Hopper Car Door Opened Up and my Track is Full of Coal
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- A door opened up on this loaded coal car and dumped coal out
in my track for over 3 miles. Crawl under this car with me and see the
broken door and where it broke.
Then I'm going to take you on my ballast regulator as we go down track
trying to broom the coal out and away from the track. I'll show you
around under the ballast regulator broom box and how it operates.
#HopperCarDoor#TrackFullCoal#BallastRegulator
Made: August 2021
I just have to correct your hydraulic terminology. You said a hydraulic pump was driving the unit. Not true. That is a hydraulic motor which is being driven by hydraulic fluid that is pressurized by a hydraulic pump. Former hydraulic mechanic.
Thank you Tom and you are correct! My error.appreciate your information sir.
jeeze
Wrong @Tom Hill I created the diesel hydraulic motor, pump, fluid and everything. The hydraulic fluid was driving the unit, pressurized by the muffler bearings and the diesel spark plugs. The oil filter belt clearly caused the systematic failure also in part
@@ccrx6700 you really need to change the lead unit to a high altitude battery and the diesel coilpacks
@@billpuckettpillbuckett9521 but you forgot to include a wobble plate to be driven by a whatca macallit.
Top notch rail cleaner I must say. Your mother would be proud. Keep up the videos.
LOL, my mother watches these videos so we'll see what comments
she makes.... Glad you enjoyed the show Bob, we appreciate
your watching sir.
I had something similar happen at a mine in Alberta. A car came back missing one of the doors, the train crew and the operator didn't notice and loaded the car anyway. Fortunately the operator did notice the pile getting smaller and smaller as the car moved away from the loadout and stopped the train. Took about 8 hours of hard work to clean up the spill and limp the car over to the B/O track.
As far as I know the missing door was never found, it must have come off out on the road or perhaps when the car was unloaded at the port of Prince Rupert. It could have been worse, the same mine has had several derailments over the years that were caused by spills between cars, the next empty car will then ride up on the coal pile and walk off the track.
Thanks for sharing that with us Bob. We have doors open up
while or just after loading at times too. It's a pain for sure and
sometimes does derail that car or the next. Thanks for writing in and for watching, we do appreciate that my friend.
My mother from Pittston Pa told me how my two uncles used to have to walk along the track to get coal to keep the house warm during the Depression. Years later my uncles told me how they used to climb moving trains to throw the coal out on to the tracks.
Those were called the good old days....LOL Thanks for sharing
your story and hope some young folks read about what it was
like to have lived back in the depression days. That is a
significant part of our history and one that not many young folks
realize just how hard it was for folks at that time. My grandparents
lived thru those years and the stories they have told.
I used to haul coal out of strip mines in Eastern Ky with my own truck and when I would get out and shovel coal into the corners of the trailer people that lived along the haul road would ask for some coal.
One older lady would trade me fresh biscuits or a piece of pie for a bucket of coal.
One guy would trade pocket knives for a good sized lump of coal.
I loved these people because they always offered you something in return.
On days they didn't come out I would make them a small pile on the side of the haul road. Mountain people are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.
Great video! I've never seen one of these in action. Thanks for the tour!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed the video and we do appreciate
your watching my friend.
Several years ago the Ann Arbor Railroad had a grain hopper open up and dump grain for miles. A short time later the grain sprouted and it looked like a layer of light green carpet in the middle of the tracks had been laid.
That would have been pretty cool to see, the green carpet I mean.
Telling the train he has a green track would take on a whole new
meaning....LOL Thanks for watching and sharing today Chris.
Used to live in Ann Arbor. Model railroader loosely ANN ARBOR RR in my basement. Fun to hear stories about the ANNIE.
The last coal train derailment we had back in 2013 in the yard, we hired a VAC Truck contractor and they brought 3 vac trucks to vacuum 2 cars worth of coal off of the tracks, one of their trucks they brought has hyrails.
I could use those 3 trucks here for about a month! And, then when they were done we would start all over again. Hopper cars wore out,
too much spillage. Appreciate your watching the show today Jason.
Dang gremlins! If a feller ain't got enough to do. Well Dave as always you made the most of a bad situation and created us another good video. Thank you sir!
Thank you Rick, really glad you enjoyed the show sir. We do
appreciate your tuning in and watching.
