How a Ballast Car Spreads Ballast on the Railroad Track
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- Опубліковано 31 січ 2023
- I'll show you how our Ballast Car operates, then we'll dump some Ballast out on the Track.
Before we got this car it was owned by ITG Transportation. It was a
former hopper car which was converted into a ballast car. This ballast
car came to us sometime in the mid 1990's. No one remembers the
exact date of arrival.
Load limit on car is 169,200 pounds or almost 85 tons. If we stack it to
the gills we can get around 95 tons on it. We use #3 Limestone as ballast
here and get it from a local quarry. The #3 designation is the size of the stone.
It is about the size of a tennis ball. At this quarry the limestone is mined underground
and is not washed rock when it comes from the quarry.
Typical for us here is to buy 4 to 500 tons per month, except in the winter when ballast
on the track becomes frozen. Ballast gets delivered to our Mapletown stock yard for
right around $18 a ton. From there it is loaded into the ballast car with our
Case 521 high lift.
Here's a video where we changed a big tire on that Case high lift you may enjoy watching:
• Changing a Big Tire on...
Made August 26, 2022 and December 21, 2022
Disclaimer: I am an employee of Iron Synergy at Cumberland
Mine. My job is railroad track maintenance. I am very fortunate to
have this job and everyone at the mine is very fortunate to have
Iron Synergy as it's current owner. Our past owners had every
intention of shutting this mine down, but Iron Synergy took
over and have kept this mine alive.
Please understand: I am NOT in any way an official or unofficial
spokes person for Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine. Any viewpoints,
opinions or anything that I show in the videos, or write in the video
descriptions or any answer to any comment, should NEVER be
misconstrued or interpreted as being in any way shape or form,
any kind of official or unofficial statement from Iron Synergy,
Cumberland Mine, any of the mine's management, any of the
contractors that may be shown in any video, nor of any of
my fellow co-wokers.
Any viewpoints or opinions I may make in the videos, in the descriptions,
or in any answer to a comment is strictly that of my own and NOT an
official or unofficial statement or viewpoint that Iron Synergy or
any one at Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine necessarily has or makes.
Again, we are very fortunate to have Iron Synergy as our current owners.
Please, when making a comment be respectful of Iron Synergy, Cumberland
Mine, my fellow coworkers and also any contractors that may be
shown. Thank You, Dave
#Ballast#BallastCar#DumpingBallast#RailroadTrack
Our ballast cars are totally different, it has one control box on each side of the car and four toggle switches in it, two toggle for the outside doors and two toggle switches for the inside doors, it has a bank of 12V batteries in a steel box at one end of the car powering a hydraulic pump and solar panels on each side of the car to keep the batteries charged and it’s remote controlled as well by programming the car number.
Georgetown Rail (GREX) is the company in TX that retrofitted the old coal cars and built new ones for us. I’ll send you a picture of what we have when I get a chance to find a car.
Awesome Jason, thanks for sharing how your BNSF cars dump,
I've seen the solar panels on ballast cars before, but never
knew why they were there. Always appreciate your great
comments my good friend.
Thankx makes sense for the big long drops.. with multiple cars.. Dave is the touch up guy I guess.
@@ccrx6700Based on my Android Galaxy J7 Crown, it was NOT too terribly dark under there. Just a bit shady.
There’s something satisfying about fresh clean ballast.
Yes there certainly is, it's so pretty and clean. Very much appreciate
your visiting with us and helping dump some ballast my friend.
Thanks for you laugh and your smile. I bet both you and your wife brighten up a room when you two walk in!!! Great video and info as always. Thank you for blessing everyone that watches your videos!
Thank you Valerie for your very kind words. In reality Mrs. CCRX brightens up the entire world she encounters. Everyone likes her.
Me, in real life I'm boring and very quiet and almost an extreme
introvert. Railroading is what turns me on and brings out the side
of me that you see on the videos. We always appreciate your
visiting with us my friend.
Stop hitting on him.
@@MikeySlou Oh I'm sorry you think that way. I believe that we are to love one another, which means to lift others up by good words of encouragement. Maybe you missed it but I said that both Dave and his wife probably light up a room when they walk into it. I try to always look for something good to say to everyone that I meet. Have a great day and God bless you.
@@valeriebassett3107 I was joking also lol
It's like watching a big hourglass empty onto the track. Oddly satisfying.
