Grapple Truck Pulling Out Ties and Cribbing

[@PRRGG1]

I bet ole Richard could pull a splinter out of a mouses paw with the grapple. He's a fantastic operator.

[@ccrx-xu1wc]

Yes sir, Richard is a railroader from way back, great guy! Send him out on a job he can lay it out without any instruction from above.

[@trenamerritt5344]

Way to go Richard! Cool seeing him coax those old ties to come out. Sweet video. Thanks again for sharing!!

[@ccrx6700]

Was 90 here today Trena and that video was on a rather cold day. wishing to have that cold back after today! Thanks for watching my friend.

[@kennkrizsanitz7820]

love watching a guy running a machine that really knows what there doing. sounds like you have a lot of job security just trying to keep up with the trackage. keep em coming Dave loving it. C YA

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you Kenn, yep we got lot work needs done, never ending, we just get so little track time, they been running coal like crazy lately, but black gold pays the bills...lol

[@johnsmart964]

He deals with these old railroad ties, effortlessly. These are fantastic videos, thank you so much for bringing us these fascinating and most interesting videos. Excellent.

[@ccrx-xu1wc]

Thank you John, glad you are enjoying watching. Stay tuned sir, got a lot good vids coming up this year

[@zacharyburkum8547]

I love your videos and your enthusiasm for railroading and life! I'm so happy I found your channel!

[@ccrx6700]

Well thank you very much Zachary, we're really pleased to have you watching them, we do appreciate that my good man.

[@shirleyharrington-moore9657]

This was a good video, Dave. I shamelessly admit I enjoy watching people work. I'm sure using outside equipment costs, but only occasionally needing some pieces does seem the best, cost effective choice. Thank you for sharing.

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you Shirley for the very nice comment. We certainly want to thank you for taking the time to visit with us and write in my friend.

[@lewistodd9242]

Great video. The operator is a true professional.

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you Lewis, yes he is, been a railroader all his life and most of it on the grapple truck, great guy to be around also. Thanks for writing in and for watching sir.

[@briankemp5206]

Nice work guys.

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you

[@AlleghenyMTNRails]

Wow, at 71 years old, Richard is pretty skilled. Probably because he has many years of experience. I do wanna ask you, you said you would show me around the railroad in a few months. Could I bring a few other guys along? If not, that's alright. Keep up the great work guys. Keep that coal movin'!

[@ccrx6700]

Absolutely! Would enjoy meeting your friends along with you

[@railfanpat1719]

That guy could pick your wallet with that machine lol.

[@ccrx6700]

LOL, i liked that, thank you

[@railfanpat1719]

I thought you would lol. At least you guys don’t have to remove all those ties by hand. You definitely show things in your videos that you may not see with Class 1 railroads.

[@ccrx6700]

@@railfanpat1719 Patrick, thank you, could be most class 1 wouldnt allow their employees to do this kind of vids. Look up Stephanie Katelnikoff, she was conductor for CP, got fired for takin pics on rr there. Also we are a class 2 rr, with a class 2 track if you were wonderin

[@makeamericagreatagain7314]

Good job men 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you so much 😀

[@alainacollom1348]

Dave I would love to see a video sometime showing how you get your truck on the rails.

[@ccrx6700]

There gonna be one in the future Alaina, setting a hi rail truck on the rails, give me a month or so to get it published, it's already made and just waiting to get published, got much more already scheduled to come your way. Do appreciate your suggestion, I like it when folks tell me what they want to see, that is a big help.

[@davidhuber9418]

looks like fun, thanks again

[@ccrx6700]

David, you are welcome, appreciate your comments sir and again thank you for watching

[@327musman]

So can you tell us the difference between wooden cross ties and concrete cross ties and why you would use one or the other

[@ccrx6700]

David, would be glad to do that. Will make that a future video for sure. It is something a lot of folks are interested in, just give me some time to make it. I do sppreciate your watching sir

[@jamescrego5904]

Age equals experience!!

[@ccrx-xu1wc]

James, thank you, Richard been a railroader all his life, great guy to know, he can lay out a job without any instruction and at his age is a really hard worker, thank you for watching sir.

[@dorothycole8611]

Interesting!

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you

[@michaelball760]

I couldn't imagine using a grapple truck to change ties. We use an old jackson tie inserter.

[@ccrx-xu1wc]

Michael, I did not know Jackson made tie inserters, thank you, You are keeping me informed sir! learning a good bit from ya! Years ago ran a very old TKO but don't remember who made it, and have never found anybody who can tell me what TKO means. Am guessing it means tie knocker outer?

