01x04 - There Goes a Train

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everybody loves trains well gets at Ford there goes a train will learn about

trains of all shapes and sizes

there

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I guess I'm engineer Dave well you know

I'm not a real engineer but the real engineers have let me pretend for the day so that you and I can learn all

about trains and what they do and how they work now obviously this is not a locomotive this is what's called a

speeder speeders are used out on the track for doing maintenance work and moving the crews around so what do you

say you and I go for a ride let her go Jack

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chances are you've never gotten this close to one of these big locomotives and you never should unless you have

special permission from the railroad and a guide to show you around you probably didn't realize just how big and powerful

they are they are big and powerful they weigh hundreds of tons and when they're going at full speed it takes over a mile

to stop them so if you don't remember anything else after watching there goes a train I hope you'll remember this

don't ever play on the railroad tracks it's not only ill*gal but it is extremely dangerous well this is a

typical locomotive like you'd see hauling Freight and let's talk a little bit about how they work this part up

here is a big diesel engine it has 20 cylinders great big cylinders and it

causes a shaft to turn that runs a turbine now the turbine is located in there and it's a big generator generates

electricity so that electricity is then put down by the wheels in between the

wheels there are great big electric motors so really what this is is a

diesel electric engine the diesel provides the power the turns the turbine

that generates the electricity that causes the motor to turn the wheels come on over here I'll show you something

else this is a huge air compressor because all the brakes on the train and

on the cars that it pulls are powered by air pressure now the motor turns this

which creates the air pressure that allows the train to stop

as you can see these engines are really big you're really high in the air when

you're up here on the roof now if we go down here you know this the headlights

when the Train is running these headlights are always on for safety so anyone can see you coming I want you to

look down here it's the very front of the Train and that's kind of a plow device that's for traveling in the

winter it pushes all the snow off the tracks let's go inside

[Music] now we've come into the cab of this big locomotive and I want you to meet

The Cab

somebody this is engineer Larry how you doing hey done you know the first thing I noticed Larry about the cab that's unusual to me there's no steering wheel

now basically this engine just goes right where the tracks are laid out that's where we're going to go okay

basically it's all set up where you go forward you go backwards and go fast or

stop that's all there is to it now believe it or not sometimes the 4,000

horsepower that this big engine provides is not enough so what they do in a case like that is they hook more than one of

these big engines together as you can see there are three of them hooked together here come here and I'll show you how they do it this is the coupling

device it holds the two trains together it's kind of like holding hands like that and it keeps them from coming apart

but there's enough flexibility there that when they go around curves and things it can move these hoses are electrical hoses here these are the

control hoses and of course this was the most important this is the air hose like I told you the air hose is what powers

the brakes let's take a look at one of these brake cylinders this is a brake cylinder on the one of these engines and

as this works the air is pumped in pushes this lever and that causes the brakes to clamp down on the wheels and

slow the train down another device you may not know about is sometimes the wheels slip there's a little squirting

device that actually works and on the it gives the train traction it creates

friction so they can get up steep hills

The Cars

this big car behind me is a box car you'll see a lot of those on freight trains because they're used for hauling all kinds of different cargo

now this next car up is a tanker car you'll see a lot of those too this particular one is full of liquefied

petroleum gas now this gives us a good opportunity to take a close-up look at the wheels on these cars if you look

close you'll see that that little lip they're only about an inch thick is actually what holds the train on the

track pretty amazing huh now I know what you're probably thinking you're thinking we're at the airport instead of a

The Rail Yard

railway yard vac is that tower behind us is much like a tower that they have at an airport but instead of controlling

airplanes it controls trains and lots of them we're at the Santa Fe Railway yard

in Barstow California one of the biggest railway yards in the country let's go on the tower and see what they do from high

above the rail yard you can see for miles it's from here that the controller sorts the cars maybe the easiest way to

explain what happens in a railroad yard like this is to compare it to a giant post office only instead of sorting mail

they're sorting railroad cars they call it huffing because they roll them over a hump in the track cut them loose and

then they actually coast down to the switches where they're switched off into the different trains and different

combinations of trains once they're all hooked up then they're sent off all over the country

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the trains are put together like building blocks they lock together automatically but the air hoses have to

be hooked up by the people this is a dangerous job once hooked together the trains can

stretch for miles and miles [Music]

[Music] okay we're all set to learn about passenger trains now and to do that

Union Station

we've come to one of the biggest train stations in the country this is Union Station in downtown Los Angeles we're

about to go board Amtrak so if you're ready I'm ready let's go Union Station

is huge it's almost a hundred years old and it's the center for passenger rail transportation in all of Southern

California it's here where you can buy your tickets check on departure times

and race to the platform you don't want to be late for your train Union Station is also the home of LA's underground

subway system [Music] and this is where you'll find Metrolink

the commuter railroad Metrolink is designed to hold lots of people from home to work and to do it as quickly as

possible [Music]

