Kicking freight cars at Delta Yard, Everett, WA, 1-11-2011

I was outside Delta Yard in Everett, WA when the crew of BNSF 2159 (GP38) began sorting a cut of cars by "kicking" them down the tracks. This is a common method of switching and is much faster than shoving every car to a hitch.
While filming, I realized that the slow, graceful journey of the cars down the tracks begged for some musical accompaniment. The music in the space station docking scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey immediately came to mind. I added the The Blue Danube to the video and was surprised at how well it worked with the action.
Shot at the Viola Oursler Viewpoint Park on Marine View Drive.
Music: The Blue Danube waltz by Johann Strauss. Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Georg Szell conducting. Recorded June 23, 1934 and published on 78rpm disc by HMV.

[@billmoran3812]

A lot of railroads "prohibit" kicking cars, but if you were to spot each car on its place, it would take many times longer. It is only dangerous if the guys on the ground aren't paying attention. In daylight you can see everything. Try it at night! Those cars roll silently in the dark. NEVER step into the gauge unless you know for certain there is no car rolling your way.

[@AmtrakSilverStar]

Brings back memories of my working at CP. We would have two yard jobs a day, BH11 is from 0700 - 1900 and BH13 from 1900 - 0700. The routine is for the inbound road trains to tie down their train outside of town, but within yard limits, and take the power to the roundhouse. The yard crew will then run engine light (we only use a single GP38-2 or GP40-3) to pick up the train, and start flat switching it, and we would always kick when possible. I loved how the engine revs up getting the whole

[@tvjeff74]

Most people ruin a video by putting stupisd music on it,,,THIS IS PERFECT...LOve it

[@SuzanneGillespie]

I had fun watching this one. The Blue Danube Waltz and accompanying reference to the docking scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey matched the event well!

[@SeattleRailFan]

This was my first time seeing a crew kicking cars, so it was plenty good enough for me. Don't know if this contributed, but it was 24 degrees out on this January day.

[@pullerofspikes]

Once, in Reading Pennsylvania, I watched as a female engineer, with 2 sw1500's worked a 30 car cut, kicking them into the Spring Street Yard, by CP Oley. That girl knew how to run a locomotive, and she had them howling that day. Unfortunately NS took that operation away, and the yard I think, is only switched by road freights, and a local. This video reminded me of it, Well Done!

[@MottyGlix]

In addition to its content, I so appreciate a video that looks as if it were annotated by someone who can spell and punctuate. So few do. Thank you for that as well.

[@Boss302fan]

It's called "work". Like any other job some days are easy and some are hard. All in all though it beats the hell out of working inside in some factory or on some assembly line.

[@Welwyn22]

In the UK this technique is known as 'fly shunting' though there of course it differed in the fact the couplings were chains-and-hooks, so they had to be coupled/uncoupled manually. It wasn't usually done one-car at a time, sometimes as many as four or five trucks would be fly-shunted down a siding - with someone on the end to engage the wagon brakes and avoid a run-away.

[@mrwallace666]

I work for the railroad and reading some of these comments are ridiculous.

[@rjkopp]

I was born just about as far from a sorting yard as you were standing. My uncle worked for the NYC and I lived with him. Years later I would go and visit and they had a bridge over the end of the hump yard that you could watch them work from (it was actually a pedestrian bridge over the main lines.) I used to love to watch this. You don't really see too much of this anymore in my area. The yard that I used to watch has been greatly reduced and converted to a truck terminal style yard,

[@SeattleRailFan]

I know they are used to transport garbage to the landfill in Roosevelt, WA. Containers come to Delta Yard from Everett locations. I believe containers from other cities to the north (Mt. Vernon, Bellingham, etc) also come to Delta Yard via various local jobs. They go out on trains with the symbol EVEROO (Everett to Roosevelt), empties come back on the ROOEVE. I have numerous videos of garbage trains, search for the keywords: garbage, ROOEVE, EVEROO, INBROO (Interbay Seattle to Roosevelt).

[@25mfd]

The cardinal rule for flat switching is to NOT run past the switch. If it's at all possible,you want to always be moving FORWARD.(but that's in a perfect world)LOL.