Dave it was great to get to ride along and learn all about the brooming operation. What a mess having the hopper car door break open. That looks like it will be quite a repair process to drop that door out to fix it. Hope you can get the remainder of the 3 mile stretch cleared and back in full operation. Thanks again for taking us along!
Thank you Tom, really glad you enjoyed the show sir. We do
appreciate your tuning in and watching.
Thank you for the great time in the cab
Glad you enjoyed Wayne!
I really appreciate the spring/summer videos this time of the year. It helps my outlook, when all I'm seeing is snow and ice in Western Maryland. Stay safe my friend.
Yep, was 90 when that video was made, this morning woke up
to 3 degrees. We not that far from you so you probably got about
the same. Thanks for writing in and watching Russell.
Didn’t know a broom machine existed. Pretty interesting. Thank you for posting.
Glad you enjoyed the video William, we appreciate your watching my friend.
Unlike the movie Groundhog day at least you don't wake up to the same problem every day. The way the coal was flying off to the side I thought a dog was underneath trying to dig under a yard fence. In the early 1970s I remember passing thru some northern Illinois rail yards where silicate sand was always leaking out of old covered hoppers due to grates not fully closed. Every 20 or 30 feet the wheels would have to cut thru another mini Egyptian sand dune. Never a dull moment in the maintenance dept
Your right about that Paul, always something new going on here
as you will see in the upcoming videos coming out this winter
thru the summer. And if this was like groundhog day I would
expect to get paid like Bill Murray! Do appreciate your writing
in and for watching my friend.
The good part was the class on how the broom works,the bad part was all the extra work you had to do.Great video Dave.
Thanks Russell, just another day on the RR....LOL no big deal,
but I got to make a video of it! Thanks for watching my friend.
Hey Dave !! WOW !! How lucky you guys were there as NO derail !! Have a good time sweeping !! HAHA Till the next Event ,, "",KEEP IT WARM"" !!
Glad you enjoyed the video, K B we appreciate your watching my friend and we are also glad nothing derailed!
@@ccrx6700 Hey Dave !! Oks ,with those 'pull-a-parts'' ,,when you add a piece to fill the gap & weld it in place ,,What happens when the temp goes back up & the rail expands ?? Where does the extra length go if ALL the joints are tight ?? Kinda like the issue with ALL welded rails in summertime heat !!
Always something interesting Dave, always something interesting. Thanks!
Your welcome Steve, really thank you for the nice comment
my friend. Glad I could share with you.
As you have said, it is always something when your working on the railroad. Thanks for taking us along. Glad to see that the young, spry guy your are lets you be part ground hog. :-)
Glad you enjoyed the video Thomas, we appreciate your watching my friend. And as far as being spry, those days are long gone.....LOL
I was thinking what a mess snow would have made the situation, then I noticed the leaves. LOL Thanks for letting us view how things go for railroading.
Yea John it was a mess but it has happened numerous times before,
just have to deal with it. But rather have a mess like this than
a derailment mess! Thanks for writing in and watching my friend.
Very interesting video. Always something new and fascinating on the railroad.
Thank you very much Jim, really glad to hear you enjoyed
the show today my friend.
I was gonna say it's awfully green for Pennsylvania this time of year but them red the description. Thanks for sharing with us Dave.
Was 90 that day Mike, this morning here was 3. Appreciate your
writing in and for watching my friend.
Oh wow! You're part groundhog too? So am I..!!! LOL...
Great video as usual.
Thanks for writing in and for watching, we do appreciate
that my friend.
Didn't even know one of those existed you learn something new everyday
Glad you enjoyed the show Doug, we do thank you for writing
in and for watching my friend.
Thats railroading indeed, great behind the scenes on this one Dave. Your the best. Thanks for the ride along. That a whole other perspective. I thought ground hogs hibernate for the winter 🤣🤣🤣
I'm in hibernation this week! Glad you enjoyed today's show Pappy,
do appreciate your tuning in my friend.
@@ccrx6700 🤣🤣 yeah its cold out there, this week 🥶
Dave, I really learn so much about trains and railroading from your videos. Never realized how much trouble that can be caused by coal. Big surprise to me. Thanks!
Thank you! really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
That sucks that the broken door caused three miles of grief, but it was nice to see that broom in action, thanks for showing that! When I was a kid, sometimes the taconite hoppers would leak out taconite pellets (Chicago North Western). We loved when that happened because taconite pellets were perfect for wrist rockets. We would fill our pockets till our pants were falling down 😊 I don't think they ever cleaned them up but it's possible.
