hunting trains!
Thanks folks!
Highball The Rollby...
Ghost of the SP
I have seen that ATAC boxcars at night, very impressive. I have also seen the track geometry train, I believe W003, with 9969 pulling it. Since the locomotive is an ex-passenger unit, the train doesn't need a generator car.
I seen those Do Not Hump on i032 and I031 those were nice to see. I also caught the CSX 6025 with the same consists in nj back in November of 2023
Most people do not know what "Do not hump" means.
Many do, humping is just a method used to sort freight cars which involves the use of man made hills (a hump).
....and if they had bothered to watch the video, they would.
I prefer my version of the meaning.
@@bobmahnamahknob most people who see a train that says 'do not hump' on it have never heard of this video and never will.
Well, they know incorectly anyways.
Probably at least one guy saw that sign as a challenge. 😂
Got to see ATAC 8 roll into my yard last night actually.
I was super confused at first seeing a boxcar roll into an intermodal yard
Thank you for this video on CSX's autonomous inspection boxcars. I have seen videos of these boxcars on other UA-cam channels. Both the Wide World of Trains and the Jaw Tooth UA-cam channels have videos of freight trains with these boxcars. I did some research to try to determine how many of these boxcars are in existence. Based on the number on the boxcar in your video there are at least eight of these boxcars numbered from 994370 to the car in your video which is numbered 994377. One additional thing that I found out about these cars from your video is that these cars have solar panels for power. Your video is the first video that I have seen that shows the top of the car. The other videos that I have seen of these cars have been from ground level.
"V 12 Productions" is Always (track)miles ahead of all other Railfan channels!🏆
Thank you. The thumbnail got my attention, and the mind followed. I learned something new and interesting. Never too old to learn something new!👍🏽😁
I was railfanning once last month on Friday and a Norfolk Southern said on the radio about a train horn not horning and I thought that you might want to do a video about it. This was up in Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Lol , yeah v12, do a whole video on a specific incident .Better than suggesting a broader SPECTRUM topic.
Broken horn… happens every day. Nothing special there.
As usual, superb content my man!👍🏼👍🏼
So cool to learn about GMS 2! I saw it out int the wild about 2 years ago!
Awesome video! Very cool to see with railroads use to keep tracks up and running!
Very educational and interesting video. Thank you for posting!
Thanks for the opportunity to learn more new "stuff."
Excellent video really enjoyed watching your video keep up the great work looking forward to seeing more content from you soon thanks again and have a wonderful day
Thanks!
Thank you V12! there's been a Sperry car on a Siding in the UPRR hump yard in Colton California for a while. I'm not a railfan, but have wondered what that car was & was never able to get a clear enough picture with my cheap cell phone to do a Google Search..
Anyone else notice that the geep pulling the 3 geo cars had a ge bell
Thanks for the video and info, Charlie. We can Always count on you to cover Topics that most Railfans probably aren’t even familiar with. Keep up strong 💪 efforts.
I personally have seen the DO NOT HUMP boxcar the Sperry the special CSX track geometry car as well as the GMS-2.
I think I've seen them all. lol
Location: Cumberland, MD
I’ve seen both geometry boxcars (blue and red) multiple times on the CSX Riverline in Ridgefield Park, NJ
I see those boxcars about everyday coming through on the Lehigh Valley line in NJ
On CN the Fulton sub on the intermodal we see the track checker boxcar 2-3x a week once i started seeing them 3 months later took a ride on amtrak 58 the ride is noticeably smoother so they seem to work good
Just need to catch a doodle bug
The question is can the boxcar still carry goods
Worst track I have ever seen were on the Soo line near Antioch Illinois 1/4 mile of track had no spikes. We hunted Pheasant along the line with the warning from the farmer to get over the highway parallel to tracks if we heard a train coming.
@v12productions could you please explain "hump" ? You showed a switching yard & said this car can't be humped but then moved on quickly, never explaining what exactly that meant. Thank-you for this outstanding video ! Fascinating. I don’t really know anything about trains so this taught me a lot. I'll definitely be looking for more of your videos.
There are railyards in North America where cars are rolled one or two at a time down a hill and into a yard. The switches are thrown automatically so the cars end up on the same track with other cars going to similar destinations. Humping can be 'rough' and some cars or products (or hazmats) should not be switched in this matter
@cdavid8139 thank you for the explanation !
awesome informative commentary!
