I designed these cars back in 1985 while at Thrall Car in Chicago Heights (now part of Trinity ind.) and supervised all of the testing. We performed a series of structural tests at the plant and then took the car to the Transportation Test Center in Pueblo CO. for dynamic testing. The car was challenging to design since there is very little room on the sides of the cask. Also, the tight tolerances needed for the cask support ring required the car to be machined to dimension after assembly. A very interesting gob.
I used to load them. There called M140 cars, designed for 726/688 class and newer. The 637 class cars are call M130 and were retired in the early 2000s.
I had a lot of questions. But specifically addressing the vessels. I wondered how much material is actually in each container (vessels) The thickness is probably MUCH more exaggerated than standard. Hope this fella recording these have more to come. I find these special carriers/logistics for military interesting
I'll bet - with all those extra axles spaced so closely and heavily loaded - this train would make a tremendous and interesting clatter crossing the diamonds of a double tracked main.
My late father (2017) worked for SPRR for 38 years. I grew up living in a remodeled train car, supplied by SPRR for free as my father began his career as a bridge tender. It allowed my parents the opportunity to save $ to buy a home in 1969 for $16,000. My bedroom was literally 20 feet from the tracks...the horns on this video being back so many memories. I'm 60 now, and have to say this is the 1st time I ever saw nuclear waste being transported by rail. COOL STUFF!
The platform cars before and after the flasks are for spacing. The flasks themselves are probably made of massive stainless steel with lead or some other shielding inside (lead is an excellent radiation shield due to its high density, but has poor thermal conductivity for a metal). The vertical fins on the flask cylinders are for cooling. The caboose at the end is likely hosting armed guards. The train is going slowly to minimise any accident hazard. The whole film is epic, underlining the massive and dangerous nature of its subject.
well you are somewhat correct. these transfer casks use stainless steel for the shell, SS and some lead for gamma shielding, aluminum coated resin for neutron shielding, and some balsa and or redwood for limiting impact damage. Im actually surprised to still see these transfer casks in use....but then it is the government. Industry has long switched to the horizontal casks...specifically those made by orano.
Time, distance, shielding.... You have 3 cookies. One emits Alpha particles, the second Beta with the third Gamma. You have to eat one, sit on the other, and throw the last out a window. What would be your choices?
@@tvan4854 I would sit on the alpha, but otherwise no, thanks. This is an impossible question, like choosing from multiple types of cancer. By the way, you didn't specify the source of the radiation. If it's heavy metals, once ingested, never eliminated.
That opening scene is one of the coolest things I have seen in a bit, man this video is just epic on so many levels, really hope I can catch that train one day!
When they are not in use, the Navy keeps most of those flask cars at the Naval Reactor Facility in eastern Idaho. UP moves them in and out, with DOE and DOD crews handling them on the Site. We see them go out without the flatcar spacers and the caboose and come back with them when they are loaded with the spent fuel rods from the ship reactors. The Navy stores the fuel rods in water until they are cooled off enough to place in dry storage or be recycled.
@@KC-nd7nt no need for one. You can’t steal one of these cars and you can’t open one. The cars locations are monitored 24/7. Any issues arise they could respond before anybody would make a dent in one of these.
I ran a Three Mile Island Dirt train from Indianapolis, IN to St. Louis, MO back in 2002. It was nice having the US Army on board for security. They had an awesome cook on board and they made me the second to best philly Steak and Cheese sandwich a guy could ask for!
the samitch is still king even with nuke dirt. For me living in nuclear silos, it was a military career, with rich psychopaths sending me codes. Godspeed right.
@@sanddabz5635 When I worked the dirt train the MP's rode in a converted Pullman car with Bedrooms, kitchen, full bath and Laundry room. The head count for riders is Classified Information and If I told ya that information, I'd have to kill ya.
Very cool catch of a DOD train. We sometimes get to see them move from either Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on NS or Newport News Shipyard on CSXT. They tend to go to the B&W Nuclear site at Lynchburg, VA
I was just playing a game with trains and thought to myself "How stupid and cartoony are these nuclear waste train carriages?" And here they are, exactly as the game had them. I stand corrected.
Very light transport might look like an armored car or even just safes in a boxcar, the regular transports are these things, but heavy things like decommissioned reactors use the goofy 32 wheel cars and stuff
Surprised they only have one locomotive on the train. In the UK, we always use two on nuclear waste trains, so the train isn't stranded if one breaks down.
@@bostonrailfan2427 That's strange. British locomotives mostly have two cabs, so why couldn't they ride in the rear cab? Also, the trains carrying military spent fuel have armed guards riding in passenger cars; if the civilian trains have armed guards, it would be strange to put them in a second locomotive instead of a passenger car.