Glad you enjoyed the show my friend. But car doors spreading
coal out is something I've dealt with over the years, it happens,
some worse than others, this was a pretty bad one. Our hopper cars
have seen a lot of hard use since they came here in 1997 and
need replaced. Company is looking into getting some newer
cars and it will be a happy day if that happens!
@@ccrx6700 I hope they do so - it sounds like it will make your life easier and keep the track cleaner!
Railroading is a very complex operation! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us Dave, you do a great job for your company, and for people like me who are interested!
Thank you Raymond for the very kind words, really glad you enjoyed the show today and we do appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Your enthusiasm for your job is commendable. Most people just show up to collect a paycheck. You take care of the RR like it is yours. Great job!
You mean it's not mine? ? ? Thank you Rupert for the very
nice comment, I truly do appreciate your kind words sir.
You have all the fun
Glad you enjoyed the video, we appreciate your watching my friend.
Great video dave, stay warm my friend!
Thank you Jeff, it was about 90 the day I made that video,
tonight it's going down to 3! Got the house heat up high
tonight and cookin!
Evening Dave,
You get to play with some interesting equipment on your railway, well done its got to far better than a 1 RB hand shovel 🤣.
You've got to admit though, that broken door did a brilliant job of spreading the coal nice and even!
Thanks for your time to film,
Rgds, Peter.
Thank you Peter, really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Great video Dave, and thanks for the ride along. That's a shame that hopper door messed up on that car and losing so much coal. What a neat piece of MOW equipment that can be so useful in a situation like that. I enjoy these videos like I've mentioned b4 to show the behind the scenes. Thanks again Dave for sharing your videos and look fwd to seeing the next one!
Thank you Shawn, really glad you enjoyed the show sir. We do
appreciate your tuning in and watching.
Thats crazy Dave!! Depending on the
Lump size that mine produces for
your customers thats a lot of coal
in one loaded Hopper!! Thanks for
showing us the broom machine,
that is definitely cool!!!!
Thank you, really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Thank you Dave for the ride along and showing us the brooming operation. Also what happened with the shoot door. This video along with all the previous video's have been enjoyable and educational. 😀🇨🇦
Your welcome Ray and thank you for the very nice comment
my friend. The mechanics replaced the old door with a new one,
but I wasn't there when they did it. They replace doors rather
frequently here and it's not that big of a deal. Appreciate your
on going support of our channel!
The shoot door got replaced with the barn door
Yet another job maintaining the railroad I never would have even thought existed. Thanks for taking us along and for explaining the process so clearly. Never fail to learn something new from Professor Dave.
Really glad you enjoyed the show today my friend. We do
appreciate your writing in and for watching.
Oh Dave, what a drag that happened but we get to see a different job on the line as a result. Glad to hear it didn't cause much more than a mess and what sounded like an easy fix for the repair shop. Not sure I should say cool video but, cool video . Thanks for sharing. How I'd love some August heat right now. 16⁰ F in central Michigan.
It happens Dennis, this isn't the first time, but rather have this kind of
mess than a derailment mess! Appreciate your watching today's
show my friend.
A very good and interesting peice of kit you have there. Certainly very fit for purpose !
Glad you enjoyed the video John, we appreciate your watching my friend.
Thanks for the video sir. That broom is an interesting piece of equipment. Have a great day.
Your welcome Lewis, really glad to hear you enjoyed my friend.
Hate when that happens. Was sweeping a few years ago and out of nowhere a rattlesnake went flying about 20 yards down the track, surprisingly it just made him mad.
Maybe the snake was just mad because he had a " one track mind" and you disturbed his " train of thought."
Found a black snake here one time, it had its head on a tie, body
was laying over both rails and tail on the opposite side tie. I stayed
in the truck till he passed over! Thanks for watching today Michael!
@@ccrx6700 Years back at the military post I worked at one of the grader operators came across a rattlesnake which was wider than the road. He let it go since it wasn't bothering him. It could have been a small python it was that big. He did take a picture of it so everyone knew he wasn't making up a tall tail.
