Train GRAVEYARD | What Happens to OLD Locomotives?

[Music] coming up on this V12 production special an old southern highhood with a window unit rows of idle engines and dozens of box cars that have reached the end of the line so what happens to Old locomotives and Rolling Stock we'll visit scrapyards where railroad relics are broken down and look at the machines that have gotten a second chance some make it back onto the mainline While others are preserved for future generations to see all that and more is [Music] [Music] next hello and welcome to this V12 production special and thanks for joining us today we're looking at what happens to Old locomotives and rail cars there is no doubt they are built to last and I personally get a kick out of seeing brand new engines on the mainline but it can be even more exciting to see Classics that are still pulling Freight or passengers unfortunately every machine eventually reaches the end of the line and that's where we'll begin our first stop takes us to a facility near the banks of the Mississippi River where Mighty Machines rip up old Rolling Stock and begin the recycling process Memphis Tennessee from barges navigating this Mighty River to FedEx's World Hub and 18 wheelers hauling all kinds of goods this place is a true Crossroads of Commerce but I would argue at its heart Memphis is a railroad town here you'll see major class one railroads like Canadian national [Music] Burlington Northern Santa [Music] Fe Norfolk Southern and [Music] more there are also small switching operations and short lines plus you may even see some Fallen Flags so yeah railroads are alive and well here but just a few miles from the busy mainlines that snake their way through the city there's a place where locomotives and rail cars go to die here on President's Island you can find a scrapyard filled with old rail equipment the facility is operated by Progress Rail and we'll learn a little bit more about them a little later in this special on this windy day in March of 2024 this excavator with huge shears is cutting up an old box car you can see they have quite a few box cars on this lot along with other types of Rolling Stock A Lone locomotive was also sitting here awaiting its fate of course this is a recycling operation and they're saving whatever can be reused and who knows some of this metal could be made into a new rail car one day the facility we just saw was relatively small but around 250 Mi away there's a scrapyard that's much bigger Albertville Alabama here they're known for making fire hydrants but in this they also destroy things this facility is also owned by Progress Rail and they specialize in turning cars into scrap metal but today bigger machines including this relatively rare EMD gp20 D are down here awaiting their fade meanwhile a line of locomotives is sitting on the other side of the property I would imagine these will be picked through for salvageable parts and components before they're broken down now I wasn't able to see them in action but I know this facility is fully capable of scrapping locomotives and rail carss this property is huge and has tracks that can hold all kinds of Rolling Stock you can see even on this warm Saturday in September of 2023 that they're hard at work dividing up scrap metal specialized material handlers with cabs that can raise and lower are in use along with other heavy machinery and those material handlers with their huge hydraulic arms can lift and toss massive chunks of scrap metal like it was nothing but those machines aren't as bizarre as what I'm about to show you I actually made a second trip out here in February of 2024 and that's when I saw this an X norfol Southern highhood EMD GP 38-2 number 5024 was built in 1972 and according to a little internet research on RRP picture archives. net the unit was sold to Progress Rail in 2016 of course Progress Rail which is a subsidiary of caterpillar owns electromotive diesel as you probably know EMD was once owned by General Motors and was called electromotive division you can see this old Workhorse is still in use moving gondolas full of scrap metal around the property but it's received some aftermarket upgrades like this red and white reflective tape two flashing amber lights and what appears to be a window unit air conditioner but it's not really all about destruction here in Albertville not far away this Progress Rail facility stores old rail car running gear from side frames to bolsters and Wheel sets they've got it all according to the Progress Rail website they specialize in recycling derailed and retired rail cars they say they can even dismantle derailed cars at the accident site if necessary they also do a lot of Automotive recycling which appeared to be what I saw when I was here they say they can handle Ferris and non-f feris metals and can process 1,200 tons of scrap per day with their large Shredder operation progress rails Roots can actually be traced to a recycling company that was started in Albertville in the early 1980s and progress rails headquarters is still located here I suppose it's fitting that trains not only bring old railroad relics in here but they also haul them out well they haul them out in pieces that is the facility is served by the Alabama and Tennessee River Railway a short line owned by omn tracks and I should mention they've got some locomotives that are old enough to be in a junkyard but I'm glad to see this old EMD SD 40-2 is still going strong this thing was built for Burlington Northern back in 1979 most short lines around the country use secondhand [Music] [Applause] [Music] power here we see this engine in