Making a run on IMRL train 696

[@amandafeldmann700]

Thank you so much for this. I was Jon’s fiancé and seeing him do what he loved at that time and hearing his voice is amazing. I can’t express how thankful I am to you for posting this.❤❤❤❤

[@warbonds]

Good afternoon Amanda! I am so very very sorry to hear about Jon’s passing! When Bill told me, I was totally shocked! When I uploaded the first video, the memories came flooding back! It was truly like I was working with him again, but after hearing that he had passed, I felt like I lost an old friend. I’m so very glad that you could hear and see him. As I edited this video together, I truly thought about doing the best that I could to make this a video to give you comfort, and to also make you laugh as we talked trash to each other! 😃. If I can do anything at all to help you through this difficult time, don’t hesitate to reach out.

[@amandafeldmann700]

@Tyler McKnight I miss him more than anything. I LOVED listening to him talk about the railroad because you could see the passion in his eyes.

[@paullindberg9230]

Iam sorry to hear of Jons passing. Iam new to this channel and thoroughly enjoyed the ride along. I worked for Conrail back at the transition between Penn Central as a brakeman-conductor in the northeast corridor

[@paullindberg9230]

About to finish up the IMRl coal train run with the SD-40MAC With those MACs Wispeing. GM Diesels. I guess getting sighned off is like an Act .of Congress. Nice power With 2 SD_40-2s on the point with Two smoothe operators Running the train. "Nice Job "!!

[@amandafeldmann700]

Still watch this when I’m needing to hear that voice of his. So thankful to have this to rewatch. I always loved listening to his railroad stories. He talked about it w/ such passion.

[@BNU30C]

Those MACs were just gorgeous when they were new, I can vaguely remember them in the late 90s when I was a kid. Thanks for sharing this awesome footage. I wish I could’ve been running these up Crawford Hill in 1998.

[@benmullins2443]

Even though I was only a year old when this video was recorded, I get a sense of nostalgia watching this seeing how railroading was in the past. Nowadays the morale is low with PTC, PSR and billionaire shareholders reaping the benefits of our labor. I work for the railroad as a Carman but I have the utmost respect for all other crafts especially the train crews who sacrifice a lot to keep our economy running.

[@warbonds]

Yes, it was definitely a different animal back then!

[@mb_]

Great work documenting history. You probably didn't know it at the time. This is a clear window into the past. Thanks for the uploads.

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much for the kind words! Yes, it’s been so long that sometimes I can’t believe that I actually got to do that!

[@devernepersonal3636]

I wish it were easier still today for fans and railroaders to capture footage of these operations. I am glad you shared this with us.

[@warbonds]

Yes there is so much I wish I could do to share these days but unfortunately it’s not possible anymore.

[@devernepersonal3636]

@@warbonds Are there anymore runs left to upload from the good times?

[@warbonds]

@@devernepersonal3636 I have a couple more that I hope to get a chance to edit in the next week or two. I’ve been transferring stuff for another friend of mine, but hopefully I’ll get back to my stuff soon.

[@devernepersonal3636]

@@warbonds i could watch 100s of those hr long edited runs. obviously the real runs were very long.

[@SD40Fan_Jason]

All that fun and a paycheck too! I miss the old days... I hired out about a year and a half after this video was made and it was a whole different lifestyle to today. I get a crick in my neck from constantly watching over my shoulder now.

[@warbonds]

Yes, it was so much different when I hired out in the 90s! ☺

[@paullindberg9230]

Are you guys running on welded- or ribbon rail?

[@SD40Fan_Jason]

@@paullindberg9230 depends on the area and the maintenance schedule. There's a half mile section in the park where the rails were so bad they went ahead and swapped them for 115# CWR. But then as time marched on, 20 years later the tracks are just as bad in that curve as they were when it was 100# jointed rail. It seems 10mph traffic has even harsher effects than 50 mph traffic on a curve with little or no maintenance. For a few years though I was running a 300+ mile trek where all of it was 132# CWR and track speed was either 50 or 60 mph.

[@paullindberg9230]

@@warbonds Sorry for not asking the qquestion is most of your state have or are tthey running on welded rail? I can see what you's are running on A g thanks for sharing this videeo I t looks like the zoom is real good!!

[@paullindberg9230]

I thought this ride along was the best. I was sadened by Jons passing ,My condollences to his family & loved ones. Tthe camera work was proofessional and showed the dettails as most other ride alongs ,the camera was fixed. As a former brakeman" conductor", I know that a fixed camera ; Im guessing the crew does not want their faces shown but it was well done!!