Wow this was a great catch, I’ve never seen these in person yet. I know one thing the guys that are riding in that caboose have to be pissed, that thing had a pretty wicked “flat tire”😆. Great video👍🏼😁🇺🇸
@Dragonkin57 definitely a repurposed caboose I'd say. I'm not sure if it was designed to have a flat spot in a wheel, that makes zero sense. It's a brake hanging up and the wheel dragging that causes that or an imperfection in the steel when the wheel was forged causing a section to wear differently than the rest of the surface
About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to watch as a train was hauling used nuclear fuel rods across Red Arrow Highway from the dual reactor Cook Nuclear plant in southwest Michigan. The road was closed for 20 minutes as it crossed at less than 1mph, and there almost a dozen (mostly Michigan state) police cars blocking the road and a rail maintenance vehicle both in front and behind it. Looked like giant cylindrical fuses. Quite the sight.
There are no guards on this train. The caboose is a formality that also serves a shoving platform when the train reaches each facility. The cars are known as “self protecting“. It’s physically impossible for someone to break into one of them let alone steal one.
@@FFred-us9tw incorrect. I work for csx and can most definitely assure you any time a railroad is carrying any loaded nuclear cargo of any kind, there are always guards on board the locomotive and caboose. I've taken 2 trains to Savannah River Site myself and the guards do everything for us. We simply get on the train and take it as far as we can. We are not allowed to get off the locomotive during the trip and if we stop in a siding the guards have to dismount and walk the train.
Glad to see BNSF not cutting corners with the crew on one of these trains. I know it's government regulated, but it's nice to see a caboose being used.
that caboose has nothing to do with the train crew, it’s entirely for security. it’s guaranteed to have armed USMC security with multiple machine guns and assault rifles for protecting the cargo. that’s in addition to the helicopters likely flying out of view and hearing range but close enough to keep a close eye out for obstructions and attacks
@@Roboticus_Prime_RC excuse me for having an original mind and not spewing ignorant unionisms…funny, you didn’t have the balls to whine about non-union people onboard
One of my fellow engineers at CSX sent information about a nuclear cask train out to his railfan friends and the FBI met him at the hotel in Chicago. Sent him and his crew directly home for an interview.
@@thomasdupee1440 he’s lucky he wasn’t fired, that’s a huge violation and put their contract at risk due to it. he can kiss any serious federal work goodbye, he won’t get cleared again
kinda suprised they didn't run you off! Conductor for 20yrs, 1st time I've ever seen these. have a whole bunch of rules for these in the rulebook...never saw one. thanks
Awesome Video just Love Seeing and hearing those Awesome EMD Engine's you can hear them coming from a long way. Sounds to Me like the Caboose has a flat tire that clacking noise would drive me crazy after awhile..
Very cool find, cops most likley were called in by the security team on the train as having someone showing up multiple places and recording the train they might have thought it was some sort of security risk, I could be wrong though. Edit: Find it interesting that the cars seem to have spots for Hazmat plackards but not actually plackards in place.
The no placard thing is a new rule after 9/11 where nuclear loads are not placarded to prevent terrorists from targeting them ( or at least thats my understanding)
Seems like a scenic video of a train 🚂 motoring through pristine wilderness… then you read “nuclear waste”… why does this bring to mind my last relationship… lol
When I was in Lynchburg, VA in may, I saw some green DODX cars that were pretty unique. Not sure if they were nuclear waste or not, but i was pretty neat.
Great footage! Good camera angles and perspective. Also like your audio setup. It keeps the horn and other loud noises from being painfully loud without outright muting everything.
I was stationed in bremerton and used to walk past these everyday on my way to muster on the ship. Also walked under rusty leaky metal box tunnels that ran from a building to where they were gutting the reactor out of these submarines as well... Good stuff...
That is incredibly cool!! I wonder if the casks have those heatsinks on the sides because the spent fuel is still warm enough even after cooling down in the pools for years that it needs to be dissipated.
😂 absolutely no guns involved, there’s no need for armed guards on these trains. They can’t be broken into and they can’t be stolen. Those casks are 10 inches thick stainless steel. Their locations are monitored, and if any issues arise, a response team can be flown in. But the caboose is typically empty. I’ve hauled many of these trains.
@@fhowland not on these trains. I’ve moved quite a few. These shipments do not require guards. The cars are impenetrable. Remote monitoring on empties. Logistical escort on loads. No armed escorts on these.
Now THAT’S a catch! I’m trying to get in touch with some Seattle area railfans on when the H-EVEROO garbage trains run as I’ll be along the Scenic Sub this week. Do you have any idea when the southbound and returning northbound would run and approximately where they would pass the Mukilteo/Edmonds area? Thanks
Those are not Schnabel cars. A Schnabel car uses the actual load as the center of a loaded car. And when a Schnabel car is not loaded they bolt each half of the car together to make a single car. The cars in this video are M-140 Naval Spent Fuel Shipping Container cars. Basically purpose built flat cars with integral support for a dedicated container. The stainless steel cask in the center is not structural to the car. It can be removed and the car is unchanged.
This is a very epic catch indeed! Keep up the good work. I am betting this train will be heading to INL after being handed off to the UP. Unless it is heading someplace else.
