What it's Like to Work a Day on the Railroad
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- čas přidán 10. 12. 2023
- Working on the railroad here and what a typical day is like for us.
There are only 2 of us who work track maintenance here. We have
our hands full with all the work that needs to be done. A big thing we
have to work around is trying to get stuff done while they are running
trains, that cuts our track time down significantly. Plus we have to deal
with weather conditions, not enough equipment and the old equipment
that we have that seems like they are in constant need of replacing worn
out parts.
Check out my other You Tube channel with more cool railroad and
rail fanning videos along with other adventures Dave has:
/ @thatsdavesotherdoings
Made December 10, 2023
Disclaimer: I am an employee of Iron Senergy at Cumberland
Mine. My job is railroad track maintenance. I am very fortunate to
have this job and everyone at the mine is very fortunate to have
Iron Senergy as it's current owner. Our past owners had every
intention of shutting this mine down, but Iron Senergy took
over and have kept this mine alive.
Please understand: I am NOT in any way an official or unofficial
spokes person for Iron Senergy or Cumberland Mine. Any viewpoints,
opinions or anything that I show in the videos, or write in the video
descriptions or any answer to any comment, should NEVER be
misconstrued or interpreted as being in any way shape or form,
any kind of official or unofficial statement from Iron Senergy,
Iron Cumberland, Cumberland Mine, any of the mine's management,
any of the contractors that may be shown in any video, nor of
any of my fellow co-workers.
Any viewpoints or opinions I may make in the videos, in the
descriptions, or in any answer to a comment is strictly that of my
own and NOT an official or unofficial statement or viewpoint that
Iron Synergy or any one at Iron Senergy or Cumberland Mine
necessarily has or makes.
Again, we are very fortunate to have Iron Senergy as our current
owners. Please, when making a comment be respectful of Iron Senergy,
Cumberland Mine, my fellow coworkers and also any contractors
that may be shown. Thank You, Dave
#railroad#workrailroad#track
Check out my other You Tube channel with more cool railroad and rail fanning videos
along with other adventures Dave has:
www.youtube.com/@ThatsDavesOtherDoings
You've got my SUB on your other channel.
Sub +1
Your experience really shows Dave, when you can see defects that the engineers can’t feel! There is no substitute for experience, great work Dave!
Well thank you for the really kind words Raymond. I guess after doing this work full time for the past 18 years I ought to know a little
something about track geometry....:-) But you are right, experience
is the ticket. When they were building this place back in 1977, there
was an old electrician working at the harbor, he was a contractor.
They called him Uncle Hep. He told me, I have the years of experience,
the young guys have the book learning. He said there's nothing wrong
at all with book learning, but when they have a thorny problem, they
call Uncle Hep instead of the young guys because he has the experience and can fix whatever goes wrong. Very grateful my
friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Much better and more fulfilling than working in a grocery store. I enjoyed the tag along look, Dave. Cheers to ya, buddy! 🤠🤙
Very glad to hear you enjoyed Scotty. We do what we can here with the amount of track time allotted to us and only having 2 guys work
track and limited equipment. Always something needs done
here on this track. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time
to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Good work on that tamping, Dave! Looks like you've got somewhat of a blessing in disguise there with that coal. If it didn't gum up the ballast and make it hold water then they wouldn't need you out there fixing it all the time. Sometimes it's the little blessings that keep us employed that we have to be thankful for. I'm definitely thankful for the stuff that keeps you able to keep sharing your work with us.
Thank you for the kind words Shane. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Wish we had some
good hopper cars that didn't leak out so much coal tho! Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Yes indeed Dave a life of a Railroader. Never know what to expect and cant really plan your day per say because it can change 50 times during the day. Enjoyed watching and have a nice rest of your Tuesday.(Steve)
You know all about it and you're right, try to plan your day out the
night before or during the ride in to work, but usually when you
get there, things always seem to change. Do what you can with
what time, equipment and man power is available. You never know
anymore here when they are going to run trains or not with the
barge situation we currently have. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Looks like you're doing an awesome job maintaining your track Dave. Thanks for taking us along to show us the work.
