Railroad ENGINEER Talks about FOREIGN ENGINES

[@RonsTrainsNThings]

I really appreciate your looks into real-life modern railroading. Those of us who are enthusiasts but lack actual railroad experience find it invaluable as a resource for our model operations.

[@chadm8868]

Ron, you type exactly the way you talk. I read this comment in your voice and delivery and it made me chuckle. Thank you Ron and DJ for some great N scale videos.

[@RonsTrainsNThings]

@@chadm8868 LOL, thanks.

[@thelowmein9143]

Chad M me too it sounded like his great, news anchor-ish voice in my head.

[@thejmc4074]

I will say, I have worked with train enthusiasts and they lose a lot of luster for it after working for the rr.

[@r.b.holmes2779]

Good Man , don't bite the hand that feeds you

[@rogerbivins9144]

I've just found your channel and please keep up the fantastic work. Your knowledge and insight into modern Railroading is very interesting, the narration is as smooth and professional as any paid announcer out there and your attention to detail on your own layout is incredible. Cheers and thank you!

[@djstrains]

I have been having a rough time in life lately, full disclosure. I really appreciate that words of encouragement. I have some footage and will be making new videos soon.

[@SD45-ET44AC]

Well here it is, April 2022, and I’m finally watching some of your “hobby work” and really enjoying it. The babble isn’t really babble it’s you doing your best to educate us without crossing the line between CSX Engineer and KZbin sensation and you are very good at it. Thanks for sharing!

[@billmorris2613]

I’m a retired UP Engineer and the 2 main things I wanted to know about my engines were, are they inspected and how much working horsepower do I have. My favorite engines were the SD series, especially the ones with the newer cabs. After I retired my favorite engine is a Mikado Steam Locomotive. It’s going through it’s second rebuild.

[@rjohnson1690]

I was concerned with the card being signed, a good blue card, a working AC/heater, and a clean toilet.

[@gregbowen617]

You give a great insight into real railroad operations... love it!!! Cheers from Melbourne Australia

[@djstrains]

Thank you and God bless your country

[@metronorthrailfan2244]

4:00 Wait a second. I think I know what Grain train you were referring to. I would imagine based on the routing you described, that you were referring to G111. Grain Loads from the BNSF in Cicero, IL to Brunswick, MD. Then its westbound empty counterpart G110 out of Brunswick, MD back to Cicero, IL

[@djstrains]

yup

[@metronorthrailfan2244]

@@djstrains I figured as much since that's pretty much the only BNSF grain train that runs through your area as far as I am aware. I have yet to catch one of those at the Amtrak station in Amsterdam, NY. The BNSF grain trains that would run through that station would be loaded trains G103 and G107 or empty trains G104 and G108

[@terrencebradley5417]

Whoa! Learned a lot and developed a whole new level of respect for the job!

[@LandNfan]

It’s great to hear current talk about railroading. Prior to you, it was all from my granddad who retired in 1959 after 51 years with the L&N. So much has changed since then.

[@LandNfan]

Sam I am Yes, indeed. He hired on at age 15 as a “call boy”. In 1908 very few people had telephones. When the crew scheduler needed someone from the extra board, they sent a kid on a bicycle to,knock on his door. That was my granddad’s first job. When he was old enough, he got on firing, worked hard, and got promoted to engineer. So he sure saw several generation of steam as well as the transition to diesel.

[@robertmcbain6247]

Semi retired train hopper/beginning model railroader with a dog here. Pittsburgh is a big train town, (rode NS out of there last year) when I started circa 2013 there were easily a couple thousand people riding but the number seems to have dropped drastically. Did a loop of the northeast and only ran into 2 other riders, 10 years ago you'd be lucky to get to the hop out and there only be 2 other people waiting for the same train

[@jolliemark6294]

Thanks for giving us a look into the real railroads as most of us don't know what it is really all about, as always thanks for sharing....Jack 👍

[@eoinpkav152]

8:25 it really depends on the railroad, I know the railroad that connects to my yard has a siding which I've only ever seen one train on and that siding is signaled.

[@eliabraham6918]

This is a great video. I understand why you think the BNSF I thought the same way too then realized that it's because the color is brighter

[@alainaarrhodge5900]

You know I love your videos and especially the day-to-day/behind the scenes stuff. Keep it coming!!