[@northschuppl2553]

Nice to see those units when they were new! I've run a few on loaded coal trains in the past year and a half. They aren't as nice as they look in the video but for being in and out of storage and 20+ years old they are in pretty decent shape. The best pullers I've ever ran, even more-so than the modern GE"s. If they had an AAR control stand and GE's dynamic braking capability they'd be the perfect locomotive.

[@warbonds]

I highly agree about the AAR control stands! Yes they were very nice engines back then!

[@zoowoman1]

Absolutely one of the greatest non-professional videos I've seem! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much for your kind words! ☺

[@bali2516]

Awesome video. I love old cab ride videos from the 80s and 90s. So cool to see what working on the railroad looked like then

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much for your kind words! We definitely had more fun back then! We were well trained professionals, and worked based on our skills and not what computers tell us to do.

[@OMaquinista]

Sir, thank you so much for sharing these rarities with us, very nice to see and hear The Real Life on the railroad in America, are you retired yet??? I'm a locomotive engineer here in Brazil and I make videos driving trains around here, I dream of one day being able to see trains in America in person... thank you again and if possible share more videos ✌

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much for your kind words and interest! No, I am actually still fairly young at 49. In the United States, you have to have at least 30 years of service and be age 60 unless you get a medical disqualification. I have 11 more years before I can even consider retirement, but with two younger kids, I may not be able to retire. I also don’t wanna make the mistake of retiring just because I can, but then regret doing it because I start getting bored. I have loved the railroad ever since I was a little kid, so it is definitely in my blood! If you do ever get to the United States, please let me know! ☺

[@SD40Fan_Jason]

@@warbonds Hopefully by now you're on the top of the seniority roster and can pick and choose your jobs at your leisure. Retirement these days is a fickle benefit. Like you said you don't want to give it up and be bored. (And also without income) But at the same time you don't want to be in a position where you might get pinned between a good job and a bad manager. My buddy Dave hired out for the Seaboard in the 70s when he started having kids. He should have retired from the Amtrak Auto Train while he was still able to enjoy retirement. But he told me and everyone else that he had the best job in the world and didn't want to give it up as long as he was still able to do the job. He was right though but instead he passed away at home in between shifts while on rest.

[@OMaquinista]

@@warbonds Thank you very much for the reply, hugs from Brazil ✌

[@warbonds]

@@SD40Fan_Jason Wow, I’m so sorry to hear that about your friend! I’ve been with Amtrak for the last 23 years, and while I have 11 more years before I’m 60, I’m ok being here because the extra board I’m in allows me to not work as often, so I do get rest unlike some of my colleagues in busier crewbases.

[@SD40Fan_Jason]

@@warbonds Dave was really proud of his job! There were at least a half dozen Amtrak officials at his funeral, leading the procession in Amtrak vehicles. They put a photo of his engines on his tombstone in Lakeland FL. If heaven has a railroad, I'm sure he's running with a full head of steam on it right now!

[@minnesotarailfan11]

That horn is just amazing

[@zanderc07]

do you possibly have any more videos with Jon in them? im the youngest of the 3 he had and id like to be able to see more videos of when he was young and just in general be able to hear his voice more.

[@warbonds]

Good morning Zander, I apologize that I’m just responding to you. I pretty much put up all of my stuff that I shot when I worked with your dad. I’m so sorry to have heard of his passing. We had so much fun working together. I can understand the pain that you feel because after losing my parents, it is still hard even though they were elderly as opposed to your father passing at a young age. There are times that I dream of being able to talk to them, but then they are still gone when I wake up. I will look through my slides and see if I havre any images of him. I really wish I would have shot more pictures back then. If I can do anything further for you especially as someone who was connected to your dad, send me and email at [e-mail]. I’d be happy to talk to you anytime you need. 😊

[@jamesnichols2188]

God bless sorry for your lost just lost my dad Oct 14 22 work along side of him on the rr

[@warbonds]

Thank you and my condolences to you as well! I’ve lost my parents as well, and it’s hard, but I’m thankful that they supported me on my desire to become a crazy railroader! ☺

[@zanderc07]

my dad was the new conductor in this video Jon Cloyd and he passed june 3rd of 22

[@GearheadExplorer85]

Thanks for uploading this! Had a good chuckle especially around 12:00 about showing people what happens when you don't reset the alerter (while going up a hill) "Yeah were not going to do that" lol Sorry to hear about Jon's passing. He seemed like a great guy to be around.

