Freight Train (1954)

there goes the fast freight train from Kansas City to Chicago one mile of freight cars passing day after day by this gate right on time let's go back a few hours to the freight yard at Kansas City it's eight o'clock in the morning the conductor and the rear brake men have orders to report for duty on the Chicago freight number 40 the conductor is the captain of the train the yardmaster brings him a list that's all there is of our train at 8:00 a.m. just a list filled with numbers numbers telling which cars are scheduled to leave for Chicago at 9:30 this morning each freight car has a number on its side with the name of the company which owns it and each whole train has a number instead of a name like our fast freight number 40 other trains have brought cars to this yard from all over the western United States and Canada now they are still strung together and the ones that are to go to Chicago on number 40 must first be unscrambled this man has the job of separating cars for all trains to do this he orders the cars to be pushed up this hill called a hump when they are over the hump the cars rolled downhill all by themselves on the hump a man separates one car from another by pulling out the pin which holds them together on their way over the hump all cars pass above an inspection pit the strong lights show the bottom of cars if the inspector finds anything wrong he sware its white paint on a wheel as a sign that the car must go to the repair shop and two cars go down the tracks together the switch and brakeman watches from another tower he can see 56 tracks branching out like fingers of many hands each track for one train one track is for freight train number forty going to Chicago with a flick of his wrist the man moves a switch and a heavy gondolas swings to the Chicago track now he pushes a button a car filled with plate glass rolls down from the hump the huge claws grip the wheels and slow them down the car stops for a moment and then coasts along at just the right speed another touch on the button another car is slowed down and switched to the Chicago track a fruit express car follows the others on its way to Chicago next comes a load of steel pipe for train number 40 and a piece of machinery from Texas is traveling back to Chicago for repairs men in other towers move other cars to other tracks all cars move at just the right speed so that they will touch the next car without damage to its load a brakeman couples together the cars for our train there they are a long line of freight cars strung together according to the numbers on the conductor's list but this is not yet all of number 40 here are some more cars for our train in the icing dock a machine fills the refrigerator cars with crushed ice so that the fruit and vegetables from the Rio Grande Valley and from California will stay fresh for the markets in the east it's past nine o'clock a switch engine is ordered to pull number 42 the station for departure there it goes to the departure track in another part of the yard the front break Minh the engineer and the fireman checked the time and bored the road engine the conductor receives his last orders the front brakeman pilots the diesel engine to the departure track at the freight station from the bridge the conductor conceived the engine hooking up to our train and there comes the caboose where the conductor and rear brake men ride finally number 40 is complete between 8 o'clock and 9:30 a mile of freight cars with all sorted out and put together every wheel and every brake is checked before the Train leaders inspections over this man inspected the front part of the Train fast freight number 44 Chicago is all ready for the trip the engineer takes over slowly he starts the long line of cars rolling the front brake Minh sits at the window of the engine cab and looks to the rear that's how he checks the train during the trip the conductor jumps on the train last he signals Haemon and the engineer knows that it's safe to increase speed the sign reads 15 miles and 15 miles reads his pedometer green light means go and the engineer shifts to higher speed meanwhile the conductor settles down in his office in the caboose to check his travel documents and read his orders freight train number 40 is carefully winding its way through the many tracks that lead out of the freight station up on a special seat in the caboose the rear brake Minh keeps watch my radio telephone he can tell the engineer when the rear end of the train has passed a curve or a crescent and the train can pick up speed again the engineer keeps his eye on the road all the time and his ears alert for any warning like now signal crackers repairmen put them on the tracks sell the engineer to slow down you see why while number 40 speeds eastward another freight train is on its way west from Chicago mile after mile station after station passed by swiftly as our train travels at a maximum speed of 60 miles again the engineer slows down to 20 miles an hour it's not safe to hurry across the bridge but as the last car leaves the bridge the engineer speeds up again soon the freight train arrives at its first stop the engineer switches over to a side track and a passenger train pulls into the station the conductor steps out to watch for the go-ahead signal one minute later the passenger train pulls out of the station here's the signal now the chicago freight can follow the the engineer calls the brakeman was a mile away of the other end of the train let me know when we past the crossing he asked fast Freight number 40 is picking up speed again a mile of freight cars over a hundred of them passing this gate day after day carrying Freight from many parts of the country to the big markets of Chicago and the industrial east

Channel: A/V Geeks

Views: 463,240

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Id: Dtm7SQfNppM

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 03 2016