A compendium of DMIR trains on Proctor Hill from 1988 to 1992 including a cab ride down the hill and onto Dock 6, when classic high hood SD's ruled the hill with SDM's.
What an absolute gem again, just 45 minutes plain plessure for my eyes and ears. Where else in the States could you still see triple packs of SD9's grafting hard work on heavy trains by that time? The loaded 108 car train sounded as a substantial load for the 4 loco's 7000hp (weight of each car 200000 lbs), but loaded trains ran downhill all the time? Because the trains loaded with olivin (the beige colored stuff, used in the pelletizing proces) were only 45-50 cars and three loco's had very hard work pulling these uphill. Nice that they offered a cabride and access to the unloader to you. It's in my favorite list now.
Thanks for incl the nighttime clips! Alot of videographers forget that night time railroading can be just as dramatic as the what happens during the daylight hours!
Great video ! A solid 45 minutes of roaring diesel without air horn noise is very, very enjoyable. The yard office shot was nice too. Was the clear plastic board with tags the call board or power distribution office ? Regarding the "Orinoko Air" explanation, did the cars also have a standard retainer triple valve or were they never interchanged off DMIR and didn't need them ? Really enjoyed this !
Sorry for taking so long to reply. The clear plastic board was for the crews. The cars with the Orinoco setup have standard triple valves and can mix with regular freight cars. It's the retainer that's different.
Great work,thanks for putting this up,a couple of questions,why only bell ringing at the crossings? and what is the red handle for at the bottom of the control stand? Cheers Roy from Australia
royscreen61 As in my answer above, Duluth and Proctor had whistle restrictions, only bell ringing was allowed. The FRA has since banned this practice and whistles must be sounded at all public crossings unless "quiet zone" crossing protection has been installed. The red handle on the side of the control stand is for the "Orinoco air". This was a "straight air" pipe that was connected to the retainers on the quad sets of ore cars that enabled the engineer to set the retainers from inside the cab, then make a brake application and hold it while recharging the train line by releasing the train brake. It was a variable retainer and could be set to whatever degree required by the engineer, unlike the fixed retainers on most freight cars which can only be set from the ground to a fixed percentage of retainer, and required a stop to be set up and another stop to be unset.
One of the first things CN did after buying the DM & IR was to tear up one set of the track that went from the docks to Proctor. In my personal opinion that was an unwise decision but what do I know.
I think DM&IR had already pulled the second main up before CN-of course I could be wrong but I had been following the dock 5 dilemma and realized the two were co-dependent. If the Missabe had maintained it’s place in U.S. Steel’s logistical chain and/or there was enough pellet volume and/or they were still using dock 5 I could see them hanging on to the second main, but they’re easily meeting demand with what they’ve got. More than anything it was the mega-efficient pellet storage/retrieval system that doomed the second main. For a long time now in the summer shipping season the size of the mountain of pellets in the storage area doesn’t seem to change much. I worry more about a conflict that might draw more material than CN can provide but there really aren’t any large land-mass wars anymore that would require the manufacture of huge amounts of steel and besides, the steel industry is banking on South American ore which is cheaper than what they can get from CN.
Wow what an amazing symphony of 567 and 645 prime movers. Why is it that some massabi engines have 2 bells on them, and why all engines in the consists bells ring? Anyone know?
Cape Rails Productions Missabe had the high mounted bells to prevent them from icing up in the severe Minnesota winters. Almost all modern locos with 6 MU hose points on the front have one hose dedicated to the bell. As far as I know, DMIR was the only road to routinely hook up the bell hoses so that all bells in the consist rang when the bell was activated in the cab. Duluth and Proctor had whistle restrictions (when that was still legal) and my theory is that they MU'ed the bells to get more bells sounding at the crossings as an extra safety measure.
No horns means loud bells-right out in front so you can really hear 'em. "Safety First"- it's right there in the logo. I can't see CN allowing cab rides down Proctor hill. Excellent video!!!!
@@douglasskaalrud6865 The cab ride was through a connection with the president of the railroad. We were treated like VIP's. I doubt that it would have been possible for an individual just making a request.
Men and machines at work...much respect...
awesome ..living close to the DM&IR was amazing .
A classic. Just awesome. Totally enjoyed it. Excellent video.
What an absolute gem again, just 45 minutes plain plessure for my eyes and ears.
Where else in the States could you still see triple packs of SD9's grafting hard work on heavy trains by that time?
The loaded 108 car train sounded as a substantial load for the 4 loco's 7000hp (weight of each car 200000 lbs), but loaded trains ran downhill all the time?