Glad you enjoyed Adam. Thank you very much for taking the time to visit with us and check out the video my friend.
What a sight! A man that seems to perfectly love his job.
Thank you Nate for the very nice comment and for taking the time to watch. I do love my job. Happy rails to you until we meet again my friend.
In the old days we used a cross tie in front of the wheels under a single door hopper and dragged it along. these ballast cars are convenient.
We've done that cross tie thing with a hi rail dump truck and also
when a coal hopper car opens it's doors unintentionally Aaron. It
works.
We do appreciate your taking the time to visit with us
and check out the video. May you have a most blessed and
prosperous day my friend.
That's what i was gonna say and they used a regular chain to keep the bottom doors from opening too much
For some reason I just can’t get enough of ballast dumping and tamping tracks. It’s so methodical and redundant but cathartic to watch at the same time. Thanks again for sharing your work and experience with us. Hard to believe that both the ballast car and you are almost 70 years old. Looks like there’s a bunch of working years left in the both of you.
Will be interesting to see Paul which gets scrapped first, me or
the ballast car.... LOL Always appreciate your paying us a visit
and hearing from you my friend.
@@ccrx6700 😅
Wow Dave, you worked that poor feller to death, that was having to shovel all that gravel through those bins. Thanks for the ride brother, stay safe and have fun.
You didn't hear him cussing me Rick....? LOL Always appreciate
your visiting with us and hearing from you my friend. Thank You.
It is refreshing to see someone so happy in his work.
Thank you Jim for the very nice comment. Railroading is the
central preoccupation of my life, I do love what I do here.
We really appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and
check out the video my friend.
Car is two years younger than me !!! Thanks for taking us along Very cool video.
So that makes you 28 right Beverly.... :-) Always a pleasure to
have you visit with us my friend. Glad you enjoyed the show.
Lol I just told him the same thing. That car is 2 years newer than me lol
@@ccrx6700 yea I do math the same way 😂
@@beverlymichael5830 😊👍
Awesome video on dumping ballast. I have dumped a ton of ballast throughout my RR career at CP. I am glad I had the opportunity to ride along with you to dump a load of ballast last year when we were out there. Enjoyed watching and have a great rest of your evening dave.(Steve)
Yep you're the only viewer who can say they have actually been
on this car and helped me dump ballast from it. Thanks so much
Steve for the very nice comment and for visiting with us tonight.
@@ccrx6700 Your very welcome and I am honored to have the opportunity to watch you dump the ballast on the mining railroad.
Dave mate you’re a champion. You’re brining the railroad to me about 17,000km away, watching from Melbourne Australia!!
Thank you for writing in with the very nice comment Paul. We really
appreciate your taking the time to help us spread some ballast
my friend.
I can imagine having met you when I was young that I would have really enjoyed working with you. Incredible to learn about this stuff. I had the chance to rebuild inframe a 3516 cat motor in a small locomotive 20 years ago. Fascinating the huge iron stuff. Thanks again.
That's great to hear Dan. Perhaps someday in another lifetime
we will have the opportunity to work together, or perhaps we
already have in a past life. Who knows but a guy can always dream
can't he :-)
I would loved to have had a ballast car when dumping ballast. So much easier than the way I did it. Used come along (cable winch) to help control the flow. Then had to use a lineing bar to unlock and open the doors. Walk/run along the train keeping the ties in front of the wheels of the car we were dumping from. It was hot, dusty and dirty work. Bit the ride on the cars on our way back to the truck was a welcomed cooling off trip to long day.
We've done the tie trick many times behind a hi rail dump Zach.
This is a whole lot easier. Thanks so much for sharing how
you used to dump ballast. Back when men were men! Always
appreciate your visiting with us my good friend.
That sure looks like fun! Interesting to see it done ‘manually’. Thanks for uploading, Dave.
It is a lot of fun to dump ballast Ryan, although it sometimes gets
a bit dusty in dry weather. Very much appreciate your dropping
in on us and writing in my friend. Always a pleasure to hear from you.
I love watching people get excited about what they love doing My boyfriend works on railroad And he seems to really like it he loves trains like me but he knows way more than I do
Thank you very much for taking the time to pay us a
visit and help us dump some ballast my friend. Very glad
you enjoyed watching.