[@What_If_We_Tried]

DJ, thanks so much for another very insightful video, and just ignore the hateful comments, as these types of people enjoy trolling and probably are part of the 10% of the population with antisocial personality disorder, and secondly, all comments, even negative ones, help a channel's YT algorithms (-or so I've heard). And you don't need to justify wanting to keep your personal life, e.g., personal FB page, separate from your djstrains channel.

[@Cowboy_Steve]

Yeah... I'm just starting out in the hobby, and while space wise it would make sense there was no way my eyes would handle N scale... so HO it is lol. When I get older might have to move to O scale 😁 Enjoying your vids 🤠

[@djstrains]

Dude, I hear ya!!!

[@hubertfitzgerald7534]

I guess I got out before all the restrictions took effect.I retired in 2009 and I feel I saw the best of railroading between 1967-2009 nobody bothered me they gave me the work and I GOT IT DONE ! But I was able to carry a video camera and a digital camera and got 22hrs. video and 20,000 digital shots there is video and digital pics. I have not gone through yet and probably never have the time to see them all but love your video's !

[@marcellinden7305]

Hey young fella, I was celebrating my 8th birthday when you were born... trick is to keep them rolling past. "Foreign Engines" seized my interest, thinking Mexican or Canadian but you then put me straight on to actually being your competition in neighboring states. Don't see much "Foreign" here in Australia, and in my parts here in Queensland it mostly be 2mile long DPU electric coal trains and diesel cattle trains. If you ever come over the Pacific for a visit I'll hit up some friends and try and get you a ride on one of those, and a hands on look at their driver training center.

[@djstrains]

Bucket list

[@gbyoung2]

I somehow stumbled on to this page and my ears perked up when you mentioned New Castle and Connellsville. I'm from Western Pa (born Latrobe, raised in New Castle), but that was back when the earth was still hot. Kinda came to the conclusion that you might live in New Castle, or the surrounding area. I'm in VA now. Been here since '66 when I got out of the Service.

[@djstrains]

Grew up Penn Hills, lived in monroeville Irwin and Jeannette

[@metronorthrailfan2244]

Speaking of foreign power, I actually caught a CP AC4400CW number 8601 as a DPU on CSX M364 back in December. M364 is a manifest from Avon, IN to Selkirk, NY

[@Ken-uy3cu]

7:44 “The dogs are trained to get on and off moving trains at slow speeds” 😂🤣. That’s exactly how CSX described your conductor training!

[@michaelsullivan2361]

Really appreciate your insight into the real thing. As well as your teaching/tutorials on the hobby! Great channel!

[@djstrains]

I appreciate that! There's about 400 videos organized into PLAYLISTS. On my homepage you can search for playlists that best interest you. Enjoy!

[@kensingtonchapp4819]

I'm a BNSF engineer and your remark about BNSF taking care of their engines was pretty much spot-on. For the most part they're kept in good repair, but, a lot of the credit goes to the rail crews. Personally, I sweep up my floor, and use clorox wipes to clean my controls and control stands. I clean my screens and windows, and I'm a rabid anti-smoker. I do not smoke, and I don't allow my conductors to smoke on board, which is pretty easy considering most are new hire young guys who don't smoke anyway. I can't say the same for CSX and NS. When we receive those in our consists they're almost always extremely dirty and absolutely reek of cigarette smoke. (NS is the worst for that). In my opinion, the best foreign power to use as the lead unit are CN units. Always clean, mechanically sound, and lots of spec'd out control options.

[@djstrains]

I agree about the smoking. When I hired, I was a conductor and every engineer chain smoked. I had gone to doctors because after weeks of it, I had a metallic taste in my mouth. They all retired or died and new guys rarely smoke. I am one of the few engineers who takes his garbage bag with him.

[@What_If_We_Tried]

Really appreciate your insights as a retired BNSF engineer, and your comments about CN trains being so clean makes a lot of sense - maybe I'll add in CN foreign power to my future layout - because whenever I've crossed the border into Canada, the sides of the roads are relatively litter free, and government buildings and public spaces seemed cleaner and better maintained.