[@stretchlimo7275]

Nothing like wintertime in the Mon Valley! What did you guys do during the blizzard of 93? I know we more than a few feet of snow, did you guys have to shut down the railroad at all?

[@ccrx6700]

That was wild for sure, I spent lot hours plowing snow with my regulator

[@michaelpass2176]

How hard is it to replace these ties?how can a rock car go over track with out support under the track.?

[@ccrx6700]

Ties go in fairly easily Michael with the right equipment. Depends on how much of the ties are missing how much can go over a track with no ties or no ballast under the rails. I really can't give you a definite answer also depends on the weight of the rolling stock going over it. Generally speaking about 3 ties missing is about the most I would want to chance., but don't even like doing that. Hope that helps some.

[@thesandman7294]

what is the base salary for the boom loader operator ?

[@ccrx6700]

This is a RR contracting service and he gets paid $30 an hour, highest paid for this particular contractor. Not every contractor pays the same and some RR jobs they go on are rate jobs which could pay up to 50 to 75 an hour. So there is a lot of varying pay rates for contractors across the nation. Thanks for taking the time to watch and write in today my friend.

[@codypyles7254]

What is Richard’s last name? I worked with a gentleman with that name, he was an older gentleman and worked for Frontier

[@ccrx6700]

Richard Wise. He is a grand person to be around. Cody. He's retired now at least 3 times and keeps coming back, says all his friends are on the RR. Richard drives that big truck all over the place, although they try and keep him local if possible. Very much appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and check out the video my friend.

[@codypyles7254]

@@ccrx6700 that’s him! I worked with him on an RJ Corman line, heck of a guy!

[@chucksdesk]

71’s not old... I’m 71, don’t feel old.

[@ccrx6700]

Good for you Charles! I'm glad to hear that 👍

[@donaldwittmuss6079]

Trains scheduled bssed on customer coal orders...You run one train a day, Your weekends are maintenance days...

[@ccrx6700]

Donald, yep for most part on time table. I am track maintenance and work a weekend/holiday schedule, work off extra board on week days. Train can run 24/7 they have operators on schedule round clock

[@notmestillnotme3082]

I didn't find anything wrong with the Bucky video you pulled down. You stated that he didn't want to be filmed. Nothing wrong with that. Some people feel that way. I guess I missed something. Just the same keep doing your thing.

[@ccrx6700]

Thank you for nice comment, glad you are enjoying

[@TheNemosdaddy]

Dude, you're not a railroader. You literally take care of 17 miles on a captive rail system. Do you even pay into railroad retirement? You're a mine worker who they use to maintain the rail tracks. You're wrong and clueless about a lot of things in these videos because you're experience is very limited. By you're own admission they contract out a lot of the work. Using hulcher and other outside companies.

[@ccrx6700]

Yes sir, I am an employee of a mine who owns a railroad on which I work the railroad, you are certainly welcome to qualify me as anything you desire, or believe anything about me that you desire. You sound very displeased, I'm sorry if you didn't like the video, I understand that not everyone does and that's okay.

[@frootloops1655]

@@ccrx6700 Recently retired Captain with a major airline here. Don't want to make this about me, just feel the need to jump in and say you do a wonderful job on these videos. Your knowledge, your personality, your humbleness are phenomenal. Discovered you only about May 24, 2021 or so and was reluctant to even write and distract you from the job at hand but thought the previous comment warranted it. Well done, sir.

[@ccrx6700]

@@frootloops1655 well thank you very much, appreciate that sir and hope you will be enjoying more of the videos 🌝

[@12StringHWY]

How do you even apply for that job? I've been on a grapple for 5 years and I was 2nd best out of 28 operators (I trained most of them). But these railroad contractors are extremely hard to get in with! Just as hard to get anyone to respond from them.

[@ccrx6700]

Online at Iron Synergy web site however you will have to start out underground and then win a bid on the track job, which may take a ton of years to get. That guy in the video is from Frontier RR Services a contractor, we do not have a grapple truck here of our own. Thank you very much for taking the time to visit with us and check out the video my friend.

[@roberthunter8573]

You haven't seen many grapple truck operators apparently

[@ccrx6700]

Not sure Robert what you are meaning? Thanks for watching.

[@roberthunter8573]

@ccrx 6700 That's Railroadin! what I mean is I do the same thing for a living. I'm not saying he is the best. But I'm not saying he sucks at it either. What I'm saying is, there is a lot of good operators out here. Just because this is the only guy you have seen operating a grapple truck doesn't mean he is the best. Just saying.. there are a lot of us who can stack beer cans on top of each other without knocking them over. Like I said, there are a lot of good operators out here..

[@ccrx6700]

@@roberthunter8573 👍😊