One of the things I love about your videos is that you have such a positive attitude about what you do for a living. When I get discouraged with my chosen career I just watch one of you videos and lifts my sprites. Thanks for that and keep posting.
Wow Rich, what an awesome kind thing to say. I do love what I do
here. So very glad you enjoy the videos. We very much appreciate
your taking the time to watch them and to hear from you my friend.
I think it must be very satisfying to be in a profession, though not always sufficiently recognized, which is so necessary for all of the infrastructure that is taken for granted. Maintaining the rail network, the road network, keeping rivers navigable, maintaining electrical infrastructure, maintaining water and sewage distribution systems, and oil and gas pipelines. Most people don't think about it the 99.99% of the time it works correctly, and only complain the 0.01% of the time there is a problem. Videos like these remind us of all the knowledge and skill that is required to keep these systems running.
Dave, thanks for bringing the green to a snowey ❄ sub zero night 🌙 20 degrees and dropping.
Nice setup for dropping stone and I'm sure we'll be able to find seat pads for the skeleton chairs 💺 😄 , maybe a cup holder for the water 💧 bottle 🥤.
I was hoping that late summer weather would warm you up Richard.
Cold here also, wind was brutal today. 50 in a couple of days.... go figure. Always is a pleasure to have you visit with us my friend.
Dave really knows how to rock n roll.
Yes sir Donnie, we got the rock to roll for sure! LOL Always
appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and write in
my friend.
@@ccrx6700 You couldn't pay me to miss your video!!
@@Milepost1965 👍😊
You have some very impressive trackage.
Although it was 45 years ago, we used to put a railroad tie under the ballast car behind the open chute and start pulling.
And of course followed by the 'Ballast Regulator' and 'Tamper'.
Thanks for the informative videos !
Thank you very much Wes for the nice comment. We've put a tie
behind a hi rail dump truck before and dumped backwards, works
great. Really appreciate your watching and writing in my friend.
Also, it is very cathartic to watch the ballast come out of the hopper.
It is rather soothing isn't it. I love to dump ballast. Looks so nice
behind me when I'm done.
@@ccrx6700 Indeed! Some jobs are just satisfying in and of themselves but, of course, we should all get paid more for doing them on command. ;-)
If you love what you do every day for work you can’t just call it a job. I get the feeling this is how this man feels.
You are correct in that utp216. Railroading is the central
preoccupation of my life. We really appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and write in my friend.
Thank-you for sharing, another enjoyable episode, love how different countries have different ways of spreading rock....looking over wagons would love you to tell people how a braking system works and in particular a Triple valve...I have many friends who are truck drivers and think the brakes work the same their jaws drop when l say no this is how it works and this is the pressure in brake pipes and main reservoir hoses, thanks again Doc from Down Under
Very glad you enjoyed Doc from Down Under. Someday I will do
a video on the air brakes and how they work on train cars, but that
may be a year or more before I get to it, tons of other stuff already
made and waiting to get published. Air pressure does apply the
brakes on freight cars just like pressure applies the brakes
on trucks. However the way that pressure is activated is a whole
different way of getting the pressure applied. On cars a drop in air pressure causes the pressure to apply the brakes. A bit convoluted
but it has to be that way for brakes to come on in case of a train
car pull apart. On trucks whatever pressure you apply to the
brake pedal, that is the pressure applied to the trucks brakes.
That is the same way the independent brake works on a loco
also like in trucks.
You seem to be a fairly happy, well-adjusted senior and, no friggin' wonder! Just look at the cool sh*t you got to do in your career!!!
Appreciate the nice comment Martin, yep I've got to do a lot of
pretty cool stuff, that was really thoughtful of you to say that. Thank You for taking the time to visit with us and check out the video my friend.
@@ccrx6700 You're welcome! I will keep watching because I really enjoy the videos that you do!
Quite probably like most little boys, I was always intrigued and drawn to railroads. So now, at 65 and still a little boy in many ways, I find that I am still delighted by and drawn to railroads. Just to be clear, I was an electrical engineer and worked in both manufacturing and aerospace at different times, and yet, never had any exposure to the railway in my professional days. So, I like that part of what you present, the background and the explanations of the more technical stuff.