atala Alabama hauling gondle is full of scrap metal from a different recycling facility look at those cars rock and roll as the train approaches the yard in total the Alabama and Tennessee River Railway has around 120 Mi of track that goes from Guntersville Alabama down to Birmingham where its line crosses norfol Southern at 32nd Street as you may know Birmingham was once well known for steel production the sloth furnaces next to the tracks now make up a museum and National Historic [Music] Landmark back in attack some of these gondolas seem pretty old but it appears their service lives haven't expired just yet but that was not the case for this covered Hopper that was being stripped down around 120 Mi away in Atlanta Georgia the covered Hopper is the most common rail car of them all you'll often see them in unit grain trains today a worker with a torch is cutting this one up you can now see right through this car okay so I don't claim to be a recycling expert but gener speaking metal is separated and accumulated at a scrapyard and eventually it gets sent to a mill or Foundry to be melted down for future use Okay so we've seen where condemned locomotives and rail cars go to die but what about units that still have a little life left in them well some may be rebuilt and we'll get to that in a few minutes but now I want to talk about engines that are in what I would describe as locomotive Purgatory basically stored Motive Power with an uncertain future it looks like a model railroaders dream a collection of dozens of locomotives lined up one after another but these engines are the real thing and they're not on display this is just one part of csx's massive Thomas rice yard in Way Cross Georgia but this isn't just any yard it's the largest in the CSX system the facility is around 850 acres and has about 150 Mi of track in the distance you can can see the heavy repair shop there's even a hump yard not far from here but one thing that'll catch your eye if you ever get an aerial view of this place is the locomotive storage area here there are seven tracks that occupy the equivalent of around seven football fields from the air you can see slugs Jeeps big six axle GES and emds switchers and even an old Jordan spreader many of the engines have covers on their exhaust Stacks to keep out the elements some are even missing horns and other parts this is definitely an interesting place that shows off csx's Motive Power history but why are all these here perhaps some of these engines have reached the end of their service lives the g-8 are approaching 30 years old there are also a few High horsepower ac6000 in here that are around 26 years old but some of the big EMD sd70 Max aren't even 20 yet you really don't see too many emds leading CSX freight trains anymore the company seems to be all in on GE Road locomotives who knows these stor engines could also be a byproduct of precision scheduled railroading one thing is for sure this is a pretty amazing site at one time or another many of us probably watched these engines run up and down the East Coast but there are still plenty of active locomotives around woss six Rail lines come together here and there's never any shortage of trains that footage was from my trip to South Georgia back in 2021 I hope to go back soon and see what's happening at Rice yard all right so we saw Progress Rail scrapyards earlier in this video but that company also has a lot of units in storage sleeping Giants static steel stallions isolated iron horses whatever you want to call them these locomotives are not out on the mainline pulling Freight dozens of them are being stored in Thomason Georgia which is about 65 miles south of Atlanta most of these are big six axle Road locomotives with a few Road switchers mixed in when I visited this location in January of 2022 there were engines from Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern but all the C CS units now had prlx or Progress Rail Services Corporation reporting marks on them some of the norfol Southern units also had prlx reporting marks now I would imagine you guys want a closer look at the collection here we'll start with something you di hard rail fans will love a Kansas City Southern gray ghost this one is an EMD sd70 Mac or Mac I saw a few of these so-called gray ghosts out here and yeah this place is a little spooky if you look mostly you'll see a couple of four axle jeeps in here but most of these locomotives are wide noosed six axle emds I didn't see any GE engines when I visited let me make one little note here I shot this footage using my drone and the zoom lens on my camera I don't endorse trespassing and this was the safest way to get shots of some of these engines now we just looked at a gray ghost but the KCs colors you'll see the most out here make up what's called the Southern bell paint Scheme and I think this is one of the best paint schemes of all time of course a line has been spray painted through the Kansas City Southern text and logos the stored locomotives in Thomason aren't all in one place the ones in this line are sitting in a neighborhood I'll bet some of you would love to walk out of your front door and see this and here's the Builder plate on one of those okay not all the engines out here are as colorful as the southern Bells a lot of them once pulled Freight for norfol Southern and are painted in the company's standard black and white paint Scheme these are sd7 M d2s they have DC instead of AC traction Motors North American railroads seem to favor AC Road locomotives these days many of the units out here aren't that old here's the paint date on one of the NS engines