@Harry oh my that's enormous ! I would have let it go too 😉
Man, Murphy sure has come to visit you quite a bit lately. I wish I had your regulator. That thing is sweet! Makes the one I ran look like a shovel, broom and elbow grease. Lol.
It's worn out too, seen a lot of hard use since we got it in 1996.
But then again it's still better than shovels and brooms like you say.
Thanks for watching Zach.
Learn something new everyday! Great video...thanks for the ridealong! Hope you and your wife are well!
Glad you enjoyed the video Kerry, we appreciate your watching my friend.
You seem to be taking it in stride Dave. Great attitude.
Hey, that's railroading. 😁
Just another day on the RR. Do appreciate your writing in
and for watching the show Anthony.
@@ccrx6700 Thanks Dave, It's my pleasure too. Stay Safe.
Love your videos Dave! Thanks for taking us along with you
Your welcome, it's a pleasure. Really glad you are enjoying, we
do appreciate your viewing my friend.
Looks nice on the track there, makes a change having a different coloured ballast 🤪🤣👊💥👍
Cool video!! Great perspective of railroading mow - thanks for sharing!! 👍
Thank you Bob, really glad you enjoyed the show. We do
appreciate your writing in and for watching sir.
Great video Dave, that is a big sweeper and it does the Job. Thanks for sharing!!!
Glad you enjoyed the video Ron, we appreciate your watching my friend.
Really enjoy your videos. You really explain everything so well. I also like the writeup and date that it was done or filmed. Lots of times I read these to my husband. Great job as always Dave.
Thank you Valerie, someone once suggested I put the date in the
video but I never remember to do that, so put it in the description.
Glad you read those, too few do and very often I get a lot of questions
that were answered in the description but they just didn't read it,
oh well. Thanks my friend.
This broom is a very impressive piece of machinery, I have never seen such a machine before in all the years that I worked on the railway and the other years that I was railfanning. Thank you so much for this, it is very much appreciated by the people who appreciate the important work that is done on the railroad.
Thank you John, really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Great video. I love your joy and constant smile. One day I would like to meet you in person, but that cannot happen. Like I have said before you would be an excellent teacher. I had a music teacher like you and he provided some of the best students in music in our city.
Golly Louis, what a very nice thing to say! We do appreciate your
writing in and for watching my friend.
What a messy job! Thanks for sharing your job with us :) Jenny
Your welcome Jenny and thank you for watching, but
just another day on the RR....LOL
Another great behind the scenes video of the life and time of an MOW man, Dave. I've said it before, but it's too bad that the railroad wasn't built with a rotary dumper and use coal gondolas instead of hopper cars. But, it's made you and others a good living for a good long time, so can't be all bad.
Thanks Scotty and yep, if we'd had rotary dump cars and CWR
my life here would have been easy! Guess they wanted to give
this old man enough work until he falls over....LOL Appreciate
your writing in and watching my friend.
Thanks for the time spent underneath-it took a couple of replays of that to figure out what had happened. I am guessing that the broom is set to just brush the ties so that the coal goes but the ballast stays?
Bingo!
I should also say that the broom is normally used to remove the ballast off of the "top" of the ties and drop it into the cribbing, the spaces between the tiles, where the ballast does its job.
You are correct in that Thomas!
I have seen a few of those bristles along tracks I have visited here and there.
Great video
Thanks
Thank you Kevin, really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Very cool broom! 👍
Glad you enjoyed seeing it TAS, we do appreciate your watching
my friend.
Fouled ballast! Fffeeewww that stinks! Lol.
The only power plants that don't shut down in freezing other than an emergency is a coal fired power plant. And this ones running because of you Dave!
On NY rt 22 they just built (2years) a gas fired power plant on a old recyling center that burned down years ago. There must have been a big gas line nearby. New power lines were run to the existing network. To layout all the parts they put mats on a guys farm, rented it and made a solid entrance to what was the field. Most of the land is still being farmed but some of it is solar panels. the staging/farm was about 1 mile form the power plant. All done by truck!
Be glad you don't carry corn, that rain would have fermented it and you could have drunk bears or animals!
Talk about stink, when I worked on the barges often we would get
barges in that had carried corn and other grains. There was
spillage on the gunwales where you had to walk and that stuff
got rained on, then when it got hot man did that have an awful
odor. Thanks for sharing your story with us and for watching Tuco.
What an amazing operation! Quite interesting.
Thank you, really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching the show today.