I'll be out here, watching my friend. 🙂
@@martinaak2539 👍😎😊
Thank you for bringing the railroading to me today Dave! There's something quite satisfying about seeing fresh ballast going down! Nice to see that greenness again as well 😊
Your very welcome Mojo. Glad you enjoyed and yes it is
satisfying to do this kind of work, you can see what you've got
accomplished. LOL on the green that part was shot late summer
a welcome change for the winter snow. Always appreciate your
taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Looks like some really good thought went into building a MOW car. 1953 car obviously has to stay home road. But looks like it has enough AAR to be more modern. As a industrial maintenance welder I saw how the strapping and bands were placed tacked and welded in. The air over hydraulic is pretty sweet too. Props to everyone who built that car. Thanks for bringing us this little insight. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the very nice comment. Glad you had a good time
with us. We very much appreciate your dropping by and watching
my friend. FYI: AAR rules give a 50 year life to cars that are
interchanged. Cars that are not can be up to 65 years of age.
We do not interchange with another RR.
Thanks for the ride along Dave. Thats a noisy operation, but it sure doesn't take long to unload! Can't imagine running along side opening the traps by hand..that'd be a work out! Great video!
🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃💯👍🇺🇸
Your very welcome Jim. Thank you so much for the very nice
comment and for taking the time to visit with us my friend.
I mentioned before how I really like that workstation inside the end of that ballast car. As you pointed out, it is a lot safer and more efficient than the old way of running next to the car pulling on the levers. A really neat setup there. thanks, Dave! 😃👍
Thank you Scotty for your nice comment. Always is a delight to
have your pay us a visit and hear from you my friend.
Great video Dave, definitely a different view. Keep them coming 🚂👍👍
Glad you enjoyed the video Christopher. We certainly appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Thank you for sharing these awesome videos and being so genuine while doing so. I grew up loving trains and these videos make me happy!
Thank you for the very nice comment Jocha21. We really appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and check out the presentation my friend.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!
Your certainly welcome Michael. So glad you enjoyed this one.
We are very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the ballast car video.
Great to see. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for coming out and helping dump some ballast down
Kevin. Glad you enjoyed the show.
Absolutely fantastic Dave ,you share make it look easy thanks for sharing.
Thanks Lawrie for the kind comment. Appreciate so much your
stopping in to help us dump some ballast.
This was very interesting to watch and I appreciate you Dave.
Very glad you liked the show Derrick. Thank you so much for
your very nice comment and for watching my friend.
Great video Dave. As always you give us a lot of information to ponder. Have a great day my friend.
Very glad you enjoyed Lewis. Always appreciate your very
nice comments and for all the wonderful support you give
the channel my friend.
my sister-in-law was from connellsville PA now in ohio with my brother.
neat seeing where you are located. you are always fixing something
to keep it all running. great job, keep safe, stay healthy .
Got some videos coming out sometime this year of the CSX yard
in Connellsville Barry. it's about 40 minutes from us here. Used to be a big railroading town with Western Maryland and B&O. Now, CSX,
Southwest Pa. and Wheeling & Lake Erie. Appreciate
your dumping ballast with us today my friend.
I could definitely see why you love dumping ballast. That looks fun. You get to ride the rails on an open end of a rail car. Thanks for the action shots Dave..
It is a lot of fun Pappy. Sometimes a bit dusty in dry weather.
Thank you so much for visiting with us and helping dump
some ballast my friend.
Neat to see a car from the 1950s still in use, I always liked to look at the date of production stencils on cars to find the oldest one in a line up. Makes me wonder how old your previous ballast car was if it had hand operated dump bars and no hydraulics. Great work there Dave.
That old car was a long time ago earlt and I remember little about
it now. It sure would be interesting to know when it had been
built. Of course way back then cell phones weren't even invented
yet. It's so nice now I can take pictures of everything so easily.
Man the stuff I could have taken back then if had a cell phone.
Very much appreciate your nice comment and for taking the
time to watch my friend.
Interesting side note: Earl T Flenniken was a local business man
here in our town when I was growing up in the 1950's. I always liked that name
Earl T.
@@ccrx6700 Ha, haa, thanks Dave. Yeah I wish I woulda took more pictures of everyday work stuff years ago, never took the time cause cameras were such a bother to mess with, and we never thought things were gonna change so much. Now it's another world. Haaaa.
@@earlt.7573 👍😊
Thank you for sharing Dave! You are so lucky to have a job you love so much, it makes it more enjoyable for us too!