[@RailfanDownunder]

Thanks for taking the time to post the clip. Here is Australia, loose shunting or 'kicking cars' has been banned under Occupational Health & Safety and the new Rail Safety legislation. It probably still occurs though not in an urban yard as depicted in your clip. Brings back memories of shunting and the crash of couplers though... regards from Australia

[@AmtrakSilverStar]

train moving. This is in Huron, South Dakota. Your video reminds me of the good times. Now all I haul are nine cars on the same route on the same equipment everyday.

[@sv1dmc12]

lmao. Birds 1:45. "Dude! That's MY spot! I chase you fool!!"

[@MetroVick]

Great video, thanks for putting it together & posting it. The accompanying music is well chosen.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Good question. I suppose if the loco wasn't up to the right speed used for kicking, the car might slow down too much and not make the hook. I haven't seen enough kicking to know if that happens very often.

[@Jessegrim]

This is a RCL Job. (Remote Control Locomotive) They probably don't have "Remote Zone" here so there has to be someone on both ends protecting the movement. My guess the guy pulling all the pins is the helper and the guy kicking back on the engine with the heater on is the forman. Thats how it rolls where I work anyways lol!! Cool video thanx for sharing!

[@BSnyd84]

I do this just about every day at work. Really cuts the time between moves.

[@Celtic2Realms]

Lovely music choice - an interesting video for those who do not normally see this - thanks

[@188basstrom]

What British railwaymen call shunting (switching) on the fly

[@rlgdestroyu]

@25mfd Sometimes the pin drops, the engine doesn't want to stop. These jobs at the West end of Delta and most switch jobs in Everett are Remote Control jobs, so there are two on the ground both with remotes, that is if they got the remote control zone further west on the class lead.

[@doct0rnic]

there is a helper, this is a two man RCO Crew, you can tell by the vests and the weak kicks from the robot also they keep grabbing their belly, where the control is, an engineer would have given them eight throttle so you wouldn't have to saw the switch

[@Boss302fan]

Fewer and fewer places permit "Kicking". Or getting on and off moving equipment. Sigh. there is/was an art to doing it correctly, but it will disappear soon enough.

[@oubrioko]

This video provides the answer to your question. The brown BNSF covered hopper rolling at 8:00 after being kicked, is seen at 16:45 and 18:13.

[@SeattleRailFan]

@InformationCenter I use a Sony HDR-CX12. Can't complain about the quality of the video it produces. My beefs are I'd rather have a dial around the lens for zoom instead of the toggle switch & I'd like to have a USB port on the camera so I didn't have to have a docking station to transfer to my PC. Built-in mic is pretty good but it is omni-directional - picks up a lot of background noise. I use a Sony ECM-HST1 mic on the shoe, it picks up a 90deg angle which results in cleaner audio.

[@Cristianoefc]

Very nice showing the operation!

[@SeattleRailFan]

Then you get a nice, loud bang, but the couplers don't connect. At about 14:00 in the video, you'll see the crew member tugging on a coupler to get it to open.

[@sonnypruitt6639]

Is the yard flat and level, or is there a slight down grade?

[@SeattleRailFan]

+Saddle Sore It looks level to my eye. I'm guessing a railroad would generally want a yard to be pretty close to level. A yard with a significant slope would be a pain, requiring lots of hand brakes to be set in order to keep cars from rolling away.

[@jhmatlack]

I worked the yard in Green River Wyoming 30 below zero or 110 deg. sawing the sw is sawing the sw. and someone, usually the eng will let you know it! I am an eng now but really enjoyed switching, takes alot of thought to do it correctly.

[@trainsandlocomotives]

Great video! The music was perfect!

[@SeattleRailFan]

As long as you kick cars at low speed (less than 5mph or so) it's no problem. Railroaders have been doing this for decades.

[@25mfd]

@SeattleRailFan This was in no way a slight on the crew in this vid but just a common goal of mine. I spent 13 years a switchman for the CNW and have PLENTY of experience flat switching. The crew in this vid had no choice but to run past the switches because of the absence of a helper to throw switches. It's always easier if you have TWO guys instead of one. Also, you are correct,cold weather affects everything.......... It slows everything down to a crawl

[@rjkopp]

Unfortunately they don't have a place to watch that loading from like they did over the hump yard. Actually at that time it wasn't a hump yard but a flat classification yard. I remember watching old black RS3s do the sorting, and some RS11s ready to haul a complete train out. All that before Penn Central and Conrail! Dewitt Yards in Central New York!