Dave, thanks for sharing the coal removal! That was really cool to watch!
Thank you Eric, appreciate your tuning in and watching my friend.
@@ccrx6700 Right on! I enjoyed the show!
This was an interesting video! I did not know what the broom consisted of until now. Thank you for the information.
Your very welcome John. Thank you so much for visiting with
us and taking in the show my friend. Always a pleasure to hear
from you.
Yall don't let Dave fool ya he calls it railroading ....he really means that's job security )
Ah... Railroadin'... one "never" knows what will be tossed into your reality on any given day. Might be welding steps, might be turning axles, might be disassembling a prime mover, and some days you get to put pieces back together.
Job "security?'
What is that?
During my time at the railroad, MILW, I have bounced around due to the creation/abolishment of jobs about every 30 days. Diesel house, back shop, wheelhouse, never knew who my boss for the next month would be until the day of the new assignment. Drove my new, at the time, wife nuts... And I loved it...
@@thomasboese3793 wife at the time.....takes a special woman to stick with a railroader!!!!! My wife has some tails I'm sure
Awesome comment Thomas! Wondering if you've ever read any
books written by Rocky Myrtle? He was with Santa Fe, talk about
bouncing around. You would love those books. Got mine on Ebay.
Try: Memories of a Gandy Dancer, less than 10 bucks
@@ccrx6700 Thanks, I'll look into that.
Cool beans! Thank you Sir!
Thank you David, really glad you enjoyed the show sir. We do
appreciate your tuning in and watching.
Your official title is chief trouble shooter? Your knowledge is so broad. Thank you for sharing.
Does that pay more? If so you might want to contact pay roll
here and let them know to increase my salary....LOL Yep I do
a whole lot of things here, but it's a really nice variety, not
stuck in doing one thing all day every day. I used to load barges
and you would sit in the same spot every day for 12 hours
loading. This job I have now is much better. Thanks so much
for taking in the show today my friend.
The coal car that thought it was hauling ballast, I guess hence why it had CYMX for "Cover Your Maintenance".
LOL now that one made me laugh Stephen! That made my day.
(CYMX is Cyprus Amax, the company that owned us when we
leased those cars, they were built brand new for us). These cars
are worn out after all those years and yep your rendition of CYMX
is totally fitting now!
@@ccrx6700 LMAO!! Glad you had a good laugh.
If RRs still ran cabooses and rear end brakemen, this OOPS might have been noticed in the first half mile, eh?
Yes sir it would have!
And then compare the cost of running cabooses and employing extra staff for decades against the cost of losing one hopper of coal and cleaning up the mess.
Very cool video Dave! Always a pleasure watching your videos and smashed that like button. I always stay wake back when CSX is regulating ballast.
Thank you B Vogt really glad you enjoyed the show, we do
appreciate your writing in and for watching my friend.
Great video . I live SE Ohio had a half mile of welded track line by rushville. Loved see the machines.
Thank you sir for the very nice comment. Really glad you enjoyed
watching this one, we do appreciate your tuning in.
Hopper cars are a pain.
Once had to cut the bottom of a chute out and weld in a new gate.
Yes sir they are. What a blessing it would have been had the
original builders decided on having bath tub cars and a rotary
dump, sure would have saved tons of money in track maintenance
over the years. Appreciate your writing in and for watching Charles.
Very interesting. Will you have your crew examine the other coal cars to see if corrosion is bad? Thanks.
Do you know how many hopper/coal cars there are on a railroad? Me neither but I expect it's way more than can be inspected easily.
@@fireballxl-5748 this line has something like 35 hopper cars , it's a closed and unconnected line some 25 miles long.
They typically only do a roll by inspection. Railroads used to have
guys stationed in pits under the tracks to visually inspect the
under side of cars, but I don;t know of any RR that does that anymore.;
Thanks for writing in and for watching my friend, we do appreciate
that.
@@ccrx6700 Thank you for your response and confirmation of my suspicions of how well/often they are inspected.