Your always welcome Raymond. It is an honor and privilege for
me to be able to share. Very much appreciate all your nice comments
and for checking out the video today my friend.
Our 6-mile 3-foot railroad had only one hopper car for ballast; it was originally an EBT coal hopper. We had a tie with spikes driven into the ends to hold chains which held the tie across the rails in front of the rear truck. To drop ballast, we would have to open the doors manually after starting to move the car and let the tie spread the ballast or the rock would pile up and then would have to be dug out (joy).
We've done the tie thing behind a hi rail dump many times
and also to empty out coal hopper cars that had their doors
come open Roy. Thanks so much for sharing your methods with
us, more than one way to get a job done. I do hear you on
digging out that tie! Very much appreciate your visiting with
us and watching my friend.
Thank you. Very satisfying. God bless.
Your quite welcome Brian. Thank you so much for joining in
with us and helping dump some ballast down my friend.
Dave, Another very interesting and very informative video.
Thank you very much for the kind words. So glad you had a good
time with us. We really appreciate your visit with us my friend.
Thanks for your enthusiastic videos Dave.
Your very welcome El Rolo, great to hear you are enjoying them We do
appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and write in
my friend. May you have a most blessed day.
Always interesting and lovely scenery to boot.
Always a pleasure to have you watch and write in my friend.
Thank you for helping us dump some ballast.
Thanks Dave, that was really cool.
Your very welcome Barb. Glad you enjoyed. Always is a pleasure
to have someone of your caliber visit with us and write in my friend.
Great Job there Dave and is really an advancement over walking side with bars opening to the inside and out.
Herzog Ballast trains are the shizzle mu dizzle dumping at 30 mph, but with a cost 😊🤔🙄🙏🇺🇸
Thank you very much Andy for the nice comment. I've never seen
a Herzog train dump, although seen many of them track
traveling. Had a friend who was a CSX engineer on a work train
that told me he often dumps at 25 MPH. Wow! Really appreciate
your visiting with us and writing in my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Back at least 10 years ago they would come with about 75 cars and as soon as the train hit the property the railroad had to get it unloaded and Interchanged it back off CN RAIL at a time cost $60-70,000 per train.
Wow, Dave, this was a lot of fun -- and, as always, very informative! Thanks for taking us along!
Your welcome Pete. Thank you for helping me dump some ballast
today. Very cold here, be glad you're where you are at right now...!
Thanks so much for watching my friend.
Very interesting, busy day eh.
Great video Dave thanks for sharing
Thank you very much Rick for the nice comment. Really appreciate
your visiting with us and writing in my friend.
our railroad needs one of these for sure.. It's cool to see the operation side of these, and I love how it sounds
If you have a bottom discharge hopper, use a come along to open
the doors and you've got a quick ballast car northstar. Always
appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and write in my
friend.
Hi Dave! Great video! Very cool to see ballast being dumped
Have a great day!
Thank you Johnathan. Very glad you had a good time watching.
We always appreciate seeing you here my friend.
Love you laugh and enthusiasm. Keep up the good work good sir!
Thank you for the nice comment just incase. Glad you could take the time to pay us a visit and check out the video. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Great video as always Dave!
Thank you very much Darron for your nice comment, so glad
you enjoyed the show. We very much appreciate your taking
the time to watch and write in tonight my friend.
Another great vid Dave ... Interesting as well ... Thx ...
Glad you enjoyed Eddy. We always appreciate your visiting with
us and checking out the videos my friend.
Thank you for showing how it is done on the Railroad!
Your very welcome, so glad you took the time to visit with
us and write in my friend.
It looks like you love your job! Good information!
Thank you for the nice comment Metal in Motion, I do love
this job sir. Really glad you enjoyed and we certainly appreciate
your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Thanks Dave for the video. I have never seen this before It was very interesting. Hope you have a wonderful day my friend.
Your very welcome John, so glad you enjoyed. We always appreciate
your visiting with us and hearing from you my friend.
Really cool Dave!! Thanks for showing us how it is done. Happy Easter!
Your welcome Fred, glad you enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time to write in and to check out the video. May you have a really good day my friend.
Thank’s for sharing very interesting video ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Your welcome Timothy, very glad you enjoyed the dump show.
We certainly appreciate your taking the time to watch and write
in my friend.