[@Boss302fan]

Not a waste of time at all. Kicking as you see here is far more efficient than shoving to a coupling on each move.

[@nekoroms]

seems the pigeons are also enjoying the action

[@SeattleRailFan]

@25mfd True. But I'd cut them some slack. It was 24 degrees out that day. I was a frozen solid just sitting on the park bench filming. The crew was probably moving slow due to the cold...

[@SeattleRailFan]

The cars at 5:50 did couple, you can hear the bang. You also aren't seeing the whole video, I did edit it down somewhat. Some of the later cars didn't hit, that's true. As for time, this crew spent way less time on this operation that if they'd flat switched the whole lot. And the crew that assembles trains off these tracks will have to spend a couple of extra minutes reversing to grab the last couple of cars. Still an overall time savings, IMHO.

[@Seanmmvi]

man, those kicked cars kinda just keep going!

[@nohcho84]

Just wanted to comment that the all Delta yard switch jobs are all RCO (remote control) so there is no engineer involved at all.

[@schrap72]

Is there ever a time when a car loses its momentum and stops before it connects with the other cars?

[@fredthompson7465]

A new look at railroading'always wanted to see freight trains form in the yards.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Yes, as a person of a certain age I do not boil every thought down to a 140 character tweet. Nor do I try to impress my friends with my kewlness by telling them I Am 3l33t Doodz. As a result, all postings here or on forums are done in multiple paragraphs with full and complete sentences with actual punctuation, something most people under the age of 30 are completely unfamiliar with.

[@25mfd]

@SeattleRailFan ........if you have two guys on the ground,one guy is the pin puller,the other guy throws switches. So much easier. Your only problem would be making sure a kicked car is in the clear before you fire another one down the lead. Wouldn't want to corner a car.(trust me,i've done it. it ain't fun)

[@phildur]

Pas mal du tout ! Surtout avec le musique, c'est maintenant "2011 L'odyssée du Rail". Merci pour cette vidéo très instructive. Les gains de sécurité et de productivité dus à l'attelage automatique sont parfaitement visibles ici pour un européen. Quand l'UIC finira t-elle par se décider ? Devra t-on attendre la mort du chemin de fer en Europe, il est déjà agonisant ? Very nice vid. It's "2011 A rail Odyssee" with Strauss's Blue Danube. It shows very well the security and productivity gains with the american coupler in comparison with our european manual coupling. Thanks for sharing

[@dakotapicou]

just the perfect music

[@WideWorldofTrains]

Great video, nice narration too

[@dbdrdbag]

The birds are watching them kicking the cars....lol

[@Boss302fan]

"authorized speed" for whom? BNSF? UP? NS? CSXT? CN?

[@chichi41]

That was a fun video to watch. How about some more just like it!

[@ERA3733]

For the record, the authorized speed for "Flat Switching" (Kicking) freight cars is 4 Miles Per Hour.

[@SoFloRR1018]

Good show! I love the music

[@SeattleRailFan]

+SoFloRR 1018 Fits the action quite well, doesn't it?

[@SoFloRR1018]

Yes it does

[@60trainhunter]

Norfolk Southern does this a lot in the Conneaut, Ohio NS Conneaut Yard. Once I saw them Kick a Caboose before. Couple times I see they kick cars down an empty siding with one or a sling of cars almost a runaway call and they engineer and Conductor had to go all the way back and get the car or cars

[@davidbarnett9312]

HAL, back the train up. HAL! HAL?

[@SeattleRailFan]

I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that.

[@davidbarnett9312]

SeattleRailFan LOL! I worked for the SP on the H&TC [Houston & Texas Central] from the late 60s to the early 70s, as a brakeman. My hometown was my turnaround, and then it was quite a busy yard. The switching crew would take one of the company vehicles and use the radio to communicate with the engineer when they worked. A friend of mine told them that by using that radio, they would eventually lose jobs, which turned out to be true. Of course, a radio would have been great when working the 'local' and the fog was so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Keep up the good work.