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to make these informative railway posts. I've been watching UA-cam more over the past year than TV because I learn so much more. Over the last few days, I've been watching a number of your older posts and have become somewhat "scope locked" on your channel. I've grown up within 700' of the trans Canada Canadian Pacific Railway ( up until 6 years ago when the Smith's Falls subdivision was pulled up). My brothers and childhood friends spent countless hours walking the line and interacting with the track gangs. Over the decades, I've always wondered what all the old iron pieces were that we'd find. I just watched your Nov14/2020 posts talking about Railway spikes. You briefly mentioned the old creosote wood plugs that used to be used. Until I viewed this episode, I've never been able to figure out what these rail-spike shaped pieces were. Thank you so much for "scratching an itch" that's kept my peer group scratching our heads for more than 50 years. Your post on spikes has been the most enjoyable video I've seen in weeks. Like most boys, I was fascinated by any big machine. From the large railway machines to the huge military armoured combat vehicles that both rumbled through our military community, I've always had an intense curiosity about big things. Thank you for sharing your story.
Your welcome Steven and thank you very much for the very
nice comment and for sharing that part of your history with us,
it was a neat story my friend.
Very interesting video Dave. Heck of a mess to clean up. Will they be inspecting the other car doors for corrosion?
We do a roll by inspection almost every train that leaves here
Brian, but unless there is an obvious problem no one ever
crawls under a car unless it happens to be put in the shop for
something. Glad you enjoyed my friend.
Happy Rails to you Sir Track Professional.
Thank you Ed, glad you enjoyed the video and we do appreciate
your watching and writing in my friend.
Perhaps a 'Railvac' might come in handy. Network Rail used one for re-ballasting a couple of lengths at the bottom of my garden recently.
Oh my, we could keep one of those busy here. Way too much
coal spillage which plugs up our ballast. Thanks for writing in
and for watching my friend.
I bet they lost $$$. But remember anything man makes it will break. I love your videos. Robert over and out.
Seems like everything man makes here breaks sooner or later....LOL
Appreciate your taking the time to write in and for watching
the video Robert.
Y’all just have the best toys! I’m SO jealous!
::::back to my 1940s Lionels::::
As Rod Stewart sang, some guys have all the luck.... Thanks
for writing in and watching the show and what's cooler than
an original Lionel train set!
It's a good thing you do not have track circuits or you would of been digging out and dumping new ballast. My mate was called out one night and there was nothing he could do the coal shorted out the circuit. That regulator sure came in handy for you
Never gave that a thought my friend. Yep we are lucky, what you
described would have been a real OH NO situation. Thanks for
tuning in and watching the show today my good man.
Hydraulic motor out on the hood is real powerful, what are the bristles made of,??!! Nice 👍 thanks BigAl California.
The brooms are a very hard solid rubber Al. Glad you enjoyed
and thanks for writing in and watching my friend in California.
have a good one
Thanks Cecil and we do appreciate your watching the show my friend.
In upstate NY, we had coal dealers along the tracks.
There was a siding in Cohoes up on the hill and the cars would dump from the bottom and the coal would go down the concrete hill from the siding and the people would buy down at the bottom.
Same in Mechanicville and Waterford
In the 1980s, huge tractor trailers that were dump trucks would go to hospitals, schools, and there were huge heavy steel doors in the ground they would open and they were the size of the back of the tractor trailer and they would lift the tractor trailer up and the entire tractor-trailer would dump into the ground into these cold bins that were big enough to take three tractor trailer full loads of coal
I think they stopped using coal in the late 90s early 2000s
Thanks for sharing in the interesting story my friend! Do appreciate
your writing in and for watching the video.
Since leaky cars seems to be a somewhat common event, you should install a camera on the rear unit or rear of train box that looks down at the rails, and has a wireless link to the cab.
Then the engineer can check and see if anything is falling out as he goes.
That would be a great idea Ben, I will forward that to the powers
that be and see what they think. Thanks for the suggestion and
watching today my friend.
There was a BNSF coal train derailed here in town several years ago. Two or three cars tipped clear over and dumped their loads on the ground. BNSF brought in a big vaccuum truck and sucked up every bit of that coal.
BNSF got a huge MOW budget and they do things right!!! Always
have been impressed with their way of doing things. Thanks for
sharing Ben and for watching the video sir.
A clean track is a happy track…
I like that Jason! And you are totally right in that sir. Appreciate
your writing in and watching today.
I’m surprised the “hot-box” detector didn’t sound a warning for dragging equipment due to the “broom”. Enemy (coal) detected, red alert Cap’n! Raise shields! 😂
It had that option when we bought the detector but we decided
not to purchase it....,LOL Glad you enjoyed the video and we do appreciate your watching William
Where I come from in PA, coal was the ballast!