[@jeffdudley218]

I use to take trains from KC to Ottumwa. Rutledge hill was a beast getting to Ottumwa.

[@spacecalander]

Seemed like you guys had a great time together. it is always sad to have someone you know well pass. Thanks for sharing this fun time with us.

[@Hiei2k7]

I recognize those letters! IMRL took over and ran through my hometown of Mount Carroll, Illinois for several years. Nowadays, CP owns it again and it is the single piece connecting Canada straight on to Mexico in their big merger. Was past it last month, the section between Dubuque and Sabula IA appears to have all new rail and a 2nd layer of ballast under it, along with brand new concrete and steel bridges and longer sidings with new signals. They're serious about the merger it looks.

[@warbonds]

Yes, I have heard that they are trying to do a lot with it, and I’m glad they realize how valuable that piece of railroad is! Sometimes I miss working on that property, but I don’t think I would enjoy the management running things now!

[@Hiei2k7]

@@warbonds Probably not, everyone ran off to PSR and every blue collar job in the industry is feeling the pinch. Even if CP went off and signed a new contract with the DME/ICE group ahead of the big showdown going on now.

[@paullindberg9230]

It most definately shows that merger rolled out some some serious upgrades .Hell , ou blink your eyes and some gets swallowed by big coin!!!m

[@pkilznah5353]

Love these old school videos 🚂🔥🔥✊🎯

[@paullindberg9230]

A real smoothe job jockying their coal train up some uphill grade All together rolling those geen highballs and all is good on the defect dector nothing but normal operation tempatures and good power and a good trip and crew!

[@JacksonSubNScaleModelRailroad]

Very nice video. I have been trying to get hired at BNSF for 15 years now, and it looks like that may never happen. Almost got on last year, but at 6'3," they told me that I'm too short for them. lol.

[@AllThingsRailroad]

those 70s always had that squeak.

[@warbonds]

Yes, the SD60Ms and SD70Ms and MACs were notorious for that squeak!

[@oisiaa]

These videos are amazing!

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much! ☺

[@ViewpointUnique]

Sad thing is that the Bettendorf generating station is no more. They converted to natural gas several years ago, and then permanently shut it down 3 or 4 years ago and are in the process of demolishing it. Thanks for the nostalgia!

[@josephjoestar3275]

Man, this video is 3 months older than me and now I work for UP out of boone yet we still get those 70MACs occasionally. I wish I could go back in time without the cameras in my face and PTC bitching when you go .02 over

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much Joseph for stopping in to check out my channel. When I look back at these memories, it’s still hard to believe that I have been doing this stuff for so long! My railroad career actually started with CNW back in November 1993. I was actually assigned out of proviso on the Illinois division, and I saw my fair share of trips to Clinton. I totally understand how the phone is taken away when you have cameras all over the place, but unfortunately it’s a reality of our current times.

[@chuckgilly]

All this happened around the time I had my last drink. I've been sober and clean since September 22nd, 1998

[@mr.sir.]

Thank you so much for this video! I absolutely love this stuff

[@KTrain20]

Cotter S still has the old RI searchlights. Cotter N have been replaced. The searchlights at Letts were replaced due to z minor derailment back in 2007 I believe. With the pending CP-KCS merger, there are talks that cotter will be removed

[@davekroeger9571]

Great stuff. I remember when you worked down there. However you are not wearing the Cowboy Hat! LOL

[@warbonds]

It may have been too cold for it, I had my seasons, lol!

[@jamesnichols2188]

In New jersey 44 years my farther had as a conductor

[@thomasnativo6491]

I remember Watching the CSX River line in New York SD70MAC Burlington Northern Railroad was crossing the Westshore of Iona Island NY by the Hudson River

[@thomasnativo6491]

It was from the 2000s in the past

[@thomasnativo6491]

It was from Railroad video productions

[@thomasnativo6491]

Brought from Amazon

[@thomasnativo6491]

Brought from Amazon

[@NorthernRailsTrainsInTheNorth]

Listening to the good ol SD70 Squeak! 70Ms M-2s ACes. 75Is they all seem to do it!

[@paullindberg9230]

You can notice looking back on the train the view behind the enginers seat window the second unit backwards is steady. No side to.side shows good.ballast and smooth ride on the welded rail "Or As they.say ribbon rail",!

[@paullindberg9230]

Back when I worked for Conrail in 1976 as a breakman-conductor our power did not have all the digital speedometer and main resorvoir and brake pipe pressure were gauges Any way you guys have a.whole difrent setup ,smoothe setup and crew. Thanks for the post you guys hit it out. of the park.!