[@25mfd]

Yes. Things that slow down a kicked railcar include,brakes not bled off or handbrakes set on the car,not enough momentum from the engine during the kick (ie: kicking a car over a slight hump) and my favorite,loaded tank cars that have their load slosh around back&forth after a kick. Acid cars are the worst offenders of this. You can literally watch the car go back & forth down the rail. It"ll stop then go,stop then go. All you can say is ...DAMMIT,GET IN THERE!!!!!

[@sthpac69]

You sure picked the right music pal.

[@railroadjeep]

@SeattleRailFan Someone has to ride the enigne to watch the point and signals going around the wye at Delta Jct with that big of a cut.. Being an RCO job, therfore no engineer, one of the trainmen has to ride the point. Thus, your left with one man working the ground while the other trainmen is riding the point. There is no way with our crew consist agreements that a switch crew can go to work with only one trainmen, let alone permit a RCO operation with only one operator.

[@nitetrane98]

The real fun is drop kicking when you need to run around a car.

[@HellzNord]

Cool. I was actually thinking about applying to work for the railroads of Norfolk & Southern and CSX. It is probably back breaking work but hell, for the money they make I'd do it, or at least try haha.

[@zachlundy3504]

Nice camera, not sure if it's already been asked, but what type is it?

[@chechnya]

Do you know anything about the Allied Waste containers at 17:20?

[@GEES44DC]

They're doing it all wrong. One guy at the switches and one guy pulling pins. They're backing up way too much which means they didn't pull far enough ahead at the start.

[@mrwallace666]

Where are you getting your info.

[@catw0rld]

The stress is on the brakemen having to run up and down, making the cuts, throwing switches and always enduring whatever the weather. There's a video somewhere on youtube showing some NYC folk sorting with an old box cab loco, the poor brakemen are running at full speed, hundreds of feet back and forth to keep up. (some cuts slam into their train pretty darn hard, too) I just searched for a link but can't find it atm Car and/or cargo damage definitely happens due to this, but it's pretty rare.

[@Mychildhoodchannel]

great editing

[@SeattleRailFan]

It was 24 degrees out. They may have just been frozen solid.

[@trainboy4024]

sawing the switch. A nightmare for most engineers like me.

[@epistte]

+Johnny Lee Smith Jr. Please explain what "saving the switch" means. I don't understand that term.

[@trainboy4024]

In a yard, sawing the switch is, pulling and shoving back and forth over the same switch to kick cars. To properly kick cars you have to pull up a car, maybe a car and half, so when you pull the pin, and stop the movement you won't be pulling over the switch again the kick another car. When you saw the switch, it's more work for the engineer and less chatter on the radio. It burns time.

[@brakie44820]

+Johnny Lee Smith Jr. Some times sawing is a necessary evil when working over a long ladder and you're only using 4-5 of the lower switches.I worked 9 1/2 years as a brakeman.. When I started in '66 we had a full 5 man crew the later on the Chessie we had 4 man crew.90% of the PRR/PC engineers I worked with in '66-69 was old throttle jerkers from the steam era. Those old school railroaders knew how to railroad.

[@teddybeareleventeen]

A Great video my friend, I really enjoyed it! The music is perfect! Thanks for sharing! Thumbs Up! =)

[@jean-claudest-yves1120]

Thanks for sharing!

[@SeattleRailFan]

@SeattleRailFan I caught a crew kicking cars on 7-15-2011 (Switch Job 145 on Harbor Island). They were using two guys on the ground.

[@madbeastification]

A++ video! Good catch! I like the birds just sitting there watching. Lol. *subscribed

[@25mfd]

@SeattleRailFan The yard i worked in was just starting the RCLs as i was leaving for greener pastures back in 04. Ony ONE guy on the ground with that operation. Absolutley ridiculous....and UNSAFE. Better production is with TWO guys on the ground and an ENGR in the cab.

[@ArantiusVulpes]

It's what we do on the railroad every day (up train crew )

[@Patriot1776]

What's the fastest the cars can handle a coupling before you start doing serious damage to equipment? It looks like seeing this you guys are purposely trying to break something or destroy something in the draft gear.

[@SeattleRailFan]

Patriot1776 I think 5mph is the maximum speed for kicking cars. Not trying break stuff, this is just quicker than regular flat switching.