I get the impression that caboose has a bit of “firepower” on standby, just in case. I also noticed there were empty flatcars between the cask cars and the engine and caboose to reduce long term exposure for the crew, perhaps?
No”firepower” needed. The cars cannot be tampered with or broken into. And there is zero exposure risk to anyone near these cars. The reason for the extra cars is added braking more and spreading out the weight.
Part of me would want to film, part of me would want to be as far from this train as possible, especially near turnouts/diamonds/rough track. Yet I’d really like to catch it on the corner of a diamond just for the epic catch
i am amazed those nuke waste casks r being transported on such crappy tracks. in the 70s the casks were on dodx well flats with one unit followed by an idler car of weight (not an empty flat) , an idler following and 2 cabooses, 1st with men carrying m-16s. i suppose theyre in the blue dodx caboose. my, have things changed
Man😮! I didn't know about this special equipment to transport nuclear waste, amazing clip, great pictures and sound, Thans for sharing!! good job, well done😉👍 Kind regards from MX. (Like 2888 & comment #500🤭)
I was kinda hoping for giant flashing canisters like the old 1950s Lionel sets but dang the real life ones are just as impressive.....supprised to see unloaded flat cars at the front and rear...would the light weight cars make derailments more likely?
@@Roboticus_Prime_RC Yep, like your cars crumple zones, it's designed to... well, buffer the casks and the crew, but also help slow anything that may hit it
@@michaelsullivan3581 "Light" definitely applies to railcars. Empty weight is typically more like 60-80,000lbs and, while that is substantial, it's nothing compared to a 100+-car train. Railroads do try to avoid having unloaded flat cars (including centrebeams) at the front of long trains, precisely because they are light and skip the track in that situation. Doesn't apply here, as the train is short and under 1000 tons.
Because of nuclear material I'm betting that there was a BNSF crew that made that entire trip. Whereas every other train, whether a once a week UP garbage train going to or from Belfair via the Shelton sub or a grain and other export bound loads on trains heading to the Port of Aberdeen on the Elma Sub, ALL of those trains are brought in to and parked at the big siding there at Gibson Creek just north of Oakville and then PSAP (Puget Sound And Pacific) run through crews take over from there. Special materials probably require special trains with special crews, something the PSAP probably doesn't deal with or have. So I'd guess that BNSF took care of this train once they left the main line in Centralia all the way to pick up at the Navy base to where ever it's heading at Hanford. PSAP except for being the owner of those tracks probably had nothing further to do with that particular train that day. As a quick side note I can remember being in Elma when the DOD's nuclear white train came through town heading to the same place this train with the flasks came from. As there were obvious military guards some with dogs, all with guns on a short white colored train heading for the submarine base at Bremerton/Keyport it wasn't hard to quickly figure out that train was carrying something...important, very large and heavy and valuable enough to require all those armed guards, like missiles that were for use on large newly built nuclear submarines. Anyway there's been some...unexpected and interesting trains roll through these parts once and awhile in the past. And I'm glad I got to see a couple of them...
The Police normally are called when someone is spotted recording the dangerous loads for safety. Oil Trains and this one are the most likely culprit for this operation
Bremerton or Bangor (different branch)? All the Trident sub nukes are at Bangor, the most anywhere else on earth. While the cops were following it to present mischief, it actually may be illegal to shoot pictures of Defense Department activities.
Wow just one loco. That's some risk they take. Here in Germany nuclear waste trains have 4 diesellocos, two at the front, two at the back, various passenger cars for police and staff of the tain to clear some of the tracks if needed and the few waste cars. Actually almost noone knows which direction the train is going, mostly it will be decided at every station the train passes
On my frequent trips for vacation to Florida on I 95 we would see those containers or something similar on 18-wheelers mostly in the North and South Carolina area of I-95 at approximately 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. I never saw them in the daylight.
The empty flat cars attached to the caboose and locomotive....are they for spacing so the crews don't get exposed to too much radiation? Which would mean those tank cars are actually emitting radiation?
"Buffer" cars, solely to protect the manned equipment front and rear from getting crushed by a vessel in the event of a derailment. The amount of radiation emitted from these casks is incredibly low, even during prolonged exposure.
If any of y’all are worried about the cameraman getting radiation exposure, there’s no need to be. Those containers are sealed up so well that very little if any radiation leaks out of them. In fact, you get more radiation exposure from holding a bunch of bananas in your hand than you would from standing right next to those containers, and even that’s a very minuscule amount.
@@derrickconnor1303 Check out some videos about crash tests they did with casks like this then. There’s a video on here where they literally crash a rocket propelled locomotive into one. Aside from a few dents, that cask remain completely intact.
@@derrickconnor1303 Operation smash hit, the train is built effectively to withstand being shoved off a bridge at high speed via rockslide into a rocky waterfall and get dug out with zero damage to interior containment
Keep'em coming (military transport) trains ALWAYS piques my interest. I wondered about the thickness of those vessels (containers) requirements for nuclear material storage. Probably 10:1 Shared n SUBSCRIBED 👍
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I designed these cars back in 1985 while at Thrall Car in Chicago Heights (now part of Trinity ind.) and supervised all of the testing. We performed a series of structural tests at the plant and then took the car to the Transportation Test Center in Pueblo CO. for dynamic testing. The car was challenging to design since there is very little room on the sides of the cask. Also, the tight tolerances needed for the cask support ring required the car to be machined to dimension after assembly.