[@TomsTrainsandThings]

Good video DJ. Enjoy hearing you talk about what us modelers never see.

[@TRAINSUP1]

I watch a lot of KZbin pertaining to RRing and find you are my #1 source of Info., I like that you cover all aspects of RRing. both modeling and real time. Have a Blessed Weekend. 👍

[@randknu1]

Wow, i am an engineer from Norway and we have radios we can play music or podcast on. It is hooked up to the onboard gsm-r telephone so it mutes whenever there is a call. And our union would never permit audio or video surveilance of the driver. Some trains have video recording forward, to record a crash, and in many cases the driver can be seen in the window reflection. The camera is in the cab facing forward.

[@djstrains]

Thank you for that unique insight!!!

[@bradleyogden5688]

DJ I understand about the power, you guys want it dependable to take from point a to point b and perform like they should. I used to be an industrial fork lift operator, all that I thought to myself is give me the fork truck for the right job and runs and performs like they should. I didn't prefer any one or another. But they definitely need to make them for a smoother ride. Have a great day and think saftey first.

[@conrailman1]

im a former Conrail engineer and former NS engineer , i prefer anything that isnt ge , but thats all personal preference, i wont say where i work but we used alot od older emd power because of availability and lower maintenance cost

[@coinman1972]

This video was very informative. A question I've always had about "foreign" power was answered. Thanks, DJ.

[@ericoxner8333]

I used to be in ho trains had 3 wcdash9 but my eyes decided they did not like ho anymore.So I went up O gauge my eyes are very happy.

[@larryweedon6399]

The bnsf grain trains go to Brunswick md,then to Winchester va, the bnsf units are used on local service while the grain train is in Winchester va being unloaded, because csx units with steerable trucks are used on the csx Shenandoah sub between harpers ferry and Winchester va. after the grain train is unloaded, and returns to Brunswick, the bnsf units will be put back on and returns back to grand forks ND, via Chicago

[@jkl12397]

I used to work as a conductor for another railroad until furlough and I had a similar incident with the first DP train I had. To preface, conductors weren't trained in DP setup or operation whatsoever so it made it even worse: My engineer and I were running a DP with trip optimizer train from HB to Pittsburgh . We got an approach in the cab, so we disabled trip optimizer to slow down. We had the same problem with the engine being in notch 1 and the rear in 8, With us being new to DP we looked at the booklet and it didnt say much about it, so we called our operations and they didn't know what was going on. Luckily the signal cleared up, and we remembered applying 10psi should release it..15psi didn't even notch it off. We finally got in touch with the system road foreman and he told us about the fence being on. We ran 25 miles with no control over the rear. A Pamphlet is no means of training.

[@RWSBaden]

304 Garage, a brake pipe reduction should have put the DPU back in idle.

[@jkl12397]

@@RWSBaden It should have, but as I said, 15psi reduction didn't even do anything

[@RWSBaden]

@@jkl12397 I'm thinking we probably work for the same railroad. Without going into any detail there have been some issues with Trip Optimizer, Distributed Power, PTC and LEADER. I'm just surprised MOC was not able to help and they did not suggest "Dropping the Fence". Also sorry to hear you're one of the causalities of PSR. Not sure how much longer we'll have to endure this nightmare.

[@jkl12397]

@@RWSBaden Yeah, I was too, but they do not train us on anything, Hell my PTC training course was "take this test as many times you need to to get a 75%" and that was it. DP training is "here's a pamphlet" . All I've heard MOC ever do is "turn it off, turn it back on again.... that didn't fix it?.... I don't know what the problem is." From what I hear, my terminal has 14 spots open on the extra board, enough for me to go back probably, but they cant admit they are wrong...so I wait.

[@Jason_DPMF]

Always love the stories from your self and guests. Honestly this is my favorite part of you tube . My grand father was a gain buyer for pool in sk canada. I love every part of that old wooden elevator form buying grain to loading cars. (even cleaning the pit LOL) Your living the dream ....well my dream. Thank for sharing your experiences with us.

[@kens.3729]

Q & A gives us Great Insight on the Inner Workings of the Railroad. Thanks for ALL your Efforts.👍

[@djstrains]

Thanks for watching!

[@BBT609]

The foreign power question was very neat.