Excellent video!! I really enjoyed the mechanical background on your ballast car. I did see a CSX ballast train with the manual doors several years ago, I can understand your love of the air over hydraulics. Those guys had a long walk thru loose ballast!
Thank you very much Dave for the very nice comment. Really
appreciate your paying us a visit and checking out the show my
friend. We may have to use some of those old wheel sets and
build a narrow gage ballast car for the W&W!
I never knew how the ballesting was done but now I know. This was very interesting to watch and I appreciate you taking the time to make and share this tutorial.
Very glad you enjoyed the show John. We really appreciate the
nice comment and for your taking the time to watch my friend.
thanks again Dave for showing us how its all done good work and cheers from NZ
Your welcome Dave and glad you liked this video. Thank you very much for taking the time to visit with us and may you have a really good day my friend.
That car does a wonderful job of dumping ballast and puts it exactly where you want it. Nice job Dave.
That's dangerous to run alongside trains.
Thank you Cameron for the very nice comment. We certainly
appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Way back when I was young ran alongside the train dumping,
but that will never happen again.
Interesting indeed. Dave you have one of the coolest jobs man.
Very glad you enjoyed Mike. I do like my job, it is the central
preoccupation of my life. Always a pleasure to have you pay
us a visit and write in my friend.
Great Video Dave! 👍
Thank you JG, very glad you enjoyed the show. We certainly do
appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Well done a another great video to watch! I wouldn’t mind seeing a car hook up and all that goes on In that process sometime… thank you Dave!!
Thank you very much Paul. Glad you enjoyed. Appreciate the
suggestion and I will try to do that sometime. Always is a pleasure
to have you visit with us my friend.
I have to agree, that looks like a lot of fun! And you got paid to do it! Love watching you explain the way things get done on the railroad.
It is fun to dump ballast John. Gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Really appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in
my friend.
Another interesting video, thanks
Appreciate the nice comment Craig, glad you enjoyed. Thank you very much for taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Ballast!!! I never knew that’s what they called to stone on the track. Makes sense. Your an amazing person. I bet your coworkers like working with you. Amazing content.
Thank you very much SIEGRUNE74 for the really kind words.
We do appreciate your taking the time to visit with us
and check out the video. May you have a most blessed and
prosperous day my friend.
Awesome. Keep her upright happy railing.
Thank you, very glad you enjoyed the dump show. We certainly
do appreciate your watching and writing in my friend.
You're 8 years older than me, bet you saw some great first generation diesel locos in action as a youth. Thanks for the great video. Always look forward to seeing the new ones.
That was a long time ago Brian, however I do remember the
Chessie locos running around where I live, that's still my favorite
livery. However I have no clue what model loco they were back
then. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch
and write in my friend.
That is a mighty fine piece of rolling stock, it's quite impressive that car is still use.
Thank you arkay for the nice comment. We very much appreciate
your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Another very interesting video Dave. I can see why you like dumping ballast. 🚂🚂🚂
Thank you Tom for your very nice comment. Very much appreciate
your joining in to help us dump some ballast my friend.
You teach extra aspects of the railroad that are undeserving to know but worth knowing from you. The things you teach would be those that old-time railroaders would be reluctant to mention. They would be kept secret or simply ignored from railfans. That hopper car 01, formerly ITCX 7007, is as old as me!
Thank you for the nice comment Captain Keyboard. I think it's important that people who watch trains also know what all it takes
to keep those trains running safely on the tracks. Really appreciate
your visiting with us and may you have a very good day my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Pleasant Rail and Happy Railroading!
Wow pretty cool thanks Dave
Really pleased to hear you enjoyed watching how a ballast car
spreads gravel David. This car sure is easier to operate with air
over hydraulics to run the doors. Our last car you had to run along
beside it and open the doors with a bar, glad we don't have that one
anymore! Thank you so much for watching and writing in my friend.
That was a awesome rock dumping video Dave! Very nicely done our friend, I enjoyed that!
Very glad you liked the show Dave. We very much appreciate
your watching and writing in my friend. Not like you never
saw us dump rock before tho.... :-)
@@ccrx6700 lol, Right!
That was my job a few times, to work on ballast wagons. Which were known as 'Seacow' as their name.
There would be three of us, standing on a end platform on the wagon, each of us having a large wheel to turn. The outer ones to drop ballast on the shoulder and the centre to drop in the fourfoot.