A very interesting gob.
yet a very important need for this car
I used to load them. There called M140 cars, designed for 726/688 class and newer. The 637 class cars are call M130 and were retired in the early 2000s.
I used to sell them, 500k a pop and that was back in the 90s
i used to throw them into the ocean for average salary back in the 00's
but apparently a Gob well done indeed! ;-)
Ignoring the epicness of the train, that has got to be one of the coolest flask designs ive ever seen
Definitely.
I had a lot of questions. But specifically addressing the vessels. I wondered how much material is actually in each container (vessels) The thickness is probably MUCH more exaggerated than standard.
Hope this fella recording these have more to come. I find these special carriers/logistics for military interesting
Yeah like what is this Satisfactory
@@unrelatedshark reminds me more of the new Wolfenstein games
They actually look like mini reactors, certainly a lot different to the ones we use in the UK.
Thank you for placing yourself on a watchlist so we can enjoy the video.
I'll bet - with all those extra axles spaced so closely and heavily loaded - this train would make a tremendous and interesting clatter crossing the diamonds of a double tracked main.
oh were the talk of the town going though diamonds
Send this through Fremont Nebraska police will find and pull the train over lol
My late father (2017) worked for SPRR for 38 years. I grew up living in a remodeled train car, supplied by SPRR for free as my father began his career as a bridge tender. It allowed my parents the opportunity to save $ to buy a home in 1969 for $16,000. My bedroom was literally 20 feet from the tracks...the horns on this video being back so many memories. I'm 60 now, and have to say this is the 1st time I ever saw nuclear waste being transported by rail. COOL STUFF!
Rest in peace
SP spirit of the West
The platform cars before and after the flasks are for spacing. The flasks themselves are probably made of massive stainless steel with lead or some other shielding inside (lead is an excellent radiation shield due to its high density, but has poor thermal conductivity for a metal). The vertical fins on the flask cylinders are for cooling. The caboose at the end is likely hosting armed guards. The train is going slowly to minimise any accident hazard. The whole film is epic, underlining the massive and dangerous nature of its subject.
well you are somewhat correct. these transfer casks use stainless steel for the shell, SS and some lead for gamma shielding, aluminum coated resin for neutron shielding, and some balsa and or redwood for limiting impact damage. Im actually surprised to still see these transfer casks in use....but then it is the government. Industry has long switched to the horizontal casks...specifically those made by orano.
Time, distance, shielding.... You have 3 cookies. One emits Alpha particles, the second Beta with the third Gamma. You have to eat one, sit on the other, and throw the last out a window. What would be your choices?
@@tvan4854
I would sit on the alpha, but otherwise no, thanks. This is an impossible question, like choosing from multiple types of cancer. By the way, you didn't specify the source of the radiation. If it's heavy metals, once ingested, never eliminated.
That opening scene is one of the coolest things I have seen in a bit, man this video is just epic on so many levels, really hope I can catch that train one day!
Thank you! I appreciate it. I hope you get to see one as well.
Knowing what I know…This is one thing I would not want to be around! Especially if it’s carrying waste!
When they are not in use, the Navy keeps most of those flask cars at the Naval Reactor Facility in eastern Idaho. UP moves them in and out, with DOE and DOD crews handling them on the Site. We see them go out without the flatcar spacers and the caboose and come back with them when they are loaded with the spent fuel rods from the ship reactors. The Navy stores the fuel rods in water until they are cooled off enough to place in dry storage or be recycled.
No military escort though ?
I always thought this was national security issue . Where is the helicopter ?
I live fairly close to INL, which is the facility you're referring to. It's not uncommon to see these flasks on occasion. Super cool to see.
@@KC-nd7nt Who do you think is in the caboose, I’ll give you one guess.
@@KC-nd7nt no need for one. You can’t steal one of these cars and you can’t open one. The cars locations are monitored 24/7. Any issues arise they could respond before anybody would make a dent in one of these.
I ran a Three Mile Island Dirt train from Indianapolis, IN to St. Louis, MO back in 2002. It was nice having the US Army on board for security. They had an awesome cook on board and they made me the second to best philly Steak and Cheese sandwich a guy could ask for!
the samitch is still king even with nuke dirt. For me living in nuclear silos, it was a military career, with rich psychopaths sending me codes. Godspeed right.
I'm new to this.....does the caboose then carry armed army personnel, and how many?
@@sanddabz5635 When I worked the dirt train the MP's rode in a converted Pullman car with Bedrooms, kitchen, full bath and Laundry room.
The head count for riders is Classified Information and If I told ya that information, I'd have to kill ya.
