Building an intermodal train on the BNSF, Seattle, 8-10-2010, part 1

[@Smoovious]

They've been pretty common for years now on intermodal, as well as coal. You'll see them most often in the mountain areas, but just about anywhere you could see them. I've often seen one or two engines in the middle of the consist as well, either together, or in 2 different spots. Helps spread the tractive/braking effort around, particularly where there are a lot of curves.

[@CSXEMDTrainLover]

nice video and great catch of all 5 BNSF engine's making a intermodal train.

[@davidfrobel7582]

good video,,as an old truck driver,,mooving trailers around the yard ment for a long boaring day,but it was better than sitting home waiting for a load cross country,,I dont know if rail crews feel the same way,,,,,lol.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Excellent info. I over-simplified things. Probably should have said that the hostler crew "drops off the engines and prepares them so they're ready to go for the next crew that will assemble the train".

[@SeattleRailFan]

@inels100 The "Champion Tracks" are a small 2-track yard where engines are stored. In this case, hostlers brought the engines down from Balmer Yard and dropped them off at the Champion Tracks several hours earlier. At the correct time, the road crew brought the engines out of Champion and into Stacy Yard to make up their train. A train that ends its trip at Stacy could also have the engines moved to the Champion Tracks where the hostlers will pick them up and take them back to Balmer.

[@Smoovious]

you'll also see them on some local runs if they need to keep a car on the mainline to protect the siding/spur they're shunting on. There are also some loads that require them for extra personnel. Some hazmat, for instance. I've been seeing the railroads do some overdimensional loads too (as a heavy-haul truck driver, I'm against this :) ), that may need a caboose for the additional people if the load requires it. You just won't see them replacing the FREDs tho.

[@Patriot1776]

I think the 'shoving platform' bylaws are now why DPUs are used on the rear-end so much nowadays. Rear DPUs can in a historical sense now be considered 'powered cabooses'. ^^

[@Theoriginaltkg2902]

Yeah, some roads even use white for main and red for lined over. When I worked for the B&O years ago some switch targets even had different shapes, so if you could not see the color, you at least saw the shape .

[@SeattleRailFan]

Here in Seattle, BNSF uses switch flags that use green to indicate the switch is set straight for "mainline movement" and yellow for diverging. In contrast, UP up here uses red switch flags that show red for diverging and turn sideways (i.e.: you don't see them) for mainline movement. I assume it's a local thing. Different railroads do thing differently. May even be differences in different divisions on the same railroad. Different countries will have their own way of doing things.

[@SeattleRailFan]

@hardwork454 I'm not a railroader but from what I've seen it's hard in that you're constantly walking, climbing on cars, setting handbrakes, wrestling with brake hoses, etc. You have to do that in all weather conditions: 95 & sunny or 10 degrees & snowing and everything in between. You have to have a good head on your shoulders as there's lots of rules and procedures to know and follow. And it's not a 9 to 5 job, you'll be working all sort of crazy schedules. More of a lifestyle than a job.

[@Theoriginaltkg2902]

Nice to see the red and silver warbonnet.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Air reservoirs. The air compressor fills these and the compressed air is used to power the braking system.

[@Class1aNScaleModelRailroading]

I have never seen a DPU on any intermodal train. Interesting.

[@walt1064]

I still like the Warbonnet paint.

[@Passengervehicles]

Fantastic videos !

[@SeattleRailFan]

@MrJimmybgood Zero chance of seeing them regularly on the big Class 1 railroads. The FRED (Flashing Rear End Device) & the cost of the old 5-man crews spelled the end of the caboose. Cabooses are seen occasionally on both Class 1s & shortlines when a job requires shoving cars a long distance. You don't want to have the conductor hanging off the grab irons for 10 miles - very unsafe. In those cases the conductor will ride in a caboose, also called a "shoving platform".

[@attlevi]

Great Video. Thanks for sharing. Im in S. Florida. We nver see anything on this end. I too, Like the War Bonnet Paint Scheme. I the BNSF should keep them in addition to the the pumpkins. Funny, about the sounds.be. read my comments & You will see. I love the sounds they make. But CSX keeps running a shtload of Dash 8. We rarely get a GEVO this far South.

[@RailfanNoah]

fantastic video!

[@SeattleRailFan]

@jpfrench325 Some things are obvious, like a crewman throwing a switch to line the engines onto the correct track. Experience helps with other things. When they left 2 engines on a track I knew from experience those would be used on the rear of the train. I also have a scanner, so I was listening to the crew talk amongst themselves on the radio.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Don't think I've yet got an engineer to sound his horn just to acknowledge me. I have got two or three to give a wave, which is nice...

[@phoenixrailfan7956]

Nice pop off at 0:24

[@UPMAN2011]

Yes according the bylaws they must have shoving platform while moving a train in reverse.

[@ElliottWolcott]

cool i love trains.

[@SeattleRailFan]

@micksquizzy I was at maximum zoom in from the start until about 5:00, when I started zooming out to get a wider shot. At 5:18 I was maybe at 1/3 of max, by 6:10 or so the lens was at it widest as the train approached. My camcorder has a 12x zoom (35mm equivalent is 40-480mm).

[@hardwork454]

Great videos, im starting at kcs in a bout a week as a conductor trainee and wanted to know what you think of the job like is it hard or just hard if you don't like to work, im looking forward to starting my career cause im 18 and just graduated and see this as a great thing.

[@jpfrench325]

How do you know what those people are doing as well as whats happening?

[@SamWalworth]

Just wondering why does the "switch flag" shows "Yellow' even when the danger of derailment is 100% if the locomotive goes by it? Other countries (e.g. Indian Railways) i see it as Red whenever there is a switch like this is involved

[@jonnhanlan930]

What you are calling a foreman is called a conductor in Canada (CN,CP, etc.)

[@SeattleRailFan]

+Jonn Hanlan I've noticed on local jobs the term "foreman" is used on the radio, on road trains they use the term "conductor". Might just be that BNSF has a certain way they like to do things.

[@inels100]

what is a Champion Track?

[@lrcopeland09]

I filmed 748 today. I will respond with the video.

[@curtis13450]

run it

[@scudrunner79]

Two words. Hand signs.

[@adamkrajewski5040]

Brad Thomas for what? Engineer on point.

[@charlesdell2864]

Boring for some, fastinating for others, all depends on who you are.

[@bryanwhitford2729]

So disappointed to see a Warbonnet on point. Ugly engine lol