Switching Small Customers

Here's a little story on small customer switching. At one time it was the heart and soul of railroading... and in thousands of places it still is.

[@ShawnTheDriver]

You have the BEST commentary voice I've ever heard. You could narrate the process of a dog going to the bathroom and I'd still listen.

[@distantsignal]

Wow, thanks Shawn! I hope I never have to narrate anything on THAT level, though! Haha!

[@SouthCalifas619]

Shawn Lewis he sounds like the Pentrex videos guy

[@CraftyFoxe]

He's a pro!

[@BeOz3]

like a discovery documentary.

[@timderks5960]

I initially thought this was just a clip from a TV show due to the commentary, very well done.

[@joeymartinez224]

While Class I railroads may not seek out these businesses, Class II and Class III railroads/shortlines use this as their bread and butter. The ideal relationship is Class I railroads transporting these cars from Point A to Point B, and smaller railroads dealing with the customer. Everyone makes money and the customer is happy. Source: I'm a conductor for a Class II railway who left a Class I

[@jonathanblair5255]

Renewed short lines like that are springing up. Grafton and Upton came back in Mass around 2009. One car at a time.

[@andrewhatton1606]

Class ones have to service the customers no matter what. My company sued csx over this not there hauling us lumber and everything

[@bccarl88]

“Budget priced items” Sounds like a Sheriff’s Auction lol

[@Normal1855]

AKA, junk. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@reedermh]

Sometimes you can get finds. I bought a box of stuff for $1, mainly for a ceramic rose which would go for $50 on eBay if I was to sell it (my SO found it in the box and had me bid on it).

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

This is why I love local freight trains. So many switching maneuvers to keep you entertained. Nice little video Danny. Can't wait for more.

[@thatguywhocleansaquariums4839]

I’ve never seen drone footage of a locomotive just over the switch. This is AWESOME!!!

[@Grainexpress]

Crews on these jobs also get to know their dispatcher quite well. Sometimes it can be downright comical to listen to their conversations with the funny things they’ll say to each other. A breath of fresh air amidst the organized chaos of railroading. 😉 Really nice video and excellent use of the drone.

[@Clavichordist]

Yup I used to pick up a lot of traffic like that on my scanner many years ago. One day the conversation was quite comical because the dispatcher holed up the local for a road freight and got them stuck for quite sometime. The back and forth conversation was funny to hear.

[@UnitedRailfan]

0:28 you can kinda hear the tank car give you a shave and a haircut in the wheel on rail noises

[@heyitshuttz3705]

@JS317Productions same

[@outcoredragraces8656]

OMG THAT IS PRETTY COOL

[@FishplateFilms]

Another beauty Danny! "Lets just say....budget priced items"....lmao. The video is great but as usual, it's your story telling that makes it all the better. Cheers Gregg.

[@distantsignal]

Thank you Gregg!

[@mile57.2galtsub6]

Nice to see jobs like that switching today. Go back even 4 decades ago and you saw a hell of a lot more industries serviced by rail.

[@SD40Fan_Jason]

mile57.2 galtsub Probably because the Class 1 railroads decided Unit trains and intermodal services are huge timesaver trains and cost far less to manage and operate than the carload customers. In the late 70s to early 80s, they cut their nose off to spite their face when they did a lot of closing roads with only carload customers on them. When the ICC created the Surface Transportation Board to regulate the railroad industry primarily to keep them from killing so many branch lines, they began selling their branches to shortlines who could make a decent profit from carload customers and then turn over big cuts of cars to the class 1s. Of course they still have to maintain their infrastructure including classification yards but CSX is taking the first step towards shutting that part down as well.

[@Ithinkiwill66]

EXACTLY what I mean....here where I live, in Winnipeg, we had a huge map of different spurs every which way. But, things changed let's say around in the early 80's, I remember at least 2 spurs were taken out. Then, in the later 80's the great CN yard in the downtown area was all redone, and the old tracks all removed, and all became as a terrorism spot. Later, at least in 2000, a line of trackage was all taken away, so were the spurs in the one part of the city were I closely live near by....and got all redeveloped. Many more places got their tracks removed, and got redeveloped, and so rare to see spur lines having trains on them...working to deliver to small/large businesses, now mostly all done by semis.

[@JawTooth]

I like your new drone! Nice job!

[@distantsignal]

Thank you. Yes, the Mavic Pro is much easier to handle than the Phantom was. It's shaping up to be a great railfanning drone.