Thank you for the nice comment Morse and you are welcome. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
That switch position indicator is nice. Much more visible than targets in my opinion
Yes it certainly is Sam. We do have some targets on other switches,
those are on the ones we have to throw manually. All our electric
switches thrown my radio have those LED indicator lights. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
The video does show the dip. Do you level by eye. You can see it on the video.
Glad you could see that Clarence, I wasn't sure if anyone could
because of the camera. Yes I pretty much do it by eye for the final
product. The gauges in the tamper show me the cross level
between the rails, but they don't show me long dips like this one
was. So I get out and look at the track from the side after it gets
tamped thru. Will let the train run over this spot at curve 14 for a week
and then go back and reassess to see if it has dropped any or not.
Then if need be will tamp again. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
I wish you have a wonderful Christmas day with all the warmest things and full of love. ...Best regards from Switzerland 😊🌲❤
Thank you Thomas. Hope you and your family also have a most happy
holiday season. Very much appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video my friend.
Never too many slack days in the rail road 😅 always something needs doing. You perform with quality regardless of whatever job you might be doing!
Thank you for the kind words Wayne. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
This video makes me want to wrap up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea and enjoy the foggy cold day from the cab. 😊 Loved it!
Thank you for the nice comment Jennifer. At least the tamper has a pretty good heater in it! We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Always fun Riding along with you Dave, live the view from the tamper. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. Job well done, looked great..
Thank you for the nice comment Pappy. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Dave's Class is in session! The low spot in the rail must have been quite bad to be so easily seen. I am delighted you have equipment to work inside instead of out in the weather. Thank you, Dave, for a beneficial lesson.
Thank you for the kind words Shirley. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. And yes these closed cab
equipment sure is nice even has a good heater in it. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Thanks Mr. Dave, for another great video! Thanks also for being of the gears that make our world keep turning. Stay safe my friend.
Your certainly welcome Rick. Thank you for the very nice comment. Always something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Great stuff Dave, just like you had us along in the cab with you! Looks like your work there is never ending my friend!
Thank you Dave, glad you enjoyed. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Most of the time I'm a gravity assist device for a chair although when things go south I'm about all there is. Sometimes there's help from our maintenance crew. Not a lot of communication either. I can relate to your job situation in many ways. Thanks for taking us to work again with you Dave!
Your certainly welcome Poowg. Glad you enjoyed the show.
I understand about not always good communication, we have
the same thing here, but that's railroading. Good thing you are
there and know what you are doing, I bet they rely on you for that.
Keep on keepin on my friend. Very grateful for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
@@ccrx6700 Yeah, I'm one of the "old timers" now but when I retire I'm taking all my secrets with me.
Another day of railroading! Great work on the tamper and thanks for the information you provide as you work :)
Thank you Brian. It was a pretty good day. We do what we can with
the time and equipment we have. Appreciate very much the nice
comment and for your taking the time to visit with us and check
out the railroading video my friend.
Thank you for this video!
Track maintenance requires a lot of initiative and motivation, especially in a relatively small setup like yours, where there is no additional layer of supervision, to avoid setbacks that are costly both in labor and materiel.
Your certainly welcome Robin. Thank you for the nice comment. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Thanks Dave for sharing your rainy December work day with us...
Your certainly welcome Steve. We do what we can here with the
amount of track time allotted to us and only having 2 guys work
track and limited equipment. Always something needs done
here on this track. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time
to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Wow, there is so much to know to work on the railroad. Thanks for bringing this content to us! ☺
Your certainly welcome Donna. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
A day well spent! Nothing beats experience.
Thank you. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
I love this. This is real railroadin.
Thank you Thomas, really appreciate the very nice comment.
Fantastic Dave it’s great to see the track being taken care of . The Dip in the track turned out perfect 👍🏻😎 so cool Robin out . Thxs
Thank you for the very nice comment Robin. We do what we can
here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment
we have available. There's always something that needs done here
with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Same here, Dave. Cheers.
Always something to do here on the RR Barry, but guess if there wasn't they wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the
railroading video.
Another wonderful insight to the railway Dave. Just love your enthusiasm for s job you've likely done thousands of times! As a railroader, you definitely have the "right stuff" 🙂
Wishing you and your family a joyous and safe holidays from down under!