@@sanddabz5635 loose lips sink ships
@@thecurtray
Thankfully this is a train.....and it's on land🤣
Very cool catch of a DOD train. We sometimes get to see them move from either Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on NS or Newport News Shipyard on CSXT. They tend to go to the B&W Nuclear site at Lynchburg, VA
lol I thought you were talking about the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in NH for a second. Nuclear trains also come in and out of there occasionally
One of the few trains that definitely needs the caboose for monitoring the dangerous cargo.
More like military guards in the caboose, but that's a bit of potato/potahto. 😉
This is one of the coolest rail fanning videos I've ever seen.
Great work and thank you for sharing!
Thanks I appreciate it!
@@WestCascadeRail You're very welcome, stay safe out there.
That train has more eyes on it in that moment more than you could even begin to imagine lol
The idle sound as it cruised by in the last clip was very nice. Good rumble to it. :)
Glad you enjoyed!
Incredible catch! That’s so cool that you caught this. Talk about the right place at the right time! 🎥💯
I bet a dollar the people in the caboose had their eyes on you the whole time! LOL
Beautiful professional photography
Thanks! I appreciate it.
Thank you for sharing this rare scene with us. It was truly epic!!
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed.
If that is spent naval fuel, then it's likely heading to INEL in Idaho where there is a facility for the storage of spent naval reactor fuel rods.
I was just playing a game with trains and thought to myself "How stupid and cartoony are these nuclear waste train carriages?"
And here they are, exactly as the game had them. I stand corrected.
Very light transport might look like an armored car or even just safes in a boxcar, the regular transports are these things, but heavy things like decommissioned reactors use the goofy 32 wheel cars and stuff
That is something you don't see everyday, espically in my area of the states. Very cool catch and share! - Jason
Think there were guards in the caboose? I’m surprised there wasn’t a Helicopter overhead. I know it’s just waste but always need to be safe
There probably is a helicopter nearby but out of sight
Surprised they only have one locomotive on the train. In the UK, we always use two on nuclear waste trains, so the train isn't stranded if one breaks down.
according to train crew over there the reason for two is actually due to not using a caboose, the armed guards ride in the second locomotive
@@bostonrailfan2427 That's strange. British locomotives mostly have two cabs, so why couldn't they ride in the rear cab? Also, the trains carrying military spent fuel have armed guards riding in passenger cars; if the civilian trains have armed guards, it would be strange to put them in a second locomotive instead of a passenger car.
@@beeble2003 just going by what was said, there’s video online of the nuke trains traveling
Wow this was a great catch, I’ve never seen these in person yet. I know one thing the guys that are riding in that caboose have to be pissed, that thing had a pretty wicked “flat tire”😆. Great video👍🏼😁🇺🇸
@Dragonkin57 definitely a repurposed caboose I'd say. I'm not sure if it was designed to have a flat spot in a wheel, that makes zero sense. It's a brake hanging up and the wheel dragging that causes that or an imperfection in the steel when the wheel was forged causing a section to wear differently than the rest of the surface
About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to watch as a train was hauling used nuclear fuel rods across Red Arrow Highway from the dual reactor Cook Nuclear plant in southwest Michigan. The road was closed for 20 minutes as it crossed at less than 1mph, and there almost a dozen (mostly Michigan state) police cars blocking the road and a rail maintenance vehicle both in front and behind it. Looked like giant cylindrical fuses. Quite the sight.
In my opinion the caboose has people in it that are trained to protect the train
Well, yeah.
It's also the controll room for the various sensors and equipment
um, duh
There are no guards on this train. The caboose is a formality that also serves a shoving platform when the train reaches each facility. The cars are known as “self protecting“. It’s physically impossible for someone to break into one of them let alone steal one.
@@FFred-us9tw incorrect. I work for csx and can most definitely assure you any time a railroad is carrying any loaded nuclear cargo of any kind, there are always guards on board the locomotive and caboose. I've taken 2 trains to Savannah River Site myself and the guards do everything for us. We simply get on the train and take it as far as we can. We are not allowed to get off the locomotive during the trip and if we stop in a siding the guards have to dismount and walk the train.
Glad to see BNSF not cutting corners with the crew on one of these trains.
I know it's government regulated, but it's nice to see a caboose being used.
BNSF has nothing to do with it. That is a Dept. of Defense (DODX reporting mark) caboose with a security team.
that caboose has nothing to do with the train crew, it’s entirely for security. it’s guaranteed to have armed USMC security with multiple machine guns and assault rifles for protecting the cargo. that’s in addition to the helicopters likely flying out of view and hearing range but close enough to keep a close eye out for obstructions and attacks
@@Cthippo1 I know. It was a joke. The second sentence should have clarified that.
@@bostonrailfan2427 same response.
@@Roboticus_Prime_RC excuse me for having an original mind and not spewing ignorant unionisms…funny, you didn’t have the balls to whine about non-union people onboard
8:47 The Classic, the caboose only makes the train look 50 times better!
i agree
Cabooses are still used a ton in India!