At 3:31 I saw the same train here in Indianapolis
Greetings from New Jersey! This is a very informative video and I’d love to see more of these. I feel better after watching this because I love watching CSX freight roll by but am always apprehensive about the safety of these trains carrying all kinds of toxic and dangerous stuff. I have a question for you and your very knowledgeable viewers. What safety measures are used to safeguard against train crews/engineers missing a signal? Or even over-speeding on curves? Is there stuff like PTC for these kinds of dangers?
I think Positive Train Control is the primary safeguard for this right now.
Always like your videos V12!
Thank you!
I've been looking forward to this episode! Great job explaining how this equipment works! BTW, were you saying the GMS-2 has been decommissioned, or is it just doing different types of tests?
GMS-2 just had that specific equipment removed. It is now just used at a geometry car
Very good show 😂 thanks 👍
It is incredible how precisely those big metal tracks are laid, I never really thought about that before
Now I wonder what technology goes into laying them in the first place
do you have a link to the CSX promotional video you referenced? thanks
I didn't know what the lasers was. I thought the wheels was on fire or something. As I was starting to rail fan. But now of course it's a treat to see every so often.
The first time I saw ttge do not bump train and the laser I thought the trai wheels was on fire or in trouble. As I was starting to rail fans and didn't know. I was tripping out .
Interesting video. Well done. Thanks!
Can this system measure absolute position of the rails for comparison with previous measurements the previous year?
Great video lots of great information !
I'll try but it'll be hard...
Point of correction, that isnt a laser system. That is an autonomous joint-bar inspection system that uses LED light array.
So weird. I guess they don't need the precision of laser. It really looks like it'd be laser until you look closer
i feel like v12 could make a fan-inspired commercial for csx and they would actually make it a new commercial
How would a defect detector react to a steam locomotive passing through it?
When will their GPS locations be shared so we can track trains like we can track airplanes?
Interesting choice of words, if I saw that passing by I would probably laugh
Nice Video Like always!
Thanks!
I love all of your videos
3:55 crew having some fun 😎
If I wouldn't know this was a laser under that car, one could think it's a hot brake glowing red in the dark.😂
Great job!! I was happy to help you make this video possible!
just saw this box car on the river sub on 06/15/2024 in Catskill. NY
It's not the only one.
Eastbound through Utica stack train had one. 15 minutes later, westbound stack had one.
I don't think they shared 😮😅. 😅
I'm not sure why, but the single car locomotives similar to the old Doodlebugs are fascinating to me.
Why would they use concreat instead of water?
Water can be drained to lighten it in an emergency.
In an accident the water would burst from it's storage and reduce damage.
That is great adoption of today's technology! With that data collected they must have AI model that are trained so the can run inference against the data collections. Can update the training model and re-run it against the collected data (historical) too. Very good AI use case. Great vid !!
GREAT video!
The Geometry Cars definitely Help keep the Tracks Inspected but Timely Repairs are Critical once this Info is Reviewed. 🤔 Human Error are a totally different story.
Great video V12
Thanks!
@@v12productions Mighty welcome I railfan in Arkansas because of you
Came for Train Humping, Was disappointed.
I definitely would not want to hump a train. Who knows what diseases they carry...
The other track inspector, I see, is Archie Moreno, The Little Fox rail cart.
I’ve seen one of those in Richmond hill Georgia .
Knowing NS, they desperately need this.
Great video Thanks
You should make a video on the new vandalized heritage unit. NS 1650, the N&W nose.
Well, there goes my weekend.
Literally lol!
I was about to comment that!
What railfans see: DO NOT HUMP
What railroaders see: "Fuck it! We're kicking it anyways!!" 😂
Excellent!
Although it may have been answered does CSX stand for something if so what??
It stands for C for chessie S for seaboard and the X meaning being together makes us stronger
I filmed this box car at night 7 months ago yes its cool.
Interesting. The amount that the rail lines dominate both the landscape and the market, not to mention many Communities. I would hope they are using the latest and most up-to-date technology to make sure things are safe.
Sadly that’s not how corporate greed works.
Awesome capture
Interesting concept, I wonder if it works? Probably costs too much. Just thinking ? 🌎✌️🌍
Great thanks for the informations
Thanks for watching!
This is what a boxcar would look like if it was combined with the brick
Railroads problem is not the track as much as it is the track bed they never keep up the track bed good enough
Good video
Automation reduces the need for labor and that means more money in the pockets of the bean counters.
Very informative V12
Thanks!
: Outstanding educational info information.
May the rails be with us.
All Aboard.
🐢 🚂 🐢 😲 🐢 👍
Thanks!
NEXT: The Cursed THX "Fire" Trailer (2018) With V12 Productions voiceover!
We need a sticker like this on twotenny