Thank You Jackson Jackson is one of the baggage people here at Union Station in

Los Angeles now this is it this is the Amtrak Superliner and as you can see I'm going to be the

pretend conductor today now a Superliner a passenger train is a lot different

than a freight train it's kind of like a big hotel on wheels it's got sleeper compartments

it's got our restaurant on board and of course a big engine that pulls the Train there are lots of different jobs and

lots of different types of cars so we're gonna find out about all that so what do you say we get on board come on along hi

there how are you Oh

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Collecting Tickets

Engineers have an important job it's up to them to drive the train and to make sure there's nothing on the track they

blow their horn to warn you that they're coming [Music]

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okay Dave connection job is very important you're like a captain of a ship so you're really in charge of the

Train yeah you're over in charge of everybody given more than the engineering the engineer honey and I'm

gonna let her take you back here show you exactly what hi Bonnie you're gonna teach me how to collect the

ticket do conductor stuff huh all right Thanks so you're on your way thanks conductor Joe let's see you later okay

all right so I just collect the tickets I think I can do that I can Collective

tickets hello you enjoyed your trip so

far well I'm conductor Dave and I'm collecting the tickets today that's perfect some Department how are you sir

yes how's the trip so far you enjoying it okay there's anything you need at all you just call conductor Dave I'm the

conductor today how are you folks doing today enjoying yourself can I have your tickets here enjoying your trip well

you've continued to and if you need anything you don't hesitate to call me all right thank you sir enjoy your trip

I've been listening I can collect the tickets I can collect

the tickets hi how are you can I can I get your ticket well thank you very much

here let me put this up here for you all right it shouldn't be down there work and cause cause of problem

excuse me I'm very sorry about that it's okay officer I'll clean these up right

away and get collect the rest of the tickets here's here's your bag back I'm sorry there there we go we got the

tickets

Exploring the Train

one of the neat things to do on a train is to walk from end to end they have to be careful where the car sir hook

together because they're hooked together with kind of a rubber tunnel thing that you walk through and the floor actually

moves a little bit a little bit scary but fun too here's something else that's

fun the doors are kind of what you might expect to find on a spaceship just push a button and they open right up hey did

you ever see a train that appears to be going in the wrong direction with the engine in the back and then nothing in

the front well actually what's in the front is one of these cars called a cab car and it actually has a little control

room in it this is where the engineer sits even though the locomotive is on the back pushing he actually controls

the Train from the cab car control room which is just like this another great thing about

travelling on the train is that anytime you get hungry or thirsty you can come to the snack car and get something to

eat or drink hi I think I'd like an iced tea

now this is a really different kind of train car as you can tell her lots of

windows everywhere this is the lounge car you come in here and watch TV or have a cool drink or just sit down and

watch the view that's what I'm gonna do right now

conductor Dave you can't sleep on the top you gotta go to the dining car oh

good you get to work I'm sorry let me I'll get these anafi and I got my tickets I'll be right there

I work in the dining car now this is Angela Angela's in charge in the dining

Dining Car

car okay Angela I'm ready to go to work Dave do you know what you're gonna do today you're in you're in the dining car

and a train you're gonna wait on people wait on tables just like a waiter service attentive service attendant

service attendant yeah I can do that I can do that hello and welcome to the

Amtrak find an inn card what are we in the mood for today I have some pasta a souffle a grilled chicken breast

yes sir what's the drink my dear I saw up there with the lemon now what's the

hole yes and so what would it be for you [Music]

will done beg a go back there I will be right back enjoy your trip and thank you

so much for with us on Dave Dave listen

are you paying attention get to wait on people Dave yeah yeah no I'm listening I

can I'm ready to go to work okay so now why I just go to work

I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'll get you something new right away there's your your chicken burger right a

burger some french fries and a coke and I'll be I'll be right this is one of the

sleeper cars as you can see there's lots of room in here to sit down relax put your feet up this even makes into a bed

so you can spend the night and you have your own bathroom can't beat that all the comforts of home

[Applause] now you and I are going to get a rare

Amtrak Maintenance Yard

glimpse behind the scenes at Amtrak you see most people never get to come back here this is the Los Angeles maintenance

yard where they work on the trains it's a very dangerous place to be and we're always very safety conscious when we're

around trains so it's time to switch hats and we're going to put on some protective glasses to protect our eyes

of course the hard hat to protect our head now we're ready to look around

here you'll find trains trains and more trains even trucks that act like trains

these are used for track repair

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that locomotive back there in the Roundhouse is Amtrak's newest us their pride and joy it's called Genesis guess

what they're gonna pull it out of the Roundhouse put it on the turntable put it on the track and guess who gets to

drive it engineer Dave

[Music] this is called a turntable it's used to

turn the trains around it's been here a long time in fact it worked just as well for the

old steam engines as it does for Genesis today

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this is engineer Chuck he's the engineer on Genesis Amtrak state-of-the-art train