on the outside the vast majority of the locomotives in this collection appear to be intact although some were missing components and this sd70 m-2 was missing its number boards the exhaust Stacks were also covered on all the engines I recorded and check this out these KCs locomotives still had tags on them from their auction my trip down here did leave me with a few questions though like why didn't any of these engines have their horns of course the question many of you are probably asking is what's next for these workhorses well I'm not really sure I would imagine some could be sold off or scrapped now my understanding is that some of the KCs S70 Maxs were pulled out of Thomason at some point to be rebuilt for commuter service in Chico Cho that's right Metra is now using former six axle Freight diesels to pull its trains it seems like Overkill but man to these things look sharp I saw this one on its way back to Chicago in November of 2022 I should mention the rebuild was done by Progress Rail down in Patterson Georgia that company seems to be present at the beginning middle and end of the line for locomotives now there are plenty of other stor engines that have gotten a second chance this obviously isn't one of them it sits in a field in Social Circle Georgia and came off an old remote control unit that was used to pull Kansas City Southern work trains it's part of a collection of rail equipment owned by the great Walton railroad which operates between Social Circle and Monroe Georgia I found these more modern G ac4400 CWS sitting in Monroe in July of 2023 One Way some short lines make extra money is by storing locomotives and rail cars anyway not too long after I recorded these engines they were bought and reactiv ated by Norfolk Southern of course NS is also well known in the industry for rebuilding its old locomotives and let me tell you they have an extensive Fleet of rebuilds there are honestly too many to mention in this video but we have to talk about the railroads DC to AC traction motor conversion [Music] program many General Electric units from the 1990s and early 2000s have had their direct current traction Motors swapped out with alternating current Motors among other things they also got new cabs after its transformation number 8833 is now numbered 408 and looks like this these units are designated as ac44 c6m electromotive division units from the 90s have also received this treatment engines like these are now designated as sd70 AC Seas there are also other large six axle locomotives that have been rebuilt this was once a Union Pacific SD 943 Mac Norfolk Southern now calls it an sd70 [Music] Acu the railroad has also rebuilt plenty of other diesels for short Hall and Yard Service many rebuilds are done in Altuna Pennsylvania and norfol Southern's Juniata shops the facility was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 1800s it then then became a part of pin Central and later Conrail before being taken over by Norfolk Southern big blue another name for Conrail isn't all that colorful in these black and white images that were part of a historic American engineering record and are available on the library of congress's website damaged locomotives are also sent here to be repaired after derailments now arguably one of the most unusual rebuilds on the rails right now is actually something on csx's roster this is a webtech st23 E4 most of it looks like an EMD SD 40-2 but it actually uses a 6-cylinder GE Now webtech engine the giant Radiator on the back helps the locomotive meet tier four emission standards and contributes to the unit's unusual looks of course I should say that norfol Southern and CSX are definitely not the only companies that are using rebuilt locomotives as I mentioned in my bizarre train special episode some of the most unusual looking pieces of Motive Power are former Freight locomotives this smoking Beast is known as a self-powered slot machine while this yellow thing is called a multi-purpose machine or mpm speaking of Strang looking rail equipment have you ever heard of a slug these machines are typically built from old locomotives their diesel engines are removed and they rely on electricity from a locomotive to power their traction Motors NS 853 has been around in one form or another for a long time it's Des designated as an mt6 but some of it started out as a Pennsylvania Railroad Alco rst2 back in 1958 the ends of this thing really scream Alco meanwhile NS 890 looks a little more modern that hump in the middle indicates it's equipped with Dynamic brakes meaning its traction Motors can basically be used like resistors to slow down a train according to nsdash9.com a newly constructed frame was made for this one it may seem odd but some old pass locomotives are stripped of their diesel engines and traction motors for use on pushpull commuter [Music] trains this is Jack London Square in Oakland California and a classic EMD f40ph is running down the middle of the street number 9215 wears a retro calr Livery and is named after Bakersfield [Music] California but hold on a minute rewind that that's not a locomotive at all the engine is actually back here pushing the train the piece of equipment in the lead is what's called a non-powered control unit or npcu and these things serve two main functions first they have the same controls as a locomotive and enable the engineer to operate from either end of the train and second they have baggage compartments so it's basically a cab car and baggage car in one and combine cab with baggage and well you get cabbage and no I'm not going to be talking about rail cars filled with cabbage in