Because the trains loaded with olivin (the beige colored stuff, used in the pelletizing proces) were only 45-50 cars and three loco's had very hard work pulling these uphill.
Nice that they offered a cabride and access to the unloader to you. It's in my favorite list now.
Fantastic video!
Thanks for incl the nighttime clips! Alot of videographers forget that night time railroading can be just as dramatic as the what happens during the daylight hours!
A lot of photographers could learn that lesson too. I prefer to shoot at night-the images are much more dramatic.
love those "SD-M" s
Awesome video. Thanks for posting it. At 37:47 is SDM 316 which is now preserved at the Lake Superior Transportation Museum.
Thanks for the info,much appreciated fmnut.
NOW THIS A CLASSIC SD9 MOVIE!!
Train ride is great. Thanks.
I have visited Duluth many times and always said I would pay to ride down the hill and back on this train
Great video ! A solid 45 minutes of roaring diesel without air horn noise is very, very enjoyable. The yard office shot was nice too. Was the clear plastic board with tags the call board or power distribution office ?
Regarding the "Orinoko Air" explanation, did the cars also have a standard retainer triple valve or were they never interchanged off DMIR and didn't need them ?
Really enjoyed this !
Sorry for taking so long to reply. The clear plastic board was for the crews. The cars with the Orinoco setup have standard triple valves and can mix with regular freight cars. It's the retainer that's different.
wow
COOL!
Great work,thanks for putting this up,a couple of questions,why only bell ringing at the crossings? and what is the red handle for at the bottom of the control stand?
Cheers Roy from Australia
royscreen61 As in my answer above, Duluth and Proctor had whistle restrictions, only bell ringing was allowed. The FRA has since banned this practice and whistles must be sounded at all public crossings unless "quiet zone" crossing protection has been installed.
The red handle on the side of the control stand is for the "Orinoco air". This was a "straight air" pipe that was connected to the retainers on the quad sets of ore cars that enabled the engineer to set the retainers from inside the cab, then make a brake application and hold it while recharging the train line by releasing the train brake. It was a variable retainer and could be set to whatever degree required by the engineer, unlike the fixed retainers on most freight cars which can only be set from the ground to a fixed percentage of retainer, and required a stop to be set up and another stop to be unset.
One of the first things CN did after buying the DM & IR was to tear up one set of the track that went from the docks to Proctor. In my personal opinion that was an unwise decision but what do I know.
I think Missabe had done that before the CN takeover when they concluded traffic would never reach historic levels again.
I think DM&IR had already pulled the second main up before CN-of course I could be wrong but I had been following the dock 5 dilemma and realized the two were co-dependent. If the Missabe had maintained it’s place in U.S. Steel’s logistical chain and/or there was enough pellet volume and/or they were still using dock 5 I could see them hanging on to the second main, but they’re easily meeting demand with what they’ve got. More than anything it was the mega-efficient pellet storage/retrieval system that doomed the second main. For a long time now in the summer shipping season the size of the mountain of pellets in the storage area doesn’t seem to change much. I worry more about a conflict that might draw more material than CN can provide but there really aren’t any large land-mass wars anymore that would require the manufacture of huge amounts of steel and besides, the steel industry is banking on South American ore which is cheaper than what they can get from CN.
Wow what an amazing symphony of 567 and 645 prime movers. Why is it that some massabi engines have 2 bells on them, and why all engines in the consists bells ring? Anyone know?
Cape Rails Productions Missabe had the high mounted bells to prevent them from icing up in the severe Minnesota winters.
Almost all modern locos with 6 MU hose points on the front have one hose dedicated to the bell. As far as I know, DMIR was the only road to routinely hook up the bell hoses so that all bells in the consist rang when the bell was activated in the cab. Duluth and Proctor had whistle restrictions (when that was still legal) and my theory is that they MU'ed the bells to get more bells sounding at the crossings as an extra safety measure.
***** Very interesting, thanks for the reply!
No horns means loud bells-right out in front so you can really hear 'em. "Safety First"- it's right there in the logo. I can't see CN allowing cab rides down Proctor hill. Excellent video!!!!
@@douglasskaalrud6865 The cab ride was through a connection with the president of the railroad. We were treated like VIP's. I doubt that it would have been possible for an individual just making a request.
GE 7FDL engines better sound...
any idea why the passenger car and combine were being shuttled back and fourth?
they had been used on an AIME special along with some stock from LSRM and were going back home to Proctor where they were normally kept.
+fmnut thanks.