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

Drones away! Great shots

[@shortliner68]

The smaller railroad customers just getting a car or two have always been more interesting to me from the operations standpoint than the mega industries receiving and shipping several cars at a time. I remember railfanning back in the 1960s, almost every town along the RR of any significance had at least one or two small freight customers to switch, be it a feed mill, fuel dealer, lumber yard, or similar small businesses. Nowadays most of these same towns just have a main track going straight through. The former switches, sidings, and active customers are history with the old loading docks facing trackside many times bricked up or otherwise sealed shut. I know the railroads make more off of mega customers but it's still kind of sad for me to see the smaller industries fall by the wayside over the years. I'm amazed when I see a smaller business still receiving a single car or two these days.

[@distantsignal]

Yes, I think the railroads are finding ways to serve these small customers through intermodal nowadays. It's cheaper and faster than spotting boxcars on industrial tracks. Of course some commodities still need it the old way, like newsprint and mechanical parts. Boxcar traffic is till alive and well, though. I see 50 - 70 cars cuts of boxes in roads trains even now.

[@Clavichordist]

This is the most fascinating kind of railroading and I've always enjoyed watching the local do the switching. On my virtual railroads, I always have a bunch of industries which need a boxcar, hopper, or tank or two. This type of operation can keep me busy for hours. The distribution building the train was servicing at the end reminds of one of the models I have. I think the creator used this industry as an example because they also create a Plant City passenger station as well. Where I live in eastern New England, we still see lots of 4-axle power. PAR only recently started phasing out their GP40-2s in favor of some recently acquired former CSX Dash-8s. For many years, the SD40s and GP40s were the mainstay and they're still plenty about on the system.

[@benchedthatpiece]

Switching videos are always a treat, very nice work Danny!

[@marshsexton3316]

Howclong long can keep this up

[@marshsexton3316]

Whst long can you go on

[@6777Productions]

Very nicely put together, and extremely well explained. We have a very similar switching puzzle up here in Akron, Ohio. This job, done by CSX's D750 is a daily move. The way the track is lined up with one of the customers, D750 has to leave their cut of cars from the customer on the No. 2 main, run 15 miles to the next Absolute Signal and Crossover, and crossover to the No. 1 track where they will travel about 20 miles in the opposite direction on the No. 1 track in order to run around their cars and get on the rear end of their train. And that is just for one of their customers. D750 services about 5-7 customers on the CSX Newcastle Subdivsion every single day, and as the one dispatcher (BEH, Brain) puts it, "I got people up here that know how to pay us dispatchers well." Too bad they don't know how to pay the head-end crew as amptly as they do the dispatchers.

[@distantsignal]

Thanks! Your switching story is amazing. 15 miles to the crossover then 20 miles backward to the customer? I'd love to chase that down someday.

[@jacobsmith1877]

This kind of work is fun. I love riding the point in wooded areas to spot a load or set out a cut of empties on a spur. One night on one of our locals I was on the back of the train on the last car with my trainee, riding downhill, around a corner, with tree branches smacking us the whole way down - and as those tree branches were smacking me and I'm shining my flashlight down the track looking to clear the switch at the bottom of the hill to then line us in for the long shove back on our spur for the setout, my only thought was "this is f'ing fun"

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

A+ production work and a really neat example of switching for folks with a small layout to get more operating in. Keep up the good work!

[@distantsignal]

Thank you Calvin!

[@Steve-xf4uv]

Great, Danny. This is real railfanning, one car at a time. Love it.

[@tnrpvideo1414]

I always love watching your great videos, amazing catches, Danny.

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

Now THAT is the sound of a railroad

[@RailFan1981]

Just happened to stumble across this video and while I normally am not a fan of commentary for train videos this definitely the exception! Your commentary makes this video and I look forward to watching/listening to more of your work in the future ☺ keep up the splendid job!

[@walterfink9782]

Thanks, Danny. It's a always nice to see your videos. See you, next time.

[@Dr.Westside]

When I was a kid in the '80s I lived near the end of the track w spur in deland Florida . It was always fun to go up high Street and see the train dropping off Hopper cars for Sherman medical and box cars at rinker concrete and every once in awhile dropping off a single propane car at Florida gas .

[@warreneisenburg2580]

You have the best system with great info perfect sound with the trains sound low enough to enjoy and able to hear everything you are telling us. Delay in the block has a loud train sound that's annoying if you turn up the sound to hear the information being spoken. Your absolutely the best railfan production

[@JJRicks]

I love watching switching work like this, especially when I can get up close! Excellent work!

[@thomream1888]

All that creakin' and groanin' sounds like me getting out of bed in the morning! Nice job with the drone, as always. Great to hear your voice again. Greetings from Fresno CA.

[@distantsignal]

Thanks Thom. Nice to hear from you.

[@nwgwc]

Love your videos...keep up the great work!!!

[@popsi50]

Thanks Danny! I have just about caught up on your older videos and really liked this one.