You must be from the anthracite region? I've heard before they
used that hard coal for ballast. Interesting
If I lived anywhere near that track I would definitely have me a coal stove 👍
Too bad this isn't the 1930's or it would have all been cleaned
up by now. Thanks for tuning in and watching the video my good man.
Glad the train didn't derail. That made a mess for sure. Could the coal damage the ties or the rail in any way?
Coal plugs up the ballast then we lose precious drainage and
you know what happens when water stays in the track bed instead
of draining away, that's the biggest issue. If coal is left laying
against the rail for extended periods of time, the acid in it will
corrode spikes, tie plates and rail and that's not good either.
Great question and thanks for writing in my friend.
The coal cause much corrosion?, i think i remember it can have sulfur in it which turns to sulfuric acid when wet.
We got a lot of iron ore on track here in Australia, sometimes it gets up to the head of the rail in the loading areas...head would look fine but dig 100mm of ore away and you see that there's NOTHING underneath just a rail head floating on iron ore web and foot are gone.
Also had to work in an area that mines mineral sand, mineral sand was reflective like a mirror, 50c degree day and we had 2 guys drop from heat exhaustion and i went through a 5 litre water bottle by 8am needed 15 litres to see the day out and not drop.
It's just amazing how much impact different materials being transported can have on your work/environment considering most of it is supposed to stay on the trains :)
Very good question sir and yes the acid in the coal does eat
away at the rail and spikes and tie plates if it covers those items
for an extended period of time. IN high spillage areas we
contemplated putting in stainless steel spikes at one time
years ago, but golly were they huge expense. Thanks for
writing in and sharing with us my friend.
Wow! I hadn't thought of the corrosion on the metal. I don't know the chemical mechanism, but it looks like it can be substantial degradation over some years. The "broom" is very cool - it handles the coal fairly easily and I think you said it can remove ballast from between the rails as well. A nice tool to have in the arsenal! I notice this was filmed in warmer weather - LOL! It's 19F here this morning :)
Glad you enjoyed the video Brian, we appreciate your watching my friend. And, it was minus 5 here this morning! Was 90 degrees
when I made that video and I'm trying hard to remember the
heat hoping it will warm me up some.....LOL
The chemical mechanism is just rusting -- oxygen from the air, dissolved in water, attacks the iron in the steel. It's helped along by any mineral content in the water (typically, you think of salt, but a lot of other minerals will help it along).
Oh my!!! A mess of coal!
It happens Steven, this isn't the first time, but rather have this kind of
mess than a derailment mess! Appreciate your watching today's
show my friend.
life....is messy! and we gotta clean it up! thank you! dave
Spills happen Dave, unfortunately here we have 2 many of them!
Really appreciate your taking the time to check out the video
today my friend.
@@ccrx6700 I do realise that your railroad has special challenges...not being connected to a class 1...how far is the nearest railroad?...thanksdave..
@@davewallace8219 NS has a siding at Poland Mines bout 6 miles from our harbor. That track also runs directly across the river from us. Back in late 1970's talk was for us to build a belt line across the river and load NS trains. But NS said no
As usual, another great video from ccrx 6700! ...PLUS, on-screen color graphics! (You sir, are expanding your editing skills. Way to go Dave!) ...and yes, that broom was needing some TLC, but still managed to do a decent job!
Does Hulcher vacuum up the coal dust, or perform a ballast wash?
Thank you David for the very nice comment. We are glad you
enjoy these home movies sir. Hulcher vacuums the coal out of
the track, they do not wash, the rain does the washing.... -:)
@@ccrx6700 Appreciate the reply!
Alright, whoever let the Gremlins out put them back. Good thing the RR has a broom.
Glad you enjoyed the video Matt, we appreciate your watching my friend. Was 90 the day I made that, woke up this morning to minus 5!
Am trying to remember the heat of that day to warm me up today....LOL
@@ccrx6700 negative temps made for a very interesting day of running steam at Hocking Valley Scenic RR today.
@@mattkinnard6899 Awesome, hope you can show us
some vids of that!
@@ccrx6700 I think I have enough to put together something half decent!