That caboose isnt empty lol
That engine sucked to run. Loaded so damn slow. Those guards didn't like you following us lol.
Lol I bet. The guards in the caboose?
One of my fellow engineers at CSX sent information about a nuclear cask train out to his railfan friends and the FBI met him at the hotel in Chicago. Sent him and his crew directly home for an interview.
@@thomasdupee1440 fr?
@@BNSF1458 yes
@@thomasdupee1440 he’s lucky he wasn’t fired, that’s a huge violation and put their contract at risk due to it. he can kiss any serious federal work goodbye, he won’t get cleared again
kinda suprised they didn't run you off! Conductor for 20yrs, 1st time I've ever seen these. have a whole bunch of rules for these in the rulebook...never saw one. thanks
I bet!
I have no desire to ever catch one of those trains
@@opiumextract2934 you and me BOTH!
@@conductorcammon on a funny side note my son wants to be a nuclear engineer
@@opiumextract2934 tell him to study hard! I'd hate to see him work for the damn RR!
Awesome Video just Love Seeing and hearing those Awesome EMD Engine's you can hear them coming from a long way. Sounds to Me like the Caboose has a flat tire that clacking noise would drive me crazy after awhile..
Very cool find, cops most likley were called in by the security team on the train as having someone showing up multiple places and recording the train they might have thought it was some sort of security risk, I could be wrong though.
Edit: Find it interesting that the cars seem to have spots for Hazmat plackards but not actually plackards in place.
I thought the same about the security risk ESPECIALLY when he recorded on tracks
he’s lucky to not be detained until federal agents cleared him of any wrongdoing…they had more than enough reason to detain after the first encounter
The no placard thing is a new rule after 9/11 where nuclear loads are not placarded to prevent terrorists from targeting them ( or at least thats my understanding)
@@randomfastreader That is correct. There are a couple of other HM cargos that display a placard slightly different than what we used pre-9/11.
Perfect locomotive to be leading! Great shots!
Thank you!
9:25 Mark very cool to have the camera by the tracks like that.
Seems like a scenic video of a train 🚂 motoring through pristine wilderness… then you read “nuclear waste”… why does this bring to mind my last relationship… lol
When I was in Lynchburg, VA in may, I saw some green DODX cars that were pretty unique. Not sure if they were nuclear waste or not, but i was pretty neat.
Wait a minute, I was in the area yesterday, could I have seen this?!
This was a few weeks ago.
@@WestCascadeRail Ok, I was gonna say, I don't remember seeing anything about that in the last day or two lol
Great footage! Good camera angles and perspective. Also like your audio setup. It keeps the horn and other loud noises from being painfully loud without outright muting everything.
Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed.
I was stationed in bremerton and used to walk past these everyday on my way to muster on the ship.
Also walked under rusty leaky metal box tunnels that ran from a building to where they were gutting the reactor out of these submarines as well...
Good stuff...
I wonder...is there security personnel stationed in the caboose, and could the caboose be armored? 🤔
I've heard rumors that both of those could be true.
I heard the same, pretty sure both of those are true.
I would have to agree. There’s probably also trained personnel with gear to assess a situation if there was ever a problem.
There is armed personal riding the rear and headend of that train.
Absolutely there are! And yes it is armored!
That is incredibly cool!! I wonder if the casks have those heatsinks on the sides because the spent fuel is still warm enough even after cooling down in the pools for years that it needs to be dissipated.
I think they are mostly there for reinforcement, maybe a bit for cooling down
as a retired member of the United States Marine Corp trust me when I tell you that that caboose is packing big guys with big guns
😂 absolutely no guns involved, there’s no need for armed guards on these trains. They can’t be broken into and they can’t be stolen. Those casks are 10 inches thick stainless steel. Their locations are monitored, and if any issues arise, a response team can be flown in. But the caboose is typically empty. I’ve hauled many of these trains.
@@FFred-us9tw false. The caboose has armed guards.
@@fhowland not on these trains. I’ve moved quite a few. These shipments do not require guards. The cars are impenetrable. Remote monitoring on empties. Logistical escort on loads. No armed escorts on these.
Holding up a Geiger counter as it went past would have been interesting.
Would love to get a Geiger counter reading and view the flasks on thermal.
i rewatch this ten thousand million times in 1 day
I guess I have you to thank for the growth of my channel
Now THAT’S a catch!
I’m trying to get in touch with some Seattle area railfans on when the H-EVEROO garbage trains run as I’ll be along the Scenic Sub this week. Do you have any idea when the southbound and returning northbound would run and approximately where they would pass the Mukilteo/Edmonds area?
Thanks
Oh look! A person hitch hiking. Lol I bet that backpacker doesn't know what's in those!
Fun fact : Those wagons also don't have to abide by the GWV limit on typical cars.
7:09 best jointed rail action right here. Schnabel cars on jointed rail is a true rhythmic sound.
Those are not Schnabel cars. A Schnabel car uses the actual load as the center of a loaded car. And when a Schnabel car is not loaded they bolt each half of the car together to make a single car.