this video but man that's a lot of the stuff right there of course these npcu are used in push pull service now more traditional cab cars look like this one it's basically a coach with a cab at one end and you can see cab cars in use around the world the coaches that make up a train that runs in push pull service have specialized cables installed that connect them to the locomotive behind the operator's cab a baggage compartment was installed along with a rollup door for loading luggage but not every unit got a rollup door on the side for example the npcu used in Amtrak's 40th anniversary exhibit train looks just like a normal EMD f40ph in the phase 3 paint Scheme this unit also got a headend power generator to supply electricity to the exhibit train there are currently no EMD f40ph locomotives used by Amtrak today they served the railroad for more than 20 years the North Carolina Department of Transportation also has cab cars that used to be locomotives this cab control unit was rebuilt by norfol Southern in Altuna Pennsylvania unlike the Cabbage car you just saw it does not have a baggage [Music] compartment speaking of Passenger equipment the new Seaman charger is now leading Amtrak trains on routes all over the US these locomotives are replacing the GE Genesis series but before the Genesis there was the EMD f40ph a true rail fan favorite none of these workhorses are currently in use by Amtrak but some were said Saed and are still pulling [Music] passengers Nashville's weo star formerly known as the Music City Star uses X amtr f40s along with coaches that used to haul commuters in [Music] Chicago meanwhile CSX uses the classic passenger diesels to pull its office Car special and the entire train is Decked Out in a Baltimore and Ohio style Livery in the 1940s 50s and even into the 1960s steam engines were slowly phased out in North America in favor of more efficient and less labor intensive diesel locomotives thousands of iron horses were scrapped and many probably still had a lot of life left in them but fortunately some of these Classics were saved from the scrapyard and ended up in preservation Strasburg in Pennsylvania and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum are just two of the places where these living breathing machines are kept alive and running for everyone to see you know if there's one machine that can really make you feel like you've gone back in time it's got to be a steam locomotive the sight of it the sound it makes even the smell all those things can take you back to another era of course many people have ridden behind them or been next to the tracks as they rolled by but what's it like in the cab sitting up high with a huge boiler in front of you well today we're going to find out we're at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga Tennessee and we'll be riding on Southern Railway number 4501 she was built in 1911 by Baldwin locomotive works and originally hauled Freight for the Southern and later call for the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway but these days the locomotive pulls passenger Excursion trains I've actually recorded 451 a few times pulling the Somerville steam [Music] special [Music] but the train we're pulling today is making the short six-mile round trip from the Grand Junction Depot to the museum shops in East Chattanooga all right that's enough background info for now it's time to go now before we really get going the train has to be turned around to do this they use a y it's kind of like a three-point turn for a train train at the controls today is the engineer Andrew and his wife Ricky is the fireman after getting the train pointed in the right direction we're now headed west the first Landmark on our trip is the bridge over the South chiam Maga Creek after that things were about to get dark all you can see is the glow of the Firebox and the illuminated gauges as we pass through Whiteside tunnel also known as the Missionary Ridge Tunnel it's 981 ft long and dates back to before the Civil War it was completed in 1858 several minutes later we're approaching the shops at East chattan nuga there's Southern Railway number 630 I have fond memories watching that engine in Atlanta during norol Southern's 21st century steam [Music] program at this point it was time to spend 451 around at the turntable here so now we've got an opportunity to take a look at what it takes to operate a machine like this there's no doubt steam locomotives require more knowledge and skill to operate than their more Modern Diesel counterparts there are a lot of controls in here but let's start by taking a look at the engineer side of the cab some have described steam locomotives as living breathing machines so keep in mind it's a little bit loud in here this is the throttle which actually opens up to Let's steam the cylinders this is the power reverse P is for to reverse this is the brake the train brake locomotive brake there a cylinder you open up to let seam out of the water out of the cylinder with the Le in front of him the engineer also has air brake gauges and a speedometer this gauge is in the middle of the cab it's double sided and can be seen by both crew members it displays steam pressure both sides of the cab also have have water sight glasses that allow the crew to monitor the amount of water in the boiler moving on to the left hand side of the cab this is where the fireman sits here they have the controls to burn coal heat water and make Steam and by the way the Tinder back here can carry 13,000 gallons of water and 16 tons of coal now you've probably seen in movies or TV shows someone constantly having