[@Spenceman0831]

Your videos are so good! I seriously get so sad when they end. Actually, this one felt so short. However, as always, you learn so much from watching you. Although it sounds cliche, please keep up the good work. I can’t tell you how much you have reignited a passion for me in trains in general. All the best to you and thanks for all you do and these amazingly produced videos.

[@fhowland]

I’ve always loved the sound of ancient trackage groaning ! You definitely missed your calling as a voice over man- awesome narration.

[@distantsignal]

Many thanks, Fred.

[@mikenevermon9041]

Another great video Danny, thank you for it and how it's done.

[@Perseus109]

I love local switching. To me this is the heart of the railroads.

[@LyfovRyan51]

I enjoyed watching the switching and the commentary. Believe it's called shunting in New Zealand. Would like to see more please.

[@BurtonSKnowles]

That was just TOO short! I always enjoy seeing the smaller operations in railroading. Thanks!

[@charlesdell2864]

Good video, and GREAT narration, love your video's thank you Mr. Harmon

[@pisacksen]

Always great videos.

[@flagman515]

Just stumbled on this. Nice work and explaination. Thanks for setting a good drone example too.

[@cabooseabs6864]

These videos are awesome. Great production and content.

[@shnimmuc]

Wonderful, informative and visually crisp.

[@bradfordthompson8326]

Mr Danny This is one of the best Switcher videos. 👌Hope you make more like this one

[@distantsignal]

Thanks!

[@jbrat4313]

That was awesome Danny....like you said before some times yourjust in the right place at the right time 👏🏽👏🏽 good drone action too👍🏽

[@thatlowesguy5544]

Outstanding video. Thanks for sharing!

[@virginialoverproductions]

Thanks for the video, Danny! Your videos are amazing!

[@sonnyjones3837]

Danny Harmon you are the best. Thanks. Your Voice is so good for us train watchers.

[@Benton-SouthernRR]

Great video! I wish there were more switching videos like this out there! Keep up the great work Love the channel! - Brian

[@hakeemsd70m]

It's always real neat to get up close and personal with a switch job such as this one. How blessed we are as train watchers/railfans/train buffs, and especially the crews, are to still have industrial rail in a country that wants rail transportation gone. This is railroading at it's very best. I only wish I got to see cool stuff like this more often in my area, as it's mostly just CSX and NS, the locals are just so hard to capture. I guess I better find a schedule for the I&O. Great video Danny.

[@BarredCoast0]

You always have the best videos, Danny. I don't know how in the world I missed this one.....lol

[@drc930]

Great work. Very informative as always!

[@sparkybluefox]

Wow ! Over the top great job filming / flying / commentary ! BRAVO ! SBF

[@tomy.1846]

Great video! Thanks for sharing. It's obvious that you put a lot of work into your videos, thanks again!

[@distantsignal]

Haha! Yes, I do. Sometimes too much, I think!

[@Mrruneight]

Good as always Danny. Thank You for a great video!

[@distantsignal]

Thank YOU, Mel!

[@kenkohnke4511]

I really love your videos. I'm a model rr hobbyist and watching them helps me with ideas for my layout

[@coxsj]

Great coverage Danny. Drone shots are hot digity!! Keep 'em coming man!

[@ollieahokas9179]

Love this little detour from mainline videos. I guess it is because I am a modeler and industrial spurs becomes more and more interesting. But no means I don't want you start to chase all these jobs as you are by far running the very best videos I have ever seen on KZbin. Cheers from Sweden!

[@PrinceStreet]

Super video. A friend recommended it and I’m glad I did. Nice video work but the real gem is the investment you’ve made in the narration. Nicely designed script that was tightly executed. The story is easy to discover and become engaged in. Thank you.

[@WayneTesta4444]

Another great masterpiece Danny.

[@ToddReuterOutdoors]

Danny, more local switching videos! These seem to be a dime a dozen, and this is by far the best one out there!!

[@BERXJoe]

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!

[@Megaverser]

This is so awesome, something you don’t see in Europe ! We had this a long time ago on branch lines and even tram lines. Now trucks have taken over...

[@Ferrocarril_Chicago]

Very nicely done. DVD worthy!

[@ThomasOPerry]

Always nice work, Danny!

[@Joeybagofdonuts76]

I think I may have turned my nephew into a fan of yours.

[@mark12.31]

I bet that was pretty easy....Danny is the best!

[@Joeybagofdonuts76]

An 11 year old with a love for trains, so yeah it was pretty easy. LOL

[@distantsignal]

Thank you, Shawn!!! That's awesome! We can always use another railfan.