Hello a little story , back in the arly 90's i was conductor the daily rock train L201 on the Wisconsin Central which ran loads from Sussex WI to Grayslake IL . Our running speed was 50 and while passing thru Wheatland WI one of the ore jennies hopper door malfunctioned opened up and spread 2inch limestone on the right of way for about 100 yards as if a ballast train had dumped it. Luckily it was between crossings and bridges, we never knew it happened until return trip with the empty set of cars and saw what had happened.
Notified WC and Vulcan materials which bad ordered the car when found it already empty. The spread rock remained laid until surfacing gang ran thru a year later .
There were 2 sets of 35 cars so one could be loaded while one was being emptied .
Barry
Thanks for sharing the story Barry, I know the feeling! Pretty cool still
see some of the old WC cars on some trains out there. Do
appreciate your writing in and for watching the video my friend.
@@ccrx6700 you're welcome, I have alot of stories after 37 years of railroading. 😎
The corrosion on that hopper made me think. I never thought about corrosion on a rail road car, I knew about it on my cars but a rail road car that is still used. This is a maintenance issue that has real concerns..
These cars are worn out. They've been here since 1996 and have
seen a lot of hard use. Most coal hopper cars on other RR's get
loaded and dumped once or twice a week. Here they get the cycle
6 to 7 times a day, 7 days a week, that's extreme use. Thanks
for writing in and watching the video Renneth.
I hear broomin’ coal is good for the operators health and longevity.
Well I like that and here;s to the operators good health
and longevity! Thank you my friend and hope all is well
with you sir.
Part Groundhog? Your day is approaching.
Not me, they gonna burn me up and then sprinkle my ashes in
the track bed here..... Thanks for watching the show today Mr.
Rueben Sandwich.
@@ccrx6700 Was referring to groundhog day.
@@reubensandwich9249 Okay Gotcha on that! Groundhog
Day was a good movie and seems like it occurs here
too!
Love you and your channel !!! Just wondering how a big money coal company can have some of the oldest and outdated equipment !!! Wish you and the crew had newer equipment to use !!!
Thank you Brian, so very glad you are enjoying. We very much
appreciate having your as part of our community. one big reason
we have such old rolling stock is we don't interchange with
anybody, thus all rolling stock must get trucked in and it's
astronomical expense to do that. So keep patching and repairing.
Another reason our last company had filed bankruptcy and
they spent almost nothing on preventative maintenance so
things got totally worn out. Our new owners are spending millions
on major capital investments, but they also have the
same problem under ground and at the prep plant from the
last company where things are worn out even worse than
on the RR. Everything here is worn out.
Plus they were faced with having to shell out
60 million bucks right off the bat for a new slate pile. Without
that new slate pile we would be closing the mine sometime
this year, now we have another 28 years left. So there is only
so much money to go around to get everything done. So that is
a pretty big overview of just a small amount of the things
money needs to be spent on here.
That is exactly the way Morticia from the Adams family cleans. She just moves it around. How hard could it be to put a dust pan ahead of the broom ? Or at least a blower to get it off to the side instead of pushing it ahead and massaging it into the ballast.
He Heh, Heh, what we need is a rotary coal blower! Or a vacuum
train. I hate that the coal gets in the ballast, it just ruins it
over time. Thanks for writing in and watching today Decontee,
we do appreciate that my friend.
Since many of the cars are the same age. How many other cars have the same issue coming up or about to dump their loads on your tracks
We've had these cars since 1997 and they've seen a lot of steady
hard use, they need replaced and company is looking at getting
some new hoppers for us. it will be a blessed day if that happens.
Something is always going wrong with a car that needs fixing, but
with that many years things do wear out. Thanks for writing in and for watching Wayne, we do appreciate that sir.
Good night.
Have a good one Michael and thanks for watching my friend.
Wow what a video! As a train I approve this video!
Thanks and glad to hear you enjoyed the show, we do appreciate
your watching Timosha21
Great video
Thanks for watching today's video Neal, glad you enjoyed the show my friend.
Another great video Dave! I don't want to ask a dumb question, but how much of a fire hazard is all that fine grain coal on the track as you are doing maintenance .
Unless it's very dry weather conditions, there is no fire hazard.
Our biggest problem over the years has been in very dry conditions
and sparks from the loco engine catching grass and brush on fire
along the track. have never had a coal fire on the track since
we started in 1977 which is really a good thing! Glad you enjoyed
the video Alex and very good question my friend.