[@55tmilam]

I’ve been watching trains since 1977! The farm I grew up on and still own borders a csx mainline. I’ve seen just about everything go by there! Anyway your videos are so informative and answers many questions I’ve always had. Thank you for your great videos!

[@djstrains]

I have so many more, please watch them all this weekend, lol

[@michaelmartin6734]

We used to hop trains all the time as kids, between Braddock and Downtown.

[@edwardmartin8376]

Really liked your comments on fencing. The train sim Run8 offers this same procedure, not that there is any real comparison to to your job, but I had to build a small train to practice and then when out on the road it was problematic. It is all fun. Been watching all your modeling videos, kudos. Modeling world really does build friendship.

[@Simonal777]

Thanks for sharing it is amazing hearing the real information, I am in the UK, but hoping to set up an N Scale model railway, more bang per buck or more space to have fun. Thanks again please keep sharing.

[@djstrains]

Thanks Please go to my KZbin channel homepage and look for PLAYLISTS: life as an engineer

[@djstrains]

Or prototype information

[@captainchaos3174]

Hi DJ, I always watch your videos. Always very informative. I absolutely love the American trains. Hopefully one day I will see a couple in real life. Dirk from South Africa.

[@rjohnson1690]

Foreign power was interesting to see because of all the small differences. CSX stuff had handrails down into the nose. BNSF stuff had buttons for bell and horn AND the lever handle and bell button on the control stand. Canadian stuff had stretchers, a hot plate and a tea kettle in all the engines. NS units all had free lunchboxes marked “Property of NS” on them. BNSF power tended to be cleaner. CP power was the cleanest at one time, but at some point ended up being the filthiest. CSX stuff always smelled like hay. Where I worked foreign power was usually buried in the consist, so I didn’t run foreign power very often. It was always worth the giggle hearing the conductor screw up the RR initials calling the DS because they were so used to saying our RR.

[@djstrains]

My fav was in early 2000's FURX leased engines. F>>>>>U.....rx 1234. They soon became trail units.

[@rjohnson1690]

@@djstrains yeah! I had a set of FURX Geeps on local I was on in the 00s. If I remember correctly they were exB&O and were refurbished to like new condition.

[@SeaboardCentral]

Always interesting hearing from another Hoghead! Lol! Been with NS since 1996, promoted as an engineer in 2000. Will also turn 50 on April 2. Check out my Seaboard Central channel for some of my stuff. Stay safe and keep em in line. Tim

[@djstrains]

Ya think we'll make it to 60? Lol. Or will we be replaced by Ai or a robot? Maybe we can collaborate this year on a video?

[@SeaboardCentral]

I sure hope we can retire in 10 years! I think the mainline trains will all have auto control but an engineer will still be around to monitor it. I don’t think Conductors will be on the main though. I came off the mainline a couple of years ago and bid in roadswitcher assignments. We have a lot on my district. I work a daylight job but due to PSR my off days are Mon/Tues. At least right now anyways. I’d love to collaborate on a video. Hit me up on my Seaboard Central Facebook page. Tim

[@Nscalestuff]

@@SeaboardCentral I see 214/204, 203/213 being combo'd, and possibly single man soon, and in the future ran unmanned, but I think the southern region is too undulating to run too many autonomous trains effieciently and probably even harder to take the conductor off of all the thru freights with the amount of pointless work stops they make due to psr. But I'm sure they will try anything. I can only imagine how bad y'alls end is with the amount of traffic down there. Its worse every day up here in Linwood. I flowed back for a monday through friday local, cause my engineer seniority kept going backwards to where I couldn't hold a pool job. With marking off for military duty once a month I would forfeit the guarantee on the extra board, and I have never got a ppi bonus because of weekend markoffs for military. I retire from the Guard in 10 months at which point i may go back to the throttle. Ive got almost 18 years in at NS. I hope I last 22 more. I'm only 37... We have about 45 conductors furloughed here. I'd like to hear from a railroader from cp or cn where all phases of psr are long been completed and the stockholders already vanished with their money. Did operations slowly get back to pre psr times and jobs added back, or does it just continue to fall into disarray...