[@CFRF13]

Have to have the next generation of railfans. :D

[@joeybrownfield3143]

I work for international paper in California. We get alot more than 1 box car at a time. More like 8-10 at a time. I also get to unload the rail cars. Which is fun cause I love trains.

[@josephpichardo6770]

Love your videos Mr Harmon.

[@jaredklock8754]

Very well done video, loved the auctioneer.

[@BSPIVEY100]

Danny, That drone footage was fantastic. You sir are a master broadcaster and feature reporter.

[@Geogak]

Thanks for making great videos. I love trains and your videos have such great content.

[@motorTranz]

Beautiful video. Thanks.

[@FalconXE302]

Great video Danny... I hope you keep doing this for years to come... I for one thoroughly enjoy your video's. I went out and "rail fanned" Australia's Indian Pacific near my home town of Perth recently... may put the video up one day. Cheers from Perth, Western Australia.

[@danielkennedy7845]

As usual mr. Harmon, very cool!!! thank you!

[@daveadams3897]

Fantastic video on a subject that is rarely seen. Nice drone work!

[@BarteauRailArchives96]

I love seeing this a old track and it’s still getting used

[@jamesosborn5962]

CSXT 6063. Nice catch of a famous locomotive in action.

[@pnwrailproductions6430]

Very very cool! Love GP40-3’s on industrial spurs! Keep up the good work!

[@peterkay2406]

the drone work is a fantastic idea... great video 👍

[@kenkramer6529]

Very nicely done. Very informative.

[@barrycarlisle8206]

Danny, another great video!!

[@TolgaEastCoast]

Great video, Danny! I love catching last mile switching

[@distantsignal]

Thank Tolga. I like that term, "Last Mile". I might use that for Part 2! :-))

[@gdog5032]

Excellent footage.

[@joeygreer3063]

What a lovely voice you have! Definitely subscribing for more narration of train operations. :D

[@emaglott]

great explanation of how they do that and the drone shots add a lot to that clip.

[@kotabeaner]

Very Nice Video Danny! I've Ran Across These Many Times, Not That I See Them Go Anywhere else Usually.. lol Great Work! -Dakota

[@jorgemejia5989]

Nice job. Best channel ever

[@BostonBeaconPark]

Great video Danny, please make more videos like this.

[@WaffleDragon]

Nice to see old Y225 working South Tampa. I used to live there and that is true, he usually would only come around in the evening, usually Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Then, he'd wake the neighborhood going back to the yard at 11PM and beyond. It's nice to see again, even though I now live near much more railroad traffic.

[@distantsignal]

Yes, I think this was Y225, but he never said anything but the engine number on the radio. Still nice to see that kind of business on the railroad.

[@Ingramdumpkiss]

Really enjoyed that thanks Distant Signal. Here in the UK we abandoned wagonload freight forty years ago as uneconomic and now only have company or block trains running without any attaching or detaching. It feels like we lost all the interesting operations that make railroads worth watching.

[@billmoran3812]

Having done local customer switching it’s nice to see some video of it. Very time consuming to pick up and drop only one car like that. I love the drone footage. It really adds to the videos. I’d love to get one some day.

[@erikmcc804]

wow Danny this was amazing and awesome catch Thanks :-)

[@atampaarnold]

Good video. Love the switches

[@nkawtgn3695]

Top notch as always Mr Harmon. I requested a shout out for International Paper, and you obliged. Many thanks from an IP HR Manager and railroad nut in Chicago.

[@SmokeStack684]

Thanks Danny. That was nice.

[@daveyboy_]

Holyshit . If all your videos are as good as this one then u just got yourself a new subscriber

[@dougdouglas3945]

Tell me you make a living with your voice? If not, you could and should. When you say "CSX" it makes me believe that you ARE CSX! Professional, top quality video! First class all the way! Thanks for the effort! 👍

[@nsfantodd]

Thanks Danny, Really enjoy switching videos!

[@distantsignal]

Thanks Todd!

[@thetrainguy1]

"...it's risky to run anything heavier than four axle power on many of these old industrial tracks.."... unless your Trainmaster says to. Then put it in notch 8 and give it some sand. Love your videos. Great stories attached to every industry

[@peckelhaze6934]

Great video, Danny.

[@JerryLaw]

Great video! Very informative!

[@CrownMyselfKing]

Excellent commentary!

[@marka87]

Really nice video thanks for posting

[@vdubdork67]

I just love urban switching and your videos are pretty much Pentrex quality, as is the narrating, just like Dave Drui! 👍

[@wendellparks9058]

Nice switching video, Danny. Switching cars is the backbone of railroading. I had just recently built an Inglenook Sidings model railroad layout in N scale.

[@distantsignal]

Yes, I never knew how interesting switching could be.