to shovel coal into the Firebox well that's called hand firing but 4 501 actually has something called a mechanical stoker it's an augur likee system that runs from the Tinder into the Firebox steam Jets then shoot the coal out into the fire so it doesn't all accumulate in one place look closely and you can see coal going through the stoker here put the firemen will still grab a shovel from time to time to address dark or dead spots that they see in the Firebox now not every component on 451 is original it was slightly modernized with a feed water heater from a Chinese locomotive and that mechanic stoker I mentioned earlier is from a Canadian national engine these improvements were made during 41's restoration which was completed in 2014 anyway that's just a taste of what it takes to run a 111 year old locomotive in the 21st century but our trip is not over yet 4501 has been turned around and we've coupled it back onto the train now it's time to head back to the Grand Junction Depot as we start to move you may be wondering what that cable hitting the ceiling is for that's actually the chord for the Bell it's operated pneumatically now the line we're on today has an interesting history it was once part of the Southern Railway and before that it was operated by the East Tennessee Virginia and Georgia Railway the Missionary Ridge Tunnel is probably the best part of this trip but running through any tunnel in a steam locomotive can be well unpleasant you're stuck by behind the Smoke Stack and everything that's coming out of it you can see the crew open their cab doors back up once we're out of the tunnel not far from the tunnel the tracks pass over CSX rails and that warning from the whistle means we're about to cross the bridge over the South chaga Creek one more time it also means our cab ride is coming to an end folks are already lined up on the platform watching the train train pull in it was now time for a new group of passengers to experience 451 in the Missionary Ridge local the people at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum do a great job of keeping this old equipment running and making sure the experiences you have here are [Music] Unforgettable many historic diesel locomotives are also still pulling tourists the ston Mountain Scenic Railroad just outside of Atlanta Georgia operates electromotive division F units although theirs have actually been rebuilt repowered and modernized I'm sure many of us would love to own a historic locomotive but how would you afford it and where would you run it well something that big is probably out of the question but hobbyists can still get out on the rails with these smaller historic machines Motorcars or Speeders were once used to inspect the right of way and transport track workers now members of the North American rail car operators Association or narcoa buy and fix them up to operate on Rail lines around the continent of course they do this legally with the permission of the railroad they're riding on this is a great way to see the small towns and Rural communities that make up our [Music] country the price of a speeder is nothing compared to this believe it or not some people can afford to travel the country in a private rail car cars like these have been overhauled and can be tacked onto the back of an Amtrack train some of the oldest cars or railroad owns will probably be in non- interchange Maintenance of Way service most are former Freight cars that have been adapted to operate on work trains this box car has been repainted and has solar panels installed on its roof and this Caboose is attached to a continuous welded Rail train meanwhile this former railroad post office and baggage car is used to make and serve meals to track gangs some Transit vehicles have also been given a second chance on Heritage street car systems around the world amazingly much of the fleet here in Memphis Tennessee once operated in Melbourne Australia before being imported and refurbished these are pretty cool but arguably the best place to see old street cars from different cities and countries is in San Francisco from the iconic PCC car which was operated around the US and Canada to this tram that was used in Milan Italy this is a great way to keep history alive while also providing a service to the city and the tourists who visit unfortunately some pieces of equipment never ride the rail rails again occasionally old Rolling Stock is repurposed into a home hotel or business I actually spent the night in this old Caboose but you wouldn't want to sleep in this one it had been in a scrapyard for decades where it was used as an office supposedly it was taken out of railroad service after a derailment I caught a crane removing this old car back in 2018 and it's unclear what ultimately happened to it we've now reached the end of this special spend time by the tracks and you're bound to see a locomotive or freight car with a story to tell some companies will use this equipment until it dies and even then Scrappers will strip these old Machines of useful parts and metals that can be used to keep another locomotive going or potentially make something new over the years innovators and entrepreneurs have found all kinds of uses for old rail equipment this was just a brief look into the world of recycling Rehabilitation and rebirth I hope you enjoyed it anyway that's it for now as always thanks for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: V12 Productions

Views: 266,746

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Id: AY1CGnIB9AY

Length: 32min 41sec (1961 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2024