[@warbonds]

The digital read outs are nice, but I still ran many locomotives with the old analog gauges as well. I had formally worked for CNW, but I quit after the merger with UP! I realized that I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my career there based on their culture.

[@dirtboy123100]

i was 9 yrs old when this video was recorded and the camera this guys using is pretty dam good

[@warbonds]

Thank you for the kind words! ☺

[@justin2221]

legendary

[@warbonds]

Thank you very much! ☺

[@paullindberg9230]

Thaat's one nice camera you have there,the zoom is epic

[@surimenon7660]

Brilliant ❤️❤️❤️🙏🇮🇳🙏

[@railhunterproductions]

You appear to be someone who's witnessed a lot of a change in railroading, do you still think it's an industry worth getting into today?

[@warbonds]

Thank you! I’ve been in the industry for over 30 years, and it has changed drastically! I’m not going to discourage you from trying because your journey is going to be different than mine. It’s always worth trying because if it isn’t for you, then you can always find another line of work. Hope that helps. 😊

[@paullindberg9230]

I can remember they had ,which was called the "dead mans petal", the engineer would use a ruber brake pipe to hold the petal down they would take it off when crew channge Cant blame them

[@erbewayne6868]

Or a toolbox.

[@paullindberg9230]

"ooh my my" There is no mistaking" thesweetest" sound of a GM whispering ";away"!. You. get a string of theese in a tunnei in notcc 8 I would sound liike like swarm of"Pjssd off" bees!!!

[@JustseptiplierhelpUkarine]

Yes Davenport, IA

[@warbonds]

We were Ottumwa based.

[@myfavorites1016]

I love this video, what is the total weight of a loaded coal car ?? I can only imagine the weight when your pulling around 100 cars uffda

[@maxrshelltrack7443]

Around 100 tons assuming.

[@paullindberg9230]

Yeah that shot looking down the the topside of your power, you can hear those units just whspering GM "bulls"

[@paullindberg9230]

Those fiberglas things lying acrross from wherre yoor conductor look like roof panels from Autorack Was any train thhat went on the ground rhat had auto racks on theiir manifest?..

[@paullindberg9230]

NJ nu

[@paullindberg9230]

Yeah guys, Its alot nicer that the coal cars are fabricated out of aluminum . Makes them alot lighter and easier on everybody !

[@paullindberg9230]

Awhile back there was what looked like the top side of auto racks. was there any cars going on the ground The second posibility is two people tacking them loose seemes like iit was well planed!!

[@AMT4245]

Come join us on The Depot - a train simulator community for railroaders using Run 8 Train Simulator V3. I think you would have a lot of fun.

[@myfavorites1016]

Which one is the one you use to put into emergency if necessary, ive always wondered that

[@JacksonSubNScaleModelRailroad]

This engine has the desktop control. the Throttle handle is a combined brake and throttle. Pulling towards you puts on the power, pushing away sets the brakes. As for an intentional emergent application, you would just shove the Combo throttle all the way away from you.

[@stewweimer6615]

👍

[@paullindberg9230]

When I left high school most of my friends dads worked for the railroad. whiich helped set me get my foot in the doorm At 20 years old and going to get A railroad phisical i felt A sense of mixed feelingsn They snt me to Philidelphia doing all the things a breakman does . back then

[@bobbyrockittt4263]

I'm assuming this was an Davenport crew.

[@warbonds]

We were based out of Ottumwa.

[@paullindberg9230]

Conducor52 pickup on cutting train in half on at 104 cars.COALTRAIN

[@hserper9145]

❤¿😊

[@richardkaltenbach3961]

Can You Say AUTUMN wuh? That's How You Really Are Supposed To Say It. (Ottumwa)

[@notarotomwithhair5637]

7:23 lego

[@vladimirdelgado5876]

EXELENT VIDEO I IMAGEN GONG FOR A TRIP ON THE LOCOMOTIVE WITH MY GIRLFRIEND FOR A AVENTURE AND HAVING A VERY NICE TIME WITH THE ENGINER EXELENT VIDEO THANKYU

[@bradhardy2629]

No more Scab link or MRL soon . Seems that trying to break the unions didn't work out so good for the C.P. or the BNSF /MRL. i Can't say that i feel bad for the scabs that took my job . on the corn lines in southern Minnesota .

[@paullindberg9230]

Yeah man.people trying to steal your paycheck UTU & BLE I hear U!!