Modern Helper Operations - UP 4014 on Blair Hill

[packers#1]

Well it’s not my video, but I figured a few folks on here might get a kick out of it; at about the 8:20 mark you can see the train moving pst a grade crossing on Blair Hill.

[learmoia]

Lightning struck twice.. (Referencing the time when 844 had to shove a train)..

I saw this move in La Grande, IA as well... (Stack Train shoving a Manifest)..
https://youtube.com/shorts/hk2dMNB1Fkc
Youtube imbed doesn't work with Shorts..

[Doug G.]

Magnificent! The mighty 4014 has SPOKEN!

It is still an emotional thing to see and hear a big steamer in action.

Doug

[learmoia]

A curious question.... If 4014 was pulling the train and tackled the hill at speed.. would it have stalled?

[davefoxx]

I loved to see how clear the fireman had that stack when No. 4014 pushed through the road crossing.  The slipping drivers demonstrated that the Big Boy was pushing at that point.  Unlike most foamers, I don’t like the black exhaust plumes.  A clean stack is an efficiently fired locomotive.

DFF

[DirtyD79]

Nice to see the big boy movin' some freight like all good locos should.

[nkalanaga]

Did anyone else notice the dragging straps on that flatcar load of steel beams in the crossing segment?

[glenng6]

Well it’s not my video, but I figured a few folks on here might get a kick out of it; at about the 8:20 mark you can see the train moving pst a grade crossing on Blair Hill.

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And it took an 82 year old engine, to get the job done! Glenn

[garethashenden]

Did anyone else notice the dragging straps on that flatcar load of steel beams in the crossing segment?

I saw that. Now we can all model sloppiness as prototypical. I assume they're just the excess length that wasn't properly stowed rather than the load being unsecured right?

[nkalanaga]

That would be my thought.  I was more interested in it as a safety hazard.  Someone standing too close to the tracks, thinking that they were clear of the train, could be badly hurt (or killed) by such loose material.  It could also cause property damage, if it happened to get caught by a switch stand or other trackside object.

Back when metal strapping, rather than permanent fabric tie-downs, was the rule, the NP/BN had warnings about such stuff in their employee safety manuals.  They may still, as I haven't had any direct contact with railroads since 1978, when we left Pasco.

[learmoia]

Once you called out the load, I watched the video...

If you look at the car as a whole.. it appears the entire load wasn't tied down properly, and the load shifted to the rear of the train.. Notice the gap between the load and end of the car on the left end and the load hangs slightly over the end on the right end.

The steel straps hold the load together, but the white straps were supposed to hold the load to the car, and none of them are tight. 

Could be the car was pulled from the customer without tiedown complete, and has traveled like that.

 

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~Ian

[nkalanaga]

You're right.  I didn't notice that it had shifted.  That load needs some serious attention!

Considering some of the things the less-than-brilliant try today, I wonder if someone tried to steal the load, and was interrupted before they could finish?

Pasco yard used to have a "load shifter", basically a steel frame over the tracks, with some type of removable barrier, that could be used to push loose lumber loads back into place.  I never saw it used, and my father (retarder operator) never mentioned having to send a car there, so I have no idea if it really worked.