The cars in this video are M-140 Naval Spent Fuel Shipping Container cars. Basically purpose built flat cars with integral support for a dedicated container. The stainless steel cask in the center is not structural to the car. It can be removed and the car is unchanged.
This is a very epic catch indeed! Keep up the good work. I am betting this train will be heading to INL after being handed off to the UP. Unless it is heading someplace else.
WOW, DOD have their own caboose!
With armed guards!
Quite possibly the only trains where the DoD crew has more authority than the conductor, at least as far as the cargo is concerned
@@xx5zi I doubt it, the contract probably requires the entire civilian crew to have a security clearance and sign a lot of paper work.
the engine is cool but it's all about the consist man! The waste containers on the flatcars and especially the caboose wow
I get the impression that caboose has a bit of “firepower” on standby, just in case. I also noticed there were empty flatcars between the cask cars and the engine and caboose to reduce long term exposure for the crew, perhaps?
No”firepower” needed. The cars cannot be tampered with or broken into. And there is zero exposure risk to anyone near these cars. The reason for the extra cars is added braking more and spreading out the weight.
I had no idea this existed... Thanks for the video!
Awesome content man! Keep up the great railfanning! Nice DODX train!
Appreciate it!
WOW... great catch. Thanks for making and sharing..
That’s a heck of a flat spot on that caboose
Part of me would want to film, part of me would want to be as far from this train as possible, especially near turnouts/diamonds/rough track. Yet I’d really like to catch it on the corner of a diamond just for the epic catch
Nice chase down. That was busy day.
Thanks Steve! Sure was.
i am amazed those nuke waste casks r being transported on such crappy tracks. in the 70s the casks were on dodx well flats with one unit followed by an idler car of weight (not an empty flat) , an idler following and 2 cabooses, 1st with men carrying m-16s. i suppose theyre in the blue dodx caboose. my, have things changed
Cool video with my favorite locomotive EMD SD70ACe.
DODX, tis a military train
Man😮! I didn't know about this special equipment to transport nuclear waste, amazing clip, great pictures and sound, Thans for sharing!! good job, well done😉👍
Kind regards from MX.
(Like 2888 & comment #500🤭)
That is definitely one train you do not want to have a derailment !!! I would imagine getting even one back upright would be nightmare !!!
A caboose in this day and age! Outstanding!
Our local work train still uses one daily. I was able to ride in it recently which was awesome!
Likely full of some serious firepower and some dudes with twitchy fingers
I was kinda hoping for giant flashing canisters like the old 1950s Lionel sets but dang the real life ones are just as impressive.....supprised to see unloaded flat cars at the front and rear...would the light weight cars make derailments more likely?
I believe they are called "buffer cars."
@@Roboticus_Prime_RC Yep, like your cars crumple zones, it's designed to... well, buffer the casks and the crew, but also help slow anything that may hit it
The light weight of the idler cars presumably isn't such an issue on such a light train.
"Light" doesn't really apply to RR cars. An empty one weighs 80,000 to 100,000 lbs. They stay gravitated down reel good!
@@michaelsullivan3581 "Light" definitely applies to railcars. Empty weight is typically more like 60-80,000lbs and, while that is substantial, it's nothing compared to a 100+-car train. Railroads do try to avoid having unloaded flat cars (including centrebeams) at the front of long trains, precisely because they are light and skip the track in that situation. Doesn't apply here, as the train is short and under 1000 tons.
Tony Stark had his hand in the design of those flasks.
Great sounding horn !
Because of nuclear material I'm betting that there was a BNSF crew that made that entire trip. Whereas every other train, whether a once a week UP garbage train going to or from Belfair via the Shelton sub or a grain and other export bound loads on trains heading to the Port of Aberdeen on the Elma Sub, ALL of those trains are brought in to and parked at the big siding there at Gibson Creek just north of Oakville and then PSAP (Puget Sound And Pacific) run through crews take over from there. Special materials probably require special trains with special crews, something the PSAP probably doesn't deal with or have. So I'd guess that BNSF took care of this train once they left the main line in Centralia all the way to pick up at the Navy base to where ever it's heading at Hanford. PSAP except for being the owner of those tracks probably had nothing further to do with that particular train that day. As a quick side note I can remember being in Elma when the DOD's nuclear white train came through town heading to the same place this train with the flasks came from. As there were obvious military guards some with dogs, all with guns on a short white colored train heading for the submarine base at Bremerton/Keyport it wasn't hard to quickly figure out that train was carrying something...important, very large and heavy and valuable enough to require all those armed guards, like missiles that were for use on large newly built nuclear submarines. Anyway there's been some...unexpected and interesting trains roll through these parts once and awhile in the past. And I'm glad I got to see a couple of them...
I can assure you G&W took care of this Trian without a doubt then handed it over to BNSF
G&W stands for?
@@drewbrown9678 Genesee & Wyoming Railroad which owns PSAP
The Police normally are called when someone is spotted recording the dangerous loads for safety. Oil Trains and this one are the most likely culprit for this operation
Very creepy looking, like something from an episode of outer limits.