There would be several wagons in the train and someone would be running along side, shouting keep turning, hold it there or close it. On the rear, would be a converted brakevan with a plough, which was lowered to the correct height and level out the ballast.
Today, it either done by roadrailers and ballast trains or a autoballester train.
Very interesting that way to dump. Back when men were men!
Very much appreciate your taking the time to watch and write
in and share my friend.
that sure looked easy. good video as always
It is easy to dump with this car. Very much appreciate your
visiting with us and writing in today my friend.
That ballast car is in really good shape for being built in '53!
Very good observation Eric. You are right. Thanks so much
my friend for visiting with us and helping dump some
ballast down today.
@ccrx 6700 That's Railroadin! You're welcome Dave! Always glad to come along! 😁
That was fun to watch Dave Our old waggons had wheels at either end of the hopper to open the doors They were not so hard to open but it was hard closing them. Your system looks to work well. There were a few types of wagon and they were given names after sea creatures ones I remember were Seacow, Sealion, Walrus, Salmon, mermaid and a van with a plough under called a Shark was used to level out the ballast.
Glad you enjoyed cedarcam. Sometimes if a few stones get
caught in the wrong place these doors are hard to close also, like
if you try to close them with full flow still being discharged.
Pretty cool on the names, someone else wrote in about seacow,
I had never heard that before. Thanks so much for sharing
and taking the time to watch my friend.
Thank you great video
Your welcome Cody, thank you so much for taking the time to
watch and write in my friend.
cool ballast dump video Dave!
Glad you enjoyed the video Brian. We certainly appreciate your taking
the time to watch and write in my friend.
Very cool Dave!!
Never saw a view from a spreading car.
Very glad you enjoyed the show. Many folks have asked in the past
to show this. We very much appreciate your taking the time to
watch and write in my friend.
That's neat Dave. Your air over hydraulic setup sounds *exactly* like an air-powered grease pump we had when I worked in a gas station back around 1978. Matter of fact, the air cylinder you showed was very similar. Great stuff!!
Thank you for the kind words Matt. This is a pretty old system
so it may indeed be about the same thing as you had. Appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in. May you have a most blessed day my friend.
Hey Dave that is flying. I got out and teaching myself to plow again. I haven’t done it in three years. I practice up in the parking lot. My lot is big enough to turn a loaded log truck around.
Plow snow I assume Michael, hope we never have to again,
but can't count on old man winter not dumping some on us.
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and write in
my friend.
You are one joyful guy Dave. I believe you'd do it for free...... Thanks for the tutorial.
Thank you for the kind words Kevin, I do love railroading. We really
appreciate your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
Another good job well done . One can have a romance of the Rail Road but behind it is a lot of gruelling hard work even now with mechanisation.
Thank you John for the very nice comment. Always appreciate
your taking the time to visit with us and write in my friend.
Cool video Dave you had some awesome shots.👍👍
Thank you very much Russell, so glad you enjoyed. We certainly
appreciate your helping us dump some ballast tonight my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Great video Dave👍
Thanks Dave. I have watched our U.P. crews from a distance, but never up close enough to see how the car itself actually works. Great job.
Your very welcome Earl. Thank you very much for taking the time
to watch and write in with the nice comment my friend.
@@ccrx6700 No, I thank you for taking the extra time that it takes to bring us these videos!
That was Awesome!
Thank you Kevin, very glad to hear you enjoyed. We certainly do
appreciate the nice comment and for your taking the time to
watch my friend.
Lovely video 😊
Very glad you enjoyed KirbyTrain. We certainly do appreciate
your taking the time to watch and write in my friend.
rolling and rocking Dave , guess that makes you a rock star lol
He's just a Rolling Stone 😁👍
Yes sir Kenn, a true "rock" star....LOL Thanks for the good laugh
and for your visit with us today my good friend.
Thanks for this video!
There might have been a time when ballast was shovelled/forked onto the tracks... as is said "when men wene men".
The ballast car is four years younger to me.
Your very welcome Robin, glad you enjoyed. Yes sir back in the day,
they would use ballast forks to shovel the ballast out of a car.
Railroading was back breaking work back then. Always appreciate
your visiting with us and hearing from you my friend.