Thank you for the very nice comment Richard. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video. May you and your family also
have a wonderful holiday season.
And they tell us railroad modelers to keep the ballast off the tie tops. Good job Dave. Keep the steel wheels turning.
Thank you Pete. On the regulator there is a big broom on the back
of it. That regulator will broom off the ballast on top of the ties
at some point. We didn't have much time on this day to get that
part done. But it sure does make it easier to walk on and also do
a track inspection when the ballast is broomed off the top of the
ties. It will get done on both places we fixed that day eventually.
A good day to broom is when it is raining, that keeps the dust way
down. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with
us and check out the railroading video.
When I was a kid back in the 50's use to hop freight trains all the time....Was our kid's taxis....
Oh dear, sounds like a dangerous thing to do Vernon. Hope they
weren't going fast when you tried to board or get off! Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
*_That was a pretty bad dip. Just can't beat mother nature. Should call you Super Dave.._* 🤣😆
Yes it was David, I'm really surprised none of the train operators
complained about it. But it's all fixed up now and should be good.
I'm doing a track inspection tomorrow and will check it out again
and if need be tamp it again this weekend. I work at a coal mine
and believe me, I've been called a lot worse than super dave, as
you can well imagine....:-) Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
You have a great eye or the rail. Only by experience. Great job as you always do. Thanks for taking us all along.
Thank you for the very kind words Beverly. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
GREAT SHOW AND GREAT JOB ! Thanks Dave
Thank you Alan. We try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
That's railroadin!
Yes it certainly is Thomas! We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
You are just awesome, Dave!!! Keep up the great work, buddy!!
Thank you for the very nice comment Jerry. We do what we can
here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment
we have available. There's always something that needs done here
with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Dave- Your videos are a clinic on MOW! Keep up the good work!!
Thank you for the very nice comment Nolan. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Another great day, thanks Dave
Thank you Tom, it was a pretty productive day despite them
running trains. We try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Good morning Dave. Great video as usual. At least you have hair to comb. Have a great week my friend.
Thank you Lewis, glad you enjoyed. Yes you're right, at least I have
hair and it's not dyed either, still some black in it at 69 years of
age. When I go get a haircut I pay them extra to cut out all the gray....LOL Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit
with us and check out the railroading video.
Dave your Great. Cheers 🇨🇦
Thank you for the very kind words James. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Ahhh the misty grey drizzly cold days of early winter in PA…
Yep, that's early winter in SW Pa. Kevin. One day in the 20's and next day in the 50's. At least the tamper has a really good heater in it!
Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Makes me miss our very old jackson 6000 and 6500. We cussed them all the time when they broke down, but tamping with jitterbugs and spades really sucks now 😂
Jitterbugs are for young guys with strong backs! I do feel for you
using them Michael. No wonder your body is worn out. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
It's always great to ride along with you,Dave.
Thank you Larry. We try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
No showing up late, No going home early. We work all the live long day.
Work starts at 7 Joshua and I don't mean 7:01....:-) Thanks so much for checking out the working on the railroad video my friend.
Another nice piece of work Dave
Thank you for the very nice comment Ian. We do what we can
here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment
we have available. There's always something that needs done here
with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Dave, keep em coming
Thank you Paul, I will do my best to continue to keep you entertained.... :-) We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Thanks Dave 😊
Your certainly welcome Santafefrank, glad you enjoyed. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Another fascinating video, Dave! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
Thank you for the nice comment Seth. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Another good job guy 👍👍👍👍
Thank you Eddie, we try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
That's a good job you did. Have a good day
Thank you for the nice comment Texaswonderer. We do what we can here with the amount of track time allotted to us and only having 2 guys work track and limited equipment. Always something needs done here on this track. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Nice work maintaining the tracks. Thanks for sharing Dave.
Thank you Brian and you are welcome. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Got to get you a F450 hi-rail with a turntable dump box for ballast. Will ask Santa,Dave👷♂️⛏️🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋
That would be super cool Doug! We sure could use a hi rail dump
here or a small locomotive to pull our ballast car with. Either one
I'll be happy with. And if you are the one asking Santa, there is
no doubt in my mind he will deliver. Just be sure and ask for a
full size one and not an HO scale.....LOL Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Awesome job! Thanks for sharing. That was a good dip in that curve. I was surprised the train crew didn't feel it.