😅
Do not attempt to adjust your television, we are controlling transmission!!!😀😀😀😀😀😦😦😦🚂🚂🚂🚂🍺🍺🍺
@@artmchugh5644 😄. Yah, what he said!
ikr lol💀
that was an amazing shot you got from below the level of the rails. nice work!
Did you see a high rail truck before the train?
7:48 is the flatbed used as a buffer car
Very cool indeed, are they on jointed rail?
Most of the line is joined rail, but a few small sections are welded.
excellent camera work
Thanks!
Interesting rolling stock. Triple axle trucks on those flat cars.
This would make one heck of a Lionel set.
The Daleks have returned! “Exterminate!…”
Bremerton or Bangor (different branch)? All the Trident sub nukes are at Bangor, the most anywhere else on earth.
While the cops were following it to present mischief, it actually may be illegal to shoot pictures of Defense Department activities.
These are spent fuel cars. Not weapons. The final destination for these loads is Idaho.
Nicely captured ! 👍
It takes one person that knows how to make a descent explosive and you've got a spill that no one wants to clean up.
Wow just one loco. That's some risk they take. Here in Germany nuclear waste trains have 4 diesellocos, two at the front, two at the back, various passenger cars for police and staff of the tain to clear some of the tracks if needed and the few waste cars. Actually almost noone knows which direction the train is going, mostly it will be decided at every station the train passes
Great video, wild looking consist
Nice Video! Awesome Catch!!
Out Railfanning... And then You see something like that! Incredible Catch Man! 👍👍👍 Keep up the Great Work! 👍👍👍
Thank you!
Very cool catch! I didn't know something like this existed!
On my frequent trips for vacation to Florida on I 95 we would see those containers or something similar on 18-wheelers mostly in the North and South Carolina area of I-95 at approximately 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. I never saw them in the daylight.
Very cool catch and nice video! I’m glad to see it’s traveling at a low speed.
How did you know it was coming through?
I just read the description and you explain there how you found it. My bad! 😂
The way you closed out the video. That shot is money
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
Wonder if Steven Segal is in the caboose.
The empty flat cars attached to the caboose and locomotive....are they for spacing so the crews don't get exposed to too much radiation? Which would mean those tank cars are actually emitting radiation?
"Buffer" cars, solely to protect the manned equipment front and rear from getting crushed by a vessel in the event of a derailment. The amount of radiation emitted from these casks is incredibly low, even during prolonged exposure.
@@xx5zi Thanks for the explanation!
If any of y’all are worried about the cameraman getting radiation exposure, there’s no need to be. Those containers are sealed up so well that very little if any radiation leaks out of them. In fact, you get more radiation exposure from holding a bunch of bananas in your hand than you would from standing right next to those containers, and even that’s a very minuscule amount.
If a train like this ever drails look out 😳
@@derrickconnor1303 nah, those casks are so well built. I've read they can survive anything
@@heron2 yeah you sure about that howd that work out for the titanic just saying
@@derrickconnor1303 Check out some videos about crash tests they did with casks like this then. There’s a video on here where they literally crash a rocket propelled locomotive into one. Aside from a few dents, that cask remain completely intact.
@@derrickconnor1303 Operation smash hit, the train is built effectively to withstand being shoved off a bridge at high speed via rockslide into a rocky waterfall and get dug out with zero damage to interior containment
A train hauling nuclear waste yikes I have never seen flasks that big I sure hope they're careful
is that a DOD caboose?
Yep!
With the exception of the locomotive the entire consist is DOD.
Keep'em coming (military transport) trains ALWAYS piques my interest.
I wondered about the thickness of those vessels (containers) requirements for nuclear material storage. Probably 10:1
Shared n SUBSCRIBED 👍
Wow.. amazing
Can I use this video in my train compilation video credit to you in video and link in description will be given
I really appreciate you asking first, thank you. I am giving you permission to use my content
AS LONG AS YOU DO THE FOLLOWING:
Keep the "West Cascade Rail" watermark in the lower left corner of the video
Put a link in your description to the video of mine that was used.
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Only use parts of the video. Don't show the video in whole
Don't monetize any video my content is used in
I am giving you permission simply because you asked first, again, thank you for not just stealing it without my permission. If you have any issues with the requirements listed above, let me know, and we can work things out.
@@WestCascadeRail First of all Thank you to respond and allowing me to use your content. I want to tell that I use about 30-40 sec video for compilation so it will be difficult to say channel name with narration and in each description I always write that this is not my content and all credit goes to original authors. Second I will add 7-8 different videos and monetization will be on.If you have any questions free to say
Its honestly a weird feeling seeing just one locomotive
Surprised you were able to get by with placing that GoPro on the tracks....
You would think that there would be a second engine just in case.
They can afford to wait fifteen minutes after a breakdown for lil backup engine the third to show up
Really nice filming, ty
Thank you for the comment! Glad you enjoyed.
Don’t see many cabooses used in active freight service these days.