Train Demo

and it's gonna show me how to run it so what how do we do what do we get what do I touch okay well we have fear this

makes the train go forward backward and this was the throttle it's like the gas pedal on a car this is your train brakes

it keeps the train from going too fast and this is your engine break here this will keep the engine stopping and

starting when you want it computer screen up here and we have all kinds of stuff see what's going on

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that's about it they ought to go once we go ahead take it away Dave Dave Dave were you

listening oh yeah all right we're ready to go absolutely straight ahead huh okay

I think I got it break off and away we go engines cranking engine cranking whoa wait a

minute Rick we're going the wrong way I wasn't

I wasn't listen let's try again forward

okay this comes back brakes off

and the way we go [Music]

this is great I just had to play closer attention anthem and listen people are giving you

instructions now we're moving

Moving

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Railroad Museum

one of the best places to learn about trains especially old trains if you like them is to come to a railroad museum

we've come to the San Diego Railroad Museum so what I say we go take a look around come on trains are fun the San Diego

museum you'll find old caboose big engines or cabooses steam engines crane

trains still more cabooses and more

steam engines too [Music]

now I know you know what this is this is a great big huge old steam locomotive

now this one doesn't look very pretty it's kind of rusty because it's getting ready for restoration but I think we can use it to explain basically how one

works first this car back here is called the tender this is where they haul the water and the fuel and the fuel can be

either wood or maybe oil or coal now that is put in the firebox and you'll

find a great big huge firebox back in this area here that creates the heat under the boiler the boiler is where the

water is that's it big long tube there that water turns into steam and eventually ends up in that dome up there

that's the steam dome and then it is pumped through the pipes into this area here now this is a big pressure chamber

and what that steam does is create a lot of pressure it drives the big levers boom boom boom boom boom that turns the

wheels that makes the train go it wasn't

all that long ago that the steam engines ruled the rails

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well as you can see the train engines come in all shapes and sizes this little baby pair is called an industrial

switcher juice for moving lighter loads around train yard it's pretty neat well

you probably noticed that the appearance of freight trains hasn't really changed that much over the years except for one

thing you won't see any of these babies anymore this is a little red caboose as you might not and the purpose of the

caboose was a place for the conductor to live and to conduct his business and of course it had a tower on top so he could

get up there and see all the way to the front of the Train and make sure everything was all right there aren't any cabooses anymore

because well they don't have to work the long hours so they don't have to spend the night on the train so they don't need a place to sleep and with modern

electronics well it pretty much takes care of the safety of trains one of the great things about the San Diego

railroad museum is that they have a real running working railroad and this is it

here it comes now

hi kids my name is Denby Jones I'm director of museum operations for the San Diego

Railroad Museum at Campo California come on out and join us we've got steam engines we have Diesel's

we have old cars we have new cars and we have an hour-and-a-half train trip so get hold of your folks tell them where

we are and come on out to camp Oh engineer Dave

Emergency Call

you're going to be brakeman today I have to give you this radio breakfast yes you're gonna be a brakeman you'll be

communicating with you I got to start as brakeman today okay so use the radio to

talk to the engineer because you're on the back of the train and he cannot see you so he doesn't know what you're doing or where you are so that's an important

job very important job radio keeps you safe and the train safe all right thank

you have a good day Thanks the first job is a break - to remove this this break

all right this is brakeman Dave - the engineer we're ready to roll - take her

away

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engine 2104 this is campo dispatch emergency emergency

21:04 engine come in this is an emergency call emergency emergency

acknowledged

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Capel of dispatch this is this is breaking Dave Kathy dispatched a

brakeman Dave we are unable to contact the engine you've got to get up to that

engine we've got to stop that train we have a car in the tracks over I'll call

the engineer it's brakeman Dave to the engineer bregman Dave to the engineer look we got

a car on the tracks brakeman Dave to the engineer

this radio must be broken they're trying to stop it myself

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five you gotta stop to clean your radios

not working forget the radio stop the train

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Outro

well we've certainly learned a lot about trains today haven't we we've seen big trains little trains diesel trains steam

trains passenger trains and freight trains but if you'd still like to learn more about trains don't forget to have

lots of great books lots of great pictures at your local library or you can visit a museum for trains like this

one in Campo California well I can see by my special train watch here that it's

about time for this engineer to make his next run so until next time all aboard

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my name is Jim a Federal Railroad Administration safety inspector hope you enjoyed learning about trains today and

there goes a train but one thing we need to remember is just how dangerous it is to play around railroad tracks and to

walk on railroad tracks it takes approximately a mile and a half to stop a 55 mile an hour train and walking on

railroad tracks is against the law so be safe ride the trains and don't walk on

tracks thank you

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