Probably didn't feel it as bad cause the high rail was down also,
but no one complained, still it wasn't right. Now a couple of weeks
after that was done it is still holding up pretty well Zach. Thank you
for the nice comment and for taking the time to watch the video
my friend.
@@ccrx6700 It's funny at what we feel in hi-rail truck that they don't on the train. I rode the train once a month for an inspection to find things I couldn't feel normally. It was a good way to find dips and low spots that I didn't feel in the hi-rail.
@@rebelrailroader 👍😊
hello dave & it 's is randy and i like yours video is cool thanks dave friends randy
Thank you Randy, we try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
New Subscriber Here. Great Channel. Thanks for Sharing Your Day. From a Rail Fan in Southern Oregon.
Thank you, glad to have you join in with us. Hope you will continue
to enjoy the videos my new friend from Oregon. Very much appreciate your checking out the what its like to work on the railroad video.
Thank you for another great and informative video.
Your certainly welcome Derrick. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Hey Dave thank you for another great and informative video. Stay dry and warm my friend.
Your certainly welcome Donnie. Glad you enjoyed the show. Always
something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the
railroading video.
@@ccrx6700 i always look forward to seeing your videos. I’ve always loved trains when I grew up we lived right above the railroad tracks and L&N was the system that would come trough with the coal. My mom couldn’t keep me away from walking down and always waiting to see the train. So now that coal in our area is the way it is I don’t see many trains so your channel is always exciting to watch.
Blessings to you and your family
@@donnieenfusse9038 👍😊
Dave, if you had mentioned your 2nd channel before I missed it. I am now a new subscriber.
No I haven't mentioned it in a video Ray, but glad to have you
aboard the second channel. Lot of folks have requested I do that
so I don't show all the home related stuff on this RR channel. Which
is okay, I enjoy making videos and showing them. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Great work, Dave.
Thank you Barry, we try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Great job great video thanks Dave
Thank you Gary, we try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
That was cool.
Glad to hear you enjoyed RFMCaboose. We do what we can here with the amount of track time allotted to us and only having 2 guys work
track and limited equipment. Always something needs done
here on this track. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time
to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Working on the railroad all the live long day.
I used to sing that song when I was a boy Arkay, now I'm doing it.....:-) Always something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
What if you put landscaping fabric over the ties to catch the coal fines? Attach it down with battens or something. Then you could Vacuum the coal periodically and not contaminate the ballast? I am certain I am not the first to mention this but that seems cheaper than replacing rock. Probably a dollars and sense thing.
On our old greasers we would put down the cloth to catch the
excess grease. However with that cloth down, you can't tamp thru
it without tearing out the cloth first. So imagine doing a whole
curve laying cloth down. Yes it would catch the coal fines but
how in the world would you take up all that cloth, some curves are
up to 1200 feet and longer. Imagine taking up all that cloth so
the curve could be tamped. Ain't gonna happen. But I do appreciate
your thinking of the idea and sending it in. We need better coal
hopper cars that don't leak out all those coal fines! Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Love to see the day to day stuff on the railroad. Thanks for sharing Dave!
Your certainly welcome Jughead. Glad you enjoyed the show. Always
something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the
railroading video.
A great insight to a busy day. The dip will be back soon if the culvert is caving in. Hope not, that will be a big job. Have to check out your other channel for your work with tractors
Thank you Cedarcam. Let's hope that pipe isn't collapsing, it
was too muddy for me to go down there and look, will wait for
a dry day to do that. Will be making a track inspection tomorrow
and if it has dropped will tamp it again this week end. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Thanks Dave! Always enjoy your videos. Now I will check out your other channel.
Your certainly welcome Wilbur. Glad you are enjoying the shows. Always something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the
railroading video and my second channel.
Thanks sir, very interesting.
Your certainly welcome runwillrobinson. Glad you enjoyed. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
👍
Thank you Rick. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Great video as always, maybe they could figure a way to put mini-sanders on your tamper machine to help with wheel slip on wet tracks
Thank you for the nice comment Eugene. Sanders on there would
be pretty cool! It's a pain when the wheels slip trying to index
ahead with the machine. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
I lived the life for over thirty years as an engineer on the Southern railroad and after the merger,NS.