[@thetriplem2661]

Lol.... Locomotives don't slide down a track, they levitate along the rails. Geesh !

[@tyiscool777]

the music fits it perfectly very nice!!

[@edbelfor2]

It's faster to go in light engine and trim everything then it is to shove in with a whole list. Easier on the hog head to just kick then to be making joints for a whole list. -CPR Conductor

[@TheBraniffTaylor]

Cool video thanks for sharing!

[@cannonmaker]

Rail car shuffleboard.

[@SeattleRailFan]

@25mfd Good info to know. This was my first time seeing this crew, they might have been running shorthanded that day. I did catch another crew at a different yard kicking cars and they had two people on the ground.

[@Railfanable]

It's amazing to me that these cars don't derail whilst being "kicked"

[@thetriplem2661]

Somehow I don't think they will kick cars into the LPG tankers.

[@alexander1485]

just make sure the knuckles open on at least one car, 2 is better.

[@ojhvonlaufenburg5537]

Dat deden we 60 jaar geleden ook al afstoten, als er geen rangeerheuvel was

[@Freighttrains]

This is good. Sometime you should try using something from the star wars movies or any movie that might have good music to go to this. I did enjoy this video.

[@larryhostetler3887]

That looks like a RCO vest. I would HATE to be an RCO.

[@catw0rld]

heck yeah! I'd do the work too, if they'd offer my old broken carcass a job. :) "Hard" doesn't mean "bad" by any stretch. Plus it's tons safer these days than back when I was talking about, so the hard bits don't mean 'potentially deadly' so much anymore. Anyone who gets a job with a railroad today is living a dream a whole generation of us were denied. Go rail young man! (to rip off Horace Greeley)

[@MrSw9guy]

My kind of video! Thanks

[@rlgdestroyu]

No hog head, remote boxes.

[@mafarnz]

Kicking cars is always fun to watch! I see it happen in Spokane's Yardley yard all the time.

[@HellzNord]

That seems like it would be really stressful on the couplers an cars themselves, but I guess it is all heavy duty steel and iron so who knows lol

[@Railfanhamradio]

Nice video.

[@jhmatlack]

this video is kind of painful to watch for anyone with experience at kicking cars! The term "sawing the switch" comes to mind! ALL the moves should have and could have been accomplished at the first sw under this bridge,,,too much back and forth a good field man should line all the sw deep while the foreman pulls the correct pins! No need to change directions at all !!!!

[@harley2668]

Quit sawing the switch!!

[@Mychildhoodchannel]

great

[@benjamins2314]

scared me to watch him walk directly behind the cars very dangerous

[@SeattleRailFan]

+Benjamin S Probably not as dangerous as it looks. The guys on the ground are in radio contact with the engineer, so if they need to cross behind the cars, they'd radio the engineer first. Typically, on my scanner I'd hear the call of "Job XXX (or BNSF XXXX), foreman going in between". That means the foreman/conductor/switchman wants to go in between the railcars. Then the engineer would respond "Job XXX (or BNSF XXXX), set and centered". That means the air brakes are set and the reverser lever is centered in neutral. I think engineers also physically take their hands off the controls so as not to accidentally move a control lever. Only then would the crewmember go in between the cars or walk behind them.

[@benjamins2314]

I'm a conductor with Norfolk Southern and those trains are fast quiet and unforgiving.

[@thairatcatcher]

+Benjamin S He has to walk "in front of the car' to open the knuckle for the next pass. No switchman likes boxed knuckles.

[@benjamins2314]

Your right but he should walk 10 feet in front of the knuckle to open it not right behind.

[@AllanLoveJr]

LOL Love it.

[@BrooklynPerson30000]

You yourself put the caption on about how great the train and yard sounds are, so why did you spoil it and drown it out with a worn out cliche such as the blue danube waltz bit.. I know others have commented that they like it, or thought it was funny ~ I know now that there is a god ~ for he hath protected me from the misery of personally knowing these people.

[@bcr4601]

Now those two know how to make puppies oh yea.

[@25mfd]

@rlgdestroyu Pins dropping are the MOST irritating thing for a swichman. As far as RCL goes......totally UNSAFE. This is a MONEY saving move but at what cost?????