[@rjohnson1690]

My DPU training was getting my paperwork and seeing my train had DPUs on it. When I hired out DPUs were only used as helpers on heavy grades. Now they are somewhat ubiquitous. They can be a handy tool. On undulating territory I liked to throw the fence up, put the leader in D1, and shove the train bunch with the helpers pushing.

[@djstrains]

We did get a quick run through with a road foreman, but then...here..read this...

[@rjohnson1690]

@@djstrains I may have gotten a computer class during a simulator session, but by then we had all been running DPUs for months. The only challenge was linking up to the DPUs.

[@thomasclavinjr.3817]

Love these types of insights. Keep ‘em coming

[@hubertfitzgerald7534]

By the way my terminal was Newcastle Jct. ran from Newcastle to Willard OH. !

[@dbtech7914]

Another great video. I was at Greenburg train show last year in Phila., and someone had an HO scale of the rainbow trolley. He wanted to know how I knew what it was!

[@djstrains]

That is my favorite one. My friend Jim who passed this year, said his dad was the one who painted it.

[@MarkInLA]

With a description like this can you imagine if it was steam !!? 2 or more engines, No consisting. No cruise control. Loud chuffs, rod slap. More rocking and rolling, dirtier/sootier. Many times shoveling coal. Stopping for water. Knowing/communicating whistle codes. No wonder I love steam more than diesel !! About 2 years ago in Los Angeles I happened to become friends with a UP Engineer, in my coffee hang.. He was retiring very soon. Well, what d ya know ! He, Frank L. invited me to run in tandem 2 Gensets in the small yard off Mission & 4th St !!! He also gave me a UP wind breaker he was awarded at his retirement ceremony as being 1 of 5 first call engineers having put in 35 years on the job ! Man what a thrill !! Me ! At the controls of the REAL THING !! We only traveled about 1/2 mi and back (up to run-4). But boy it was dreamsville for someone who'd always wished since the 1950s he could do this one day, and finally DID !.... Alas, Frank retired about 2 weeks after and I believe he has moved away ..Dang ! If not maybe I'd have gotten to do it again...Not that that I'm complaining. I proudly wear the UP jacket, (looks like a cycling jacket, gray, black, and silver with the UP emblem), weather permitting. Thanks DJ..Now go get some shut eye !

[@andregonsalvez9244]

Great video ! I have 3 HO scale train sets . I have been fascinated by trains from a small boy . I am a transit operator by trade , I always wanted to be a train engineer but never pursued it .

[@johndoe43]

I worked for a large steel supplier that was right next to a up yard. I lived there for 26 yrs. People would ask how could I sleep there. I got used to the chug of the engines and the slamming of the cars. At one time I realized I no longer noticed it. Now gone from there I miss it a little

[@1babysag]

I really appreciate the way you approach this series. You, nor should anyone else, say negative things about their employer because situations change from time to time and sometimes your immediate agency may not be in total control. Besides, your blog (vlog) is very informative and truthful. You have a great sense of humor. I am sure if any of us have to describe our jobs we could always find something untoward to say, but why bite the hand that feeds you?

[@Vector_QF8]

I asked a bunch of questions last night (April 15th) and you answered them all in the first 5 minutes of this vid! Thanks DJ!

[@djstrains]

Glad to help!

[@benbedothu]

This cell phone monitoring is crazy. Here you work with your cell and tablet... And when you have to wait, you can even snap photos with your phone or dslr, whatever you have. You are required to focus when driving, basically left hand on the controller, right hand on the brake. But when things go slow, you can do whatever you see fit. And no accidents because of this. Even as a passenger, you can chat with the engineer if need to. But I reckon it is a different life we have here.

[@Wesley45454]

I was rail fanning NS one time and the engineer recorded on his cell

[@Unsound_advice]

This video is truly a service to answer rail fans questions. Thank you.

[@djstrains]

my goal. The better informed, the better the modeler or rail fan.

[@Unsound_advice]

djstrains very true about the DP program especially this side of the big river. “Here’s a pamphlet and the help desk number” and I agree that to me most power is just like having a different rental car everyday, they all do the same job.

[@RailroadedFilms]

Hi, I've watched all of your videos and love to hear about all you have to share. Have you ever thought of trying to live stream a QnA, as this can be a more relaxed/lengthier format to answer questions? I know time is an issue, but a day in advanced is probably plenty of time to let people know that you plan to stream. Thanks for your time.