That's great to hear hawghead. Southern was a great RR in it's day.
Most of the guys I've talked to also have said that NS was a good
company to work for back then also. Thank you for writing in and
sharing that. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
That is the reason for the name Hawghead, railroad engineer. NS used to be a great place to work for but not so much since the cutting of the crew. When I first started withSouthern, there were four assigned crew members, now there is only two, and railroads want to cut it to one. Company spends six month’s training you, and the rest of your career trying to fire you.
@@hawghead4596 👍😊
I hope the mine owners realize the most expensive part they will need to replace someday (may it be far off) is the Dave that holds everything together. New of same quality is unavailable, and used parts would need rework to smooth out the rough edges left by previous abuse in service. Probably need several to carry the same load as the original, but what's the value of a coal train NOT getting from the mine to the harbor?
Well thank you for the very kind words Dvone. You are right in that
the value of a train not getting to the harbor because of track
conditions is extremely high. The problem is the train keeps running
with no delays because of the track, so everyone just thinks it
happens and no one realizes what all it takes to keep that train
on the tracks and moving. But that's railroading...:-) Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Thanks for a day in the life. Never a dull moment!
Your certainly welcome Matt. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Great video Dave very interesting. I did not know of your second channel so I gave it a look and subscribed awesome👍👍
Thank you Russell, glad you enjoyed this one. We do appreciate your
visiting the second channel also. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. There's always something that needs done here with all the jointed track and mud we have to deal with. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Something needs done everyday it seems. Sure looked cold and damp out there but you got to keep going. Thanks Dave.
Yes there is always something to do here Terry you are right. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Tamper
has a good heater in it and actually I turned it off after a couple of
hours. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Good stuff!
Thank you Aspiring Hobo. Glad you enjoyed the show. Always
something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Excellent work there. But too wet.
Thank you Kathie. It's SW Pa, and we do get our share of rain. Always
something to do here on the RR, but guess if there wasn't they
wouldn't be needing me. I'm really thankful I can have this job
and still do what I do out there on track. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
I absolutely enjoyed today's show 😊It must be like painting the golden gate bridge working on the CCRX. By the time you fix your way to the far end you need to start over again! Question: are those maintenance away machines comfortable? Do they have heat?
Thank you Mojo, glad you enjoyed. Problem with your thoughts is
we never get to the end to start over.....LOL We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
That's railroad ing
It certainly is Daniel! :-) We try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Always something to do here. Very grateful
my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
I'm really surprised the management lets you make videos. When I worked underground at Sterling Salt in Cleveland, they didn't want to even let the coroner on the property, after a cutter operator got himself squished!
Yes we are very fortunate they do allow me to make them Jim. Even
the mine owner has told me he has watched some of them and likes
them. That made me feel really good. Cell phones and cameras are not allowed under ground down in the mine however. I do try and
put forth a positive image for the company, which public relations
is very important to them. Very grateful my friend for your taking the
time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Thanks Dave, Always interesting and entertaining!👍
Thank you and you are certainly welcome 1208bug. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. Glad you enjoyed the show. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
That darn old tapper has too many radiator hoses.
It sure does have a lot of hoses Bongofurry! Fortunately they
hold up well, perhaps because we park the tamper in a barn and
out of the sunlight they hold up so well. But that tamper sure
does a lot of valuable work here on the track. Very grateful my
friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out
the railroading video.
Where is the railroad you work for? You should do a video on all the locomotives in your companies fleet. Are you required to have PTC in your engines?
They have three locomotives, and run one train from the mine to the river and back, as needed. The rail line does not connect to any other railroad.
@@robertheinkel6225 ok
I work for Cumberland Coal Mine Nick. We are not a RR here
as such, but we have a mine that has a RR. We are not a RR as
a business. We haul coal only from the mine at Kirby Pa. to a
river barge loading facility at Alicia Pa. 16.8 miles of track. We
do not interchange with another RR so we are not required to
have PTC. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
@@ccrx6700 interesting and your welcome
Dave, thanks for the videos & I hope you & your family have a great Holiday!
