Burgess COMMENTARY
It is interesting to watch this video about the operation of a switching yard in 1954 ... and then to compare it to what has become the norm for this operation 60 years later. 5 or 6 people were required to operate one train in the 1950s, while today the number is probably 2. The length of the trains are up to twice as long, and each car often twice the capacity. The performance of the railord in terms of labor productivity has been improved (in money cost/profit terms) by a factor in excess of 10! This has been wonderful for the owners and investors in the railroad, less good for those that used to work on the railroad!
Peter Burgess

Freight Train (1954)

Published on Jun 3, 2016

https://youtu.be/Dtm7SQfNppM

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Shows how the cars in a freight train are scheduled, inspected and assembled. Follows the fast freight number 40 on its journey from Kansas City to Chicago. Examines the specific duties of train personnel and the operation of safety devices. The conductor, yard master, engineer, fireman, brakemen positions are highlighted. The cars are separated into groups that are going on to the same train. They pass over an inspection pit and are marked for repairs if necessary. Switching of the tracks during train assembly and departure from the stockyard is managed from a large tower. Cars are sent down the tracks to join the train with which they will travel. Ice is put into refrigerator cars. In an hour and a half, a mile of freight cars is loaded, inspected and coupled. During the trip, the front brakeman watches the train to make sure everything runs smoothly. The conductor sits in his office, reads orders and completes paperwork. The rear brakeman alerts the engineer when the last car is clear of turn and bridges, so the train can pick up speed. Explains why freight trains are important to many people.

We digitized and uploaded this film from the A/V Geeks Archive. Email us at footage@avgeeks.com if you have questions about the footage and are interested in using it in your project.

Transcript English (Automatic Captions) 0:00yeah 0:09yeah 0:31there goes the fast freight train from Kansas City to Chicago 0:37one mile of freight cars passing day after day by this key 0:42right on time let's go back a few hours for the freight yard at Kansas City 0:49it's eight o'clock in the morning 0:52the conductor and the rear brake men have orders to report for duty on the 0:57Chicago freight number 40 0:59the conductor is the captain of the train the yardmaster brings him a list 1:04that's all there is of our train at 8am just a list filled with numbers numbers 1:10telling which cars are scheduled to leave for chicago at nine thirty this 1:14morning 1:16each great car has a number on its side with the name of the company which owns 1:20it and each whole train has a number instead of a name like our fast Freight 1:25number 40 other trains have brought cars to this yard from all over the western 1:31United States and Canada 1:33now they are still strong together and the ones that are to go to Chicago on 1:37number 40 must first be unscrambled 1:44this man has the job of separating cars for all trains to do this 1:50he orders the cars to be pushed up this hill called a holla when they are over 1:55the hump 1:56the cars roll downhill all by themselves 2:00yeah 2:03yamaha a man separates one car from another by pulling out the pin which 2:07holds them together 2:10on their way over the hump 2:20all cars pass above an inspection pit strong light show the bottom of cars if 2:27the inspector finds anything wrong he is where its white paint on a wheel as a 2:31sign that the car must go to the repair shop 2:35take a number morning and two cars go down the tracks together the switch and 2:48brakeman watches from another tower he can see 56 tracks branching out like 2:54fingers of many hands each track for one train one track is for Frank train 3:00number 40 going to chicago with a flick of his risk the man moves the switch 3:06and a heavy gondolas swings to the Chicago track 3:14ok 3:16now he pushes a button a car filled with plate-glass rolls down from the hump the 3:25huge claws grip of wheels and slow them down the car stops for a moment and then 3:33coast along at just the right speed another touch on the button 3:39another car is slow down and switch to the Chicago track 3:48yeah 3:49a fruit Express car follows the others on its way to Chicago 4:03next comes a lot of steel pipe for train number 40 4:16and a piece of machinery from Texas traveling back to chicago for repairs 4:22men in other towers move other cars to other tracks all cars move at just the 4:28right speed so that they will touch the next car without damage to its load a 4:36brakeman couples together the cars for our train 4:45there they are a long line of freight car strung together according to the 4:50numbers on the conductor's list but this is not yet all of number 40 4:55here are some more cars for our trained in the icing dr. machine fills the 5:00refrigerator cars with crushed ice 5:03so that the fruit and vegetables from the Rio Grande Valley and from 5:06California will stay fresh for the markets in the east 5:20it's past nine o'clock a switch engine is order to pull number 42 the station 5:25for departure 5:26there it goes to the departure track 5:32in another part of the yard the front brake minh the engineer and the fireman 5:37check the time and board the road engine the conductor receives his last orders 5:51the front brake man pilots the diesel engine to the departure track at the 5:54freight station 6:00from the bridge the conductor can see the engine hooking up to our train and 6:06there comes the caboose where the conductor and rear brake man ride 6:10finally number 40 is complete 6:15between eight o'clock and 9:30 a mile of freight cars were all sorted out and put 6:22together every wheel and every break is checked before between leeds inspections 6:30over 6:32this man inspected the front part of the train 6:35fast rate number 44 Chicago is all ready for the trip 6:40the engineer takes over 6:45slowly he starts the long line of cars rolling 6:59yeah 7:02the front brake man sits at the window of the engine cab and looks to the rear 7:08that's how he checks the train during the trip 7:12the conductor jumps on the train last 7:17he signals i'm on the engineer knows that it's safe to increase speed 7:29the sign reads 15 miles and 15 miles reads his pedometer green light means go 7:36and the engineer shifts to higher speed 7:44meanwhile the conductor settles down in his office in the caboose to check his 7:49travel documents and read his orders 7:51freight train number 40 is carefully winding its way through the many tracks 7:56that lead out of the freight station 8:05up on a special seat in the caboose the rear brake man keeps watch my radio 8:10telephone he can tell the engineer when the rear end of the train has passed 8:13occurred or a crescent 8:19and the train can pick up speed again 8:23the engineer keeps his eye on the road all the time 8:27and his ears alert for any warning like now 8:31signal crackers repairman's with them on the track 8:35tell the engineer to slow down you see why 8:41while number 40 speeds eastward another freight train is on its way west from 8:45Chicago 8:54mile after mile station after station passed by swiftly as our train travel to 8:59the maximum speed of 60 miles 9:08again the engineer slows down to 20 miles an hour 9:12it's not safe to hurry across the bridge 9:18what is the last car leaves the bridge the engineer speeds up again 9:26yeah 9:30soon the freight train arrives at its first stop 9:38the engineer switches over to a side track and a passenger train pulls into 9:42the station 9:47yeah 9:51the conductor steps out to watch for the go-ahead signal 9:55one minute later the passenger train pulls out of the station 9:58here's the signal 10:02now the Chicago freight can follow me 10:07the engineer called the brakeman was a mile away on the other end of the Train 10:11let me know when we passed the crossing he asks 10:16fast rate number 40 is picking up speed again 10:20a mile of great cars over a hundred of them 10:24passing this gate day after day carrying freight from many parts of the country 10:29to the big markets of chicago and the industrial east