How Railroads Transport RAIL! Dropping Rail on the CPKC D&H

Ever wonder how the rails that trains travel on get there? In this video, I'm following the Canadian Pacific rail train up the D&H before catching them dropping rail in Plattsburgh. It's a really neat process, not often seen up close. A huge thank you and shout out to the CP D&H MOW crew for allowing me to film from a safe distance!
Port Douglas, NY
Peru, NY
Plattsburgh, NY
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[@25vrd48]

Very good video . I was a rail train operator on the Union Pacific Railroad for several years . We rode the rail trains when there was rail on the trains , as rail train operators we were agreement employees and didn't fall under the hours of service rules so we stayed on the trains at crew change locations and stayed on the clock until we were relieved of service . Depending on when we started work we were paid straight time for 8 hours then time and a half for 8 hours and then double time , then we went to 18 hours of time and a half and then double time for 8 hours and then time and a half for 18 hours and then the same way until relieved of duty . My longest time of service was 110 hours when we departed Alexandria , Louisiana on a Saturday morning and I finally was relieved of duty at Blackfoot , Idaho at 10 P.M. Wednesday night after unloading my rail train . Long time to work and I was so tired and sleepy . Tough trip but it sure paid great . We also had power cars we used to load rail and unload as well , we picked up used rail and abandoned rail lines . Taking the rail trains to our welding plants to be rewelded and used in sidings and yards . It was normal for us to be on a rail train for 2 to 3 weeks before being relieved of duty . Great paying job but tough on the body . Our normal days were usually 13 to 14 hour days when we were picking up rail .

[@NorthCountryTrains]

Wow thanks for sharing this!

[@MillersRailfan]

Excellent; superior comments This is what KZbin is meant for

[@JohnCamerota-jg6wt]

Excellent comment, sir. Many are unaware of the tremendous amount of work involved to keep the property functioning. Railroad owned rail train crews will follow the train and stay with it during unloading operations. As stated, very long hours in all conditions. Rain, heat, cold, etc. Operations gives you only a certain window of time to do your work and do it safely. Woa be to those that can't make their window or can't complete their work in that window between trains. I don't know if you are still an engineering dept. employee or an employee of a rail supplier, thank you for your input and work safely no matter what you're doing.

[@glennfoster2423]

Early on in my career, I learned the finer points of unloading CWR strongs (as depicted in this vdeo) by pulling the rail end through a series of vertically adjustable roller platforms. A special "tie-down" flat car at the mid-length of the 1440' strings was outfitted with a frame surrounding all the rails, each individual rail secured by a set of "shoes" applied and secured during transport then removed for unloading. Each shoe was bolted securely to the frame and railcar to prevent movement, but the tail ends were free to move allowing for thermal changes. As shown, two rails--one on each side--wete unloaded at the same time, and our practice was to have the train crew SHOVE the rail train out from under the rail. The engineer had a front row seat to watch the progress. A skilled engineer could stop the train with the rail end of the string unloading matched with the next rail to be unloaded. A deft application of angle bars and bolts minimized delay. Nobody ever kept a score of "whom unloaded the most.". The score being reported was: "No injuries." Blistering heat, well below freezing, no matter. I was always very proud of the hard work of all the railroaders who unloaded rail trains: MofW, conductors, engineers, and yes, Dispatchers who squeezed every minute of track time out of every minute of work ttain authority. A shout-out for all who have given their best for what they love doing the best!

[@NorthCountryTrains]

@@glennfoster2423 thanks for sharing!

[@MillersRailfan]

Excellent comments

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Man, I was fascinated by the rails wiggled like big steel noodles! Just fascinating! Who'd have thought it? That's an interesting part of railroading most of us never see, thanks Harrison!

[@glenngrinter6818]

The way the rails bend makes it look as flexible as licorice whips, very interesting.🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

[@jimsmoter4510]

I was thinking of spaghetti noodles.

[@kevinmaher6725]

@@jimsmoter4510 And no surprise that they're called spaghetti trains.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

I could not agree any more.💙

[@BillK.1973]

That's how they're able to go around any corner without kinking any of the rails. What l think is cool is the whole load of rails are pretty well the length of the train, & the train has to be over 2,000 ft long. 😃😃😃

[@jamesrice-qc8xx]

I see these rail carriers on Virtual Railfan almost every day, and wondered how they work .Now I know. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@dhdisprsmith2296]

This is a great and informative video Harrison. Over my 40+ years of railroading, I've never witnessed the unloading of a CWR train. I've seen many on the move and dispatched many unloading, but never seen one in person. I really enjoyed this video, especially being on my old territory!

[@NorthCountryTrains]

Glad you enjoyed it Gordy!

[@johnschneider3082]

You think of “rail” being steel should be stiff and strong, but it’s the bed,ties, and stone that make the “road” so strong. The “rail “ just holds the whole thing together.