VERY COOL DAVE.....WE STAYING WARM HERE IN MAINE WITH COAL..GOOD CLEAN COAL...GONNA BE -18 DEG F FRIDAY NIGHT AND A 40 MPH WIND..STAY WELL
Glad you got your coal Ralph. Looks like it gonna be a pretty
warm winter so that should help conserve, at least it gonna
be warmer than usual here. Thanks so much for watching
the dump show my friend.
Before NJ Transit obtained the side dumps they used conventional bottom dumps to apply ballast. The foreman in charge would chain a tie to the hopper car with the tie riding on top of the rail to spread the ballast. Hot and dusty in the warm weather. One day we had a fairly new engineer off the extra list on the ballast train and had a tough time maintaining "walking speed." Well, the poop hit and the hopper walked over the ballast and the car went on the ground. Naturally there were hoppers coupled on. Fortunately, we were in multiple track territory so I took the adjacent rack out of service and brought down the crane I was conducting and re-railed the hopper. The CL3041 was a heavy duty American self-propelled crane, saved the day. Just another day on the rails.
Very interesting story Gary. We've done the tie thing behind a
hi rail dump in the past. We've also derailed our ballast car from
dumping too much at one time. We never had the luxury of a crane
to set it back on, used the rerailers. Thanks so much for sharing
and for visiting with us my good friend.
I would draw rails on my driveway if you would dump ballast on it. It is 17f outside right now and you show a video from the summertime. Great video. Keep them coming.
I love to dump ballast anywhere bigun.... driveways or tracks,
I'm a non discriminatory ballast dumper..... :-) Thank you for the
nice comment and for watching the show my friend.
Yay, camping! I had always wondered how they got the rock onto the track and noticed that it was always in a nice, linear pile. I thought maybe they used some kind of tractor but it makes much more sense to put it in a hopper to dump it. I was really hoping that some poor soul wasn't having to put it down with a shovel! Running alongside the car sounds bad enough because it wouldn't take long to get hit by some of the rocks and/or to sprain one's ankle trying to run on the rock that was already there since it's difficult enough just to walk on it (whistle whistle, I looked at the light before I crossed the tracks whistle whistle).
Appreciate the nice comment and glad you enjoyed. Thank you for taking the time to visit and write in my friend.
Thanks Dave!
Your very welcome fireball. Hope you are doing well. We always
appreciate hearing from you my friend.
Nice video Dave.
Very glad you enjoyed Wilbur. We really appreciate the nice
comment and for your taking the time to spread some ballast
with us tonight my friend.
This is great! very informative stuff!
I'm new to rail, started a few months back as a project safety manager, and I'm learning all of this as I go. I'll be coming back to Dave to learn track for sure lol
Appreciate the nice comment Jesse, I'm here if you need any assistance and best of luck in your new position. On the railroad,
good communications are vital. Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the video and may you have a very good day my friend.
@@ccrx6700 right on Dave, you’re my source for rail roadin know how 👍🏻
@@user-do5ze1tn7i 😊👍
I remember way back in the 1980's, Weyerhauser Timber Co bought 60 miles of track between Tacoma and Chehalis, WA from the bankrupt Milwaukee Road, the largest transcontinental rail system at the time with over 10,000 miles of track. Anyone that knows the history of the Milwaukee would be aware as they embargoed their Western Extension in March 1980, they left behind some pretty poor track conditions. Weyerhauser ran log trains from 1981 - 1992 on this particular section of the former Milwaukee Road. Besides replacing a tie for every 2 or 3 ties the entire 60 miles, they also had to dump alot of rock. Their ballast train consisted of 5 or 6 Morrison Knudsen salt hoppers converted to ballast dispensers. They had the old manual lever system you talked about. They'd stick a long bar into a collar on the side of the doors and then had to walk briskly alongside the car, stumbling a little over uneven ground and having to pay attention to adjust rate of flow. Definitely looked rather tiring.
Thanks for the great history lesson Stephen, pretty interesting to
learn all that. We very much appreciate your taking the time to
watch and share your tale with us my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Your video reminded me of all that. I was 11 years old when we moved away from the area where the railroad ran. Our home was in viewing distance. That's where I developed my love for trains. I had the privilege to ride the Weyerhauser's Chehalis Western RR once in 1991 and then twice in 1992, shortly before they shuttered the operation. The 1991 ride was basically a maintenance day where they laid rock on a section of the line with those ballast cars, among other chores.
@@stephensaasen8589 👍😊