[@anthonycedar7]

Hey, DJ! Cool to hear that you like running BNSF engines. They have real refrigerators while CSXT only has ice boxes. Must be nice to hop on one and having that luxury! I’ve also heard that BNSF motors have window washing fluid which CSXT doesn’t have.

[@Mrruneight]

Thank You DJ for sharing your experiences as an Engineer. Your explanations are very in depth and very interesting. I really enjoy your videos and am very grateful you are willing to share your experiences with us.

[@djstrains]

My pleasure!

[@neilrogers1571]

I am glad I found your channel a year or so ago your insight it how things are run is invaluable to us enthusiasts especially those of us outside North America I live in the UK I am building a NA layout based in the Pacific Northwest and I am in the British Region of the NMRA I have only been modelling NA for about 6 years so have a steep learning curve though I have been traveling to the US since 1956 to family. Neil

[@oldwarrant4]

I spent most of my career in freight on SD-40-2s In commuter service it was F59s and MP40s. M;y favourite locomotive is the SD9. I could run one one of those every day if I had the chance, they ride like an old '56 Cadillac. I tell people the life of an engineer is a life style like hardly any other job. When you don't have any seniority you will spend a long time with no regular days off and working all hours of the day and night. I spent 40 years working for BN/BNSF

[@djstrains]

24 years and my seniority still sucks

[@gw5033]

Hello from Ecuador, great videos thanks.

[@djstrains]

You made my day!

[@kevinguthrie5495]

Great video once again, thanks for posting. I biked up the GAP past Connellsville, maybe one of those trains had you driving. Its a beautiful ride, sure hope you can enjoy the scenery at least a little while working.

[@brendandobyns7035]

DJ, love the videos about your experiences on CSX. I live in the Baltimore area. I went to a conductor training school in Overland Park, KS back in 2011. I feel like the training i got was perfect for learning the job, but every time i apply to jobs, I get the automated reply of more qualified candidates.

[@djstrains]

So this school was NOT run by a railroad who was hiring, but an outside company? I try to tell people that RRs will train you THEIR way.

[@brendandobyns7035]

@@djstrains National Academy of Railroad Sciences, partner of BNSF.

[@JoeG-firehousewhiskey]

Always love hearing about your job, thanks for the insight!

[@stevek4449]

Curious, given 2022 rail strike issues of schedules for workers etc. I am a long haul trucker by trade, have they thought of adding a sleeper berth to the locomotive or putting 2 crews on a train and adding a sleeper/diner car for the off duty crew to ride behind the locomotive? This could help with keeping train moving and crew swapping faster. What do you think? For that matter, any issues attaching passenger cars for public and better national routes than Amtrak, say behind locomotive or at back of freight trains for faster drop and hook service? Say Spokane Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah, no passenger rail to them. Stop train in Spokane, hook consist of passenger cars to freight train, run to Salt Lake and Let Amtrak take them on their east route. To fill in the gaps so to speak. Grab another consist and run those passengers to Spokane for their Empire builder route etc. A shuttle service so to speak.

[@djstrains]

we are in hotels

[@DGModelworks]

Love the glimpse you give us into the real aspect of the railroad. Sometimes Tim Garland from the Seaboard Central channel gives some info too. He is an NS engineer. I see he commented already so you probably know him haha. Always love your videos and it was great to finally meet you!

[@oneeyedhacker715]

Hey if you want you can add a join button/membership. You prob know that.

[@davidford694]

If you want to know whether someone is happy, don't look at what they own, look at who they know.

[@possumbayou8238]

Very nice to hear from someone in the business. Good info even for those of us that have a made up world. CSX runs along the Gulfcoast in Mississippi where I live. There's a interface with the Mississippi Export RR . My layout sort of depicts that.

[@HenrikSweden1]

Thanks for all This interesting information. I understand that you try to be careful when you talk about your work. Take care most employers Scan their staff on youtube, Facebook an so on. we all wish you to continue your great work here. Thanks for the video !

[@williammorse8330]

have enjoyed your modeling and prototype videos over the years..... thank you and happy new year, DJ, from Bellows Falls, Vermont.