[@DH2906PRODUCTIONS]

When they dropped rails in Bainbridge. They left the joint bar for a while and didn't weld it. So every time a train came, it made the classic Clikety Clack sound

[@highplainsdrifter8034]

Very interesting! Now I’d love to see a video of them loading the cwr. Thank you!!

[@ppomm]

Absolutely! must be some specialized steel mill(s) somewhere that make them and slides them right out onto the train? Anyone know where they are manufactured? of course the 6 year old in me imagines a gigantic play-doh machine pushing out steel rail lol

[@frederickschulkind8431]

It is great watching the close-up of the rail being dropped. I have seen a train dropping welded rail in person before, but not with that kind of detail. The flexibility of the rail is impressive. They can round curves at high speeds and are easy to mount on curves. Someone in metallurgy might know what the alloy is.

[@timlanglois5643]

Thats so cool thank you for showing that

[@johnrockstone]

Very interesting and entertaining! thanks for posting this!🚂🚂🚂

[@captainkeyboard1007]

Your show is definitely professional above and beyond the dreams of all railroad workers and railfans in the world.

[@quick65filly]

Railroads are so labor, equipment, and material intensive. UP is replacing an old timber bridge in a small farm town near me, and I'm stunned at the amount of work and time it's taken just to build to the temporary by-pass for the bridge. Massive amounts of dirt work, piles, etc. I can't even imagine what the project is costing.

[@capitolabill1921]

I would like to see more of the anchoring process next time.

[@JohnCamerota-jg6wt]

Nice job, Harrison. You really highlight the ramp car and guide/winch car operation in good detail.

[@tigerphid9677]

Great video... love those flexible rails.

[@MillersRailfan]

What a masterful video The kind which lets the action do the talking

[@sparky107107]

awesome video. I did not know the rail was that flexible.

[@timothybdavis7520]

Very cool Video!👍😎

[@michaelball760]

31 miles of jointed rail on our mainline here another 20 or so miles of jointed yard track.

[@danmartin8414]

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing.

[@ICE6365]

Great video - very well documented. This is a really cool process

[@adirondackandnorthern]

Very well done video my friend, I was railfanning in PA when I came across a large portion of these cars on a siding. Cheers - Otis

[@iancanuckistan2244]

Nice shots of Lake Champlain in the background near the end. I'm always surprised when you see how much of a curve the rails make when dropping off the carrier onto the ground.

[@mk-jf1ux]

awesome video and teaching

[@rickiemckillip8124]

I remember When CP Rail Hired RJ Corman to Install Ribbon Rail or There System

[@ocsrc]

I really wish I could get help with monitoring sites along the old D&H to set up ATCS Monitor computers with radios to capture the ATCS data and send it to my server so everyone could see the action on the line. I used to have CPO-1 to CPO-17 and CPF-467 to CPF-499 and CPC-24 to CPC-56 I worked hard to get the coverage all on my own, with no outside help. But when I moved 9 years ago, I had to shut down my server. I really miss the D&H I had a lot of history with it. 😢

[@NorthCountryTrains]

@@ocsrc you’ve commented about this a dozen times. The ATCS simply doesn’t work anymore.

[@Bassotronics]

The video started out with track that needs cribbing. lol When I see a train like that carrying rails, I call it "The Fence". Because it looks like a long big fence.

[@stephenwagner3584]

I agree that this is fascinating. Harrison, thanks very much for this! The flexibility of the rails is really surprising. About how long are the welded rails? Tremendous contrast to photos in a National Geographic artilce in the 1930s showing some of first welded rails used in the USA being installed on the D&H. If I'm remembering correctly, much shorter sections -- maybe the traditional "stick rails" about 40 feet long, were laid and ties, gauged properly and only then welded together. I hope I can find that article.

[@NorthCountryTrains]

The rails are about a quarter mile long!

[@JohnCamerota-jg6wt]

Believe it or not, in the past rail length was governed by the length of the cars available to haul it. 31', 33', and 36' were common lengths at one time. When you hear someone refer to seeing something a certain number of "rails" down the track. They're referring to 39' lengths of rail. This can also apply to run in and run out in surfacing operations. Common rail lengths rolled at steel mills are 39', 78', and 80'. Those lengths are governed by how the mills and their processes are designed. There was a new mill in Indiana that could roll a 300' long rail.

[@MillersRailfan]

The suspense 9:25 😂😅😂😅

[@JeremyStyninger]

I wanted to see how they attach the end of the first rail pulled to the ground. We only see the chain pulled taut. And I'd like to know more about CWRX and CWR Transportation Co. Is it a pool of CWR trains? Something else I'd really like to see someday is how the old rail is threaded back onto a train for reuse or scrap.