Your certainly welcome Bender. We try to do what we can here with the time and equipment we have. May you and your family also
have a most wonderful holiday season my friend. Very grateful
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
My friend
Thank you so much Batista for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video. We do what we can with the
limited amount of equipment, man power and time we have available.
🚂🚂🚂
Thank you Tom. We try to do what we can here with the time
and equipment we have. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Nice job Dave... give the name of the channel
Thank you Wayne. Glad you enjoyed the show. Name of my other
channel is: That's Dave's Other Doings. Hope you will check it
out when you have some spare time. More RR stuff on there plus
a bunch of other things I get into off the job. Very grateful my friend
for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
You need it to stop raining then you’ll have perfect track. Ha ha…
Well you got your wish, it hasn't rained here any significant amount for the past several months. No mud..... :-)
There is always something. On the upside, job security!
Are there any road crossings on your line? Just asking.
Another great one Dave!
Yes there is always something here for us to do Michael. If it's
not fixing mud spots it's replacing broken bolts in joints or just
in general tamping track. Plus I get involved in a lot of other
different projects at the harbor. It makes for a nice variety which
I like. We do have one road crossing, but it is a private road and
only sees a couple of vehicles a day over it. It is at the old Robena
Mine. When Robena was in full swing there were tons of vehicles
a day over that crossing and we had crossing lights set up there.
But since that mine shut down and all the buildings have been
taken down, there are no more crossing lights. We do have 2 other
crossing but they are also private and only for the farmer land
owner to cross. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to
visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Wahoo!! Looking better there now.
What do you do if the culvert under the track is bad? Who replaces it? Does the mine?
Let's hope it isn't bad Trena, was too muddy for me to get down there
and take a look. But if it is collapsing then that is a real problem. Will
have to take the track out over top, dig down and replace the pipe.
What a job that will be and yes it is our responsibility to do that.
We have done it in the past at some other spots where the pipe
disintegrated. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
I missed this one! You do a great job taking care of those rails Dave! You've probably been asked this before, but is there a specific reason why rails are 39ft and not 40ft long?..or is it just the way its always been and there'd be no reason to change? Have a great week my friend!
🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃💯👍🇺🇸
Thank you for the kind words Jim. Good question on the length of
the rail sticks. Apparently in days of old the cars used to carry the rails were 40 foot in length, so they made 39 foot sticks to fit inside those cars. Appreciate very much your taking the time to check out the railroading video my friend.
Maybe after it snows you will get some "ICICLES" to put some lights behind?
MERRY CHRISTMAS From GUAM !!!
❄🎅🎅🤶🤶🎄🎄❤❤✝✝
We have one rock cut that always gets icicles on it Captain Tom,
it would be cool to string lights behind those! But would take a
mile of extension cords to get to the nearest power supply...:-)
Thanks so much my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
@@ccrx6700 , They make lights that are battery powered and last for hours/days IDK... but I believe they run on "AAA"s that light up "LED"s 🤔 I think🤔
@@capttom7772 👍😊
Don't want to beat you up man We can't see nothin... Was he water frozen on the glass? I saw a wiper?!?! Much bettter at 12:40 : )
Wiper only wiped the bottom 2 inches of the windshield and that
drives me crazy so I left it off. Sorry about the rain drops, I could
see fairly well, but when the video turned out it was pretty hard to
see, so I do apologize for that. I learned to never do that again.
Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Track work is a constant battle. When you tamp, do you run the machine, or a computer. Thanks Dave
Yes it is here with all jointed track and a lot of mud in our track William. We do what we can here with the limited amount of track time, man power and equipment we have available. For each curve or section of track the tamper makes a plot of the track geometry for
that section. That plot tells me where the track geometry is currently
at, (the alignment of the track, not the surface deviations). Then I
have to set up the computer plot, or in other words, build the curve
for the computer. It solves the plot as a best fit, but that is very
often not the way i want the track to turn out, so I make adjustments to the plot. Then when tamping, I will adjust manually the amount
of raise I put on the track. The computer will put the track back in
alignment if I want it to, or I can also do it manually. Sometimes
I do both, run the computer to align the track and also "help it out"
manually. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Windshield wiper broken eh?