[@djstrains]

Thanks for watching, its appreciated.

[@RandCooley]

Hope to one day work for the UP over here in the Northwest so have a chance to here any and all insider insight is great. Thank you for doing these videos 😁

[@sofreak6]

Thanks for keeping it positive

[@railfanmicahturner]

Happy Birthday!! Just happened to be watching this today!!!!

[@1tombensky]

Happy New Year! Really enjoyed this video, especially the info on your actual work such as controlling DPU and having to switch out your 15,000 foot train. Next time you do a similar video, I'm interested in process for starting a cold engine, how do you make it move, stop, reverse, slow down, speed up, etc. In other words, what levers, buttons and so on are used for each to operate. Thanks!

[@djstrains]

Unfortunately, I can't teach how to operate an engine. If the info fell into the wrong hands, I wouldn't want this coming back to me. From terrorism to theft and vandalism, I just can't risk it.

[@bnsfnscale]

Really like the vlog style Q&A. Thanks for sharing....Remco from The Netherlands (Europe)

[@steve87thpsap]

That was cool I do like when you do the Q&A videos. I was happy to here about BNSF engines. I’m in Seattle and see BNSF and UP. So when I see everyone weathering, I am like why? Most of the BNSF look new. Now UP very different story.

[@ingor.522]

Please have a lot of thanks for your very informative videos about your job and model RR projects. Me, I worked for the former Western and of Course Eastern German State RRs before its re-union in 1993. I did some different jobs at both before separated state RRs, but I never drove any locomotive, except the 300 V DC electric broad gauge Trolley a long transfer table ahead the machinery halls of the RR Backshop to do shunting duty of repaired passenger and freight cars and of course Diesel and Steam Locomotives, yes the DR had been used Steam Engines up to the year of 1993. My question is about of turnouts. At germany we have between the closer coming tracks in direction to the turnout frog a red-white painted marker sighn like a bell, it shows the clearance points between both tracks. It is not allowed to store any kind of vehicle beyond this marker sighn otherwise it could be hitted from another vehicle using the other track. Do you using such markers between tracks at turnout areas, too? Another question is about signalling. The Pennsylvania RR used white light signals in their past, the B&O RR used the same but with coloured lights, red for stop, green for go and yellow for caution of danger. But for what were the blue lights? Are some Semaphores still in use? How about Signal Towers, are some signal towers with mechanical levers and mechanical RR interlocking registers still in use? Here in Germany some Signal Towers with mechanical Semaphores could be found onto mainline service, too. One of my hobbies are RR Interlocking Systems of the past, specially how mechanical Interlocking systems are working. Are there inside the USA some mechanical operated Signal towers still in use and which Interlocking System they have? Don't worry about the technical specifics, they are not a top secret at all and I do know some of the differences how they are working. I read a lot of RR Engineering books of the past and have a copies of the Saxby & Farmer and of course of the Juedel Catalogues and Samuel Scheibner, a RR Engineer who wrote a book of Interlocking Systems in the 1890's I studied well, too.

[@johnwgillisoniii6626]

You are the man!

[@jhoodfysh]

Nice show DJ, thanks.

[@djstrains]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@sofreak6]

I love your stories about running the trains. I have friends who are engineers but don't want to talk about it. Look forward to all your videos

[@ellisjackson3355]

Wonder why they don't wanna talk about it

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

@@ellisjackson3355 Some of the Guys just want to work and they want to leave the work at work. So please respect that.

[@ellisjackson3355]

@@Kevin-ev7hw I considered that but I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder nevertheless. Please tell someone else to respect that.

[@Kevin-ev7hw]

@@ellisjackson3355 I wasnt jumping on you. Sorry you felt like that. I was just trying to explain that some of the guys who work on the RR just want to leave it there. Maybe it was something that they dont want to remember. Its not that glorious job as everyone thinks. I know I have been there on the rails.

[@kensingtonchapp4819]

When I run in manual mode (trip optimizer disengaged), I still keep my DP fence up. I'll start notching the DP up or down before controlling the head end. It eliminates slack action, especially if you need to idle the head end. If you idle the DP first, you won't get kicked in the ass because of the delay haha. Anyway I could talk about this all day.