[@rondevos99]

That was a great and informative video. Just curious - Once the old rail is replaced with the new, do they do this process in reverse to pickup the old rail?

[@NorthCountryTrains]

@@rondevos99 that’s a good question! I’m not sure what they do with the old rail but hopefully someone has the answer.

[@georgeschwartz6270]

How long is each section? Pretty awesome seeing them work that steel

[@stanpatterson5033]

Do you use a Uniden scanner? Keep hearing what sounds like the Uniden lo-batt warning beep.

[@NorthCountryTrains]

Yes I do, no idea why it was low battery that day, they typically last SEVERAL hours before charging or changing

[@stanpatterson5033]

@@NorthCountryTrains I made the switch maybe 2 years ago to Amazon's rechargeable AA's. I'm quite pleased with them. And because I have more than enough batteries for my devices, maybe every 6 months, I remove the batteries and change them into a different device, sort of rotating the batteries. That way they get a chance to be charged by different devices or get put into an actual battery recharger, instead of always being recharged by the scanner's recharge circuit. But yeah, even I hear the lo-batt sound eventually.

[@rachellynn1507]

Is 1,600ft of rail 🛤 the standard length❓️

[@NorthCountryTrains]

Something close to that

[@25vrd48]

1440ft was the length when I was a rail train operator on the Union Pacific but I think they are welding some now that are more than 2000ft long . That might have changed since Fed Regulations stepped in and stopped the import of Japanese rail that was 440ft length that special ships brought the rail to the UP welding plant in the San Francisco Bay area . 5 pieces welded together make 2200ft strings . Production at the welding plant was terrible , from what I read they were only welding about 2 to 4 strings a day if I remember right . When I was working our welding plants were welding a 50 string rail train in about 4 days and the rails were 80ft pieces .

[@MsCriticalthinker201]

@@25vrd48 in the north east I have found strings over 1600' can be problematic. Just the difference in rail temperature between a sunny fall day (120*) with a frost overnight (30*) will cause an almost 11" change in length of a 1600' unrestrained rail.

[@JohnCamerota-jg6wt]

It depends on how long the runout tables at the various welding plants are. Some railroads still own their own, some.RR weld plants are now operated by brokers/suppliers. Some suppliers have their own weld plants. It can also be governed by how long the available rail trains are. 1,440' is common, but longer trains are out there. The longer sticks of CWR have more factory welds. These welds are done in a more controlled environment than welds completed in the field. Those field welds being the "newer" electric flash but weld or the older thermite weld. So the fewer field welds, the better to simplify.

[@keithtanner2806]

How is the rail so malleable especially in its vertical configuration?

[@anthonytidey2005]

Why at 13.30 are they only coupling the sticks on the camera side and leaving only one on the other? As an engineer and tail enthusiast, 16:42 its intresting to see what goes on behind the seens. Thanks for the video.

[@NorthCountryTrains]

@@anthonytidey2005 I imagine they needed to replace a longer section on the inside rail because it was more worn. I’m not exactly sure

[@gravelydon7072]

Why did they only drop 3 rails instead of 4? Also noticed that the track they were running on was stick rail that had been welded while the new rail is continuous rolled rail.

[@NorthCountryTrains]

@@gravelydon7072 probably didn’t need to replace as much on the outside rail

[@mathewrufrano7833]

What keeps the long rails from buckling in the heat?

[@MsCriticalthinker201]

The process is called thermal adjustment. Also called de-stressing, but that is not really accurate. It involves securing the rails to the trackbed (the ties, tie plates, and sufficient ballast stone to prevent the ties from moving) with rail fasteners or anchors that have enough pinch pressure to hold the rail in place at the length it would naturally expand to at the railroads "desired neutral temperature" (DNT). In the northeast the DNT is usually somewhere between 90* to 120*. Properly done that will put the rail in a zero stress condition when the rail temperature rises to the DNT. To achieve the DNT the rails can be expanded to length by either being heating naturally by the sun, heated by a heater car with propane burners (nicknamed "the Bomb") or stretched with powerful hydraulic pullers while anchoring. Above the DNT the rail will be under manageable compression. When the rail is below the DNT it is under tension, which can be significant in colder weather, enough to break the rail, called a pull apart. The formula for calculating expansion is: DNT less the actual rail temperature (ART) by the length of the rail string in feet by .000078 (the co-efficient of expansion for steel) equals expansion in inches required to put the rail at DNT. To expand a 1600' rail at 70* to the DNT of 120* it works like this: 120*DNT less 70* ART = 50*. inserted into the formula: 50x1600x.000078=6.24" or 6-1/4" expansion required to reach DNT expansion. I've done many miles of this stuff.

[@Avidav]

Nice! Is this in Ohio?

[@MsCriticalthinker201]

The guides keep the rail standing upright. You really want to avoid tipping the rail. The longer the string the harder it is to stand it up again.