Well sort of, the wiper only wipes the bottom 2 inches of the
windshield, it's aggravating to me to turn it on that way so I
just leave it off. Sorry bout the rain drops messing up the view,
I could see pretty good, but didn't realize what it would be like
until after I made the video. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Have you figured out how to keep the muddy spots drained?
We cut the shoulder out with the regulator Jeff and if we can haul
ballast sweep out the crib ends with the tamper. That is a temporary
fix until we can get those spots cribbed out properly. We do have
a lot of little mud spots. I need a hi rail excavator to track travel quickly to the job site! Maybe Santa will be good to me this year
instead of my normal lump of coal I get...:-) Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
It’s bad when you can see the tilt in the track without the machine…
We do have our share of problems Kraz, but all railroads have
problems, ours are just unique to us. Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the video and may you have a very good day my friend.
new rock and 3 passes. How long should you expect the track to maintain its usability before you repeat the process?
Well after a week of them running trains over it Ed that track surface
on curve 14 is still in fine shape. How long it will last I really can't
say. Track sometimes is funny, some places will hold up really
well for a long time and other places want to drop. That's why
I do weekly track inspections to try and find the dropped places
cause you never know when a spot will drop out. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Just sub to your other channel.
Thank you very much for that Trevelyn. Hope you will enjoy the
shows we have on there. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
What's the length of the track you maintain? Also like to know exact location so I can look up on Google Earth. Enjoy your dedication and attention to detail. Nice work.
We have 16.8 miles of track Jerry. We haul coal from Cumberland
Mine located near Kirby Pa. to a river barge loading facility at
Alicia Pa. on the Monongahela river. It's a fun time. Thank you for
your kind words about me. Very much appreciate your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video my friend.
@@ccrx6700 That's a lot longer than I thought. How many on the maintenance crew?
@@jerrycarroll4581 myself and 1 other guy Jerry
@@ccrx6700 No way! I figured you had 12 or so. How the heck do you get it all done? I'm very impressed. I guess its a never ending job, right? Kinda like mowing the grass at an airport. Once you finish its time to start over. :) Take care and hang in there. You do a great job.
Dave- Would it pay for the railroad to purchase vacuum equipment to vacuum up the coal dust that falls on the track to prevent having to tamp and re-ballast when there is a spill?
Oh for sure Nolan it would. I've been trying for years to convince them
to get a vacuum train!!! We would use it all the time. Or else they
should get a new fleet of hopper cars that don't leak out the coal
fines that are ruining my ballast.
I want to be a locomotive engineer with the Louisville and Indiana railroad or Norfolk southern
We certainly hope that will become a reality for you Michael. Best
of luck and let me know when it happens. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Dave,
In the opening scene inside the tamper, why didn’t you the wind shield wiper?
Don’t let Biden’s proclamation about shutting down coal plants in the US get you down, it’s too important of an industry. It made for a nice sound bite to get votes, but little else.
Well Jeff it only works part way. It will go back and forth but only
wipe the bottom 2 inches and actually it bothers the heck out of
me to do that. Sorry about all the rain drops, I could see pretty good
but didn't realize how messed up it would be until after I posted the
video. I'm not concerned about the future of our coal mine, they
tell us even if the domestic market dries up, they can sell every ounce
of coal we mine over seas. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
what kind of engine powers that tamp? I also have a second channel called Radiation Valley. Kind of a backup channel.
My second channel.
It's a Cummins inline 6 Preston. I'm not sure of the model number
on it, but it's a great engine. Always starts up no matter how cold
it is and we don't use an engine heater for it either. Our regulator
has a JD engine in it and if it gets below 25 it will not start unless
it's plugged in. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.
Is sweeping and tamping a perpetual job?
I've done a huge amount of cribbing track in the past several years
Grandpa, that gets the mud out between the rails and is a much
better solution than just crib sweeping out the ends of the ties as
you can well imagine. However the excavator that I use to crib with
was not available, so had to do what I did with the equipment I
had on hand. Repairs will hold up for awhile, but eventually that
will need to be cribbed out or under cut properly. Very grateful my friend for your taking the time to visit with us and check out the railroading video.