[@UnionPacific1943-hz2oc]

That’s true djstrains because I’m going to be working on the Union Pacific after I graduate from high school to be a conductor and a engineer because like you I can’t be on my phone like watching KZbin videos or watching movies on your phone and don’t film a video some locomotives they do have cameras they may watching me they might think that I’m a railfan but I’m not going to them that I’m railfan because they won’t hired me

[@rjohnson1690]

I saw train hoppers a lot. When I was a conductor I would talk to some of them, and even give them water. If they were in a boxcar or riding somewhere safe, I didn’t care. I didn’t like them in my units. I would kick them out if they were riding in my trailing units or DPUs. Once I walked in on a guy and girl in the middle of something. Ahem. I walked in signed the card, and left them to their fun.

[@stratolestele7611]

Absolutely fascinating information DJ. Thank you!

[@djstrains]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@paulsimkins3895]

Awesome video very knowledgable

[@michaeldunn5280]

DJ. What a great video. Such great entertainment here I really really enjoyed this video and wished it were two hours long or longer. Hope there will be more of its kind in 2020. Thanks for giving all of us a terrific gift to start off the New Year. All the best to you and your loved ones Harleymike/chicago

[@djstrains]

Thank you, I am already planning the next video in this series.

[@Scaniam]

Thanks you have answered my question, and have learned more keep safe

[@djstrains]

Glad to help

[@TheDaf95xf]

Hi DJs 😄 Lovely listening to you as it all makes sense and more understanding on your railroads 👍🏻 It makes me smile when you say my train is 2 miles long 🙄 In the uk 🇬🇧 we run 750 meter freight trains lol 😆 Keep the great videos up in 2020 cheers Stevie 😎🇬🇧

[@billmorris2613]

Good morning to all from SE Louisiana 1 May 22.

[@djstrains]

I appreciate all your comments about the experiences you had as an engineer for UP, but no need for the daily good mornings. Thanks

[@BlondeJedi]

Thanks for all the insights and stories. It's interesting.

[@djstrains]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@gregorybentley5707]

It's April 2nd 2021 at the time of this comment and I noticed you said your birthday was March 31st in the video, happy birthday I hope you had a good one and didn't have to work!

[@djstrains]

Took my kid to Vegas. Grand Canyon and more!

[@oldman975]

It’s interesting that you mentioned BNSF locomotives seeming larger that CSX locomotives. Driving across I-90 and I-94 you can see plenty of BNSF trains as the track parallels the interstate in many places and their newer engines look longer. I’m thinking it’s an illusion due to their paint scheme;the older War Bonnet paint scheme for example seems shorter. I may be wrong and the new engines are longer,but I’m leaning towards the paint job explanation.

[@jonboehm291]

hey dj ya i belive ur right on the eight seconds rule i run locos on a loop track at slow speeds like 0.3 up to 0.8 but ya when we get trains in with two leads and one pusher its not bad. the ones i hate are the one lead and two pushers thats a slam in the ass!!!!!!!!!!! i enjoy wacthing ur videos and hope to see more up coming storys of ur days on the rail.

[@andyladds374]

You'd like our coal trains @ 30 wagons long here in NZ

[@brettany_renee_blatchley]

Happy New Year DJ - *Thank You* for the interesting insights!! 😊❤

[@SignalMan9292]

ES44AC, AC4400CW, AC6000CW, SD70ACE, SD70M, C44-9W, C40-9W, GEVO, ET44AC, and so many more.

[@djstrains]

videos of those coming soon

[@SignalMan9292]

And the SD9043MAC

[@Death_From_Below]

DJ thanks for the video. Don't fall to the dark side, HO means half of what you can do in N scale. Happy New Year.

[@donavonrobbins1908]

I remember thinking of switching to N for more real estate when I was beginning. Now that I'm needing glasses, glad I didn't. Ha.

[@donavonrobbins1908]

DJ, ever haul military loads? Use to love rail heading our track vehicles for deployments. Both in Germany and US.

[@djstrains]

I only see military train maybe once or twice a year.

[@jerrysinclair3771]

Very informative, thank you.

[@jameslehnert5054]

Good vid. Convinced me to hit the big ol red "Subscribe" box.