At the Soo Line were I worked in train service (until retirement) it was a big "no-no" rules violation to ride the crossover while shoving a car as seen at 1:06. If the slack ran out and you lost your step, and/or hand hold, well, good bye and hello "pushing up daisies." A classic example of how "railroad rules are (eventually) written in blood."
Ahhhh, the days of CNW 5 unit trains! Trains like this used to run through the Manitowoc / Two Rivers area here in eastern Wisconsin, on their way to Green Bay 5 times a day. Sadly, the line is gone now. I never thought I would see that day. God, I miss that stuff.
i was a CNW switchman in the early 90s... you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one of these rebuilt ex-rock island geeps, they were all over the CNW system, loved working on them... just don't use the toilet, YUCK... filthy as you know what
I still can't figure out why this line from Pierre to Rapid City is such a maintenance headache. RCP&E just got a grant to perform a line rehab. Pictures in Trains still shows jointed rail outside of Wall. Some sections look like welded rail in this video with good track speeds, yet RCP&E says they are down to 10mph in areas. Why does this line suffer in maintenance so badly?
Years of deferred maintenance. Even with grant money, crossties are verging on 100 bucks each installed in track. At 3000 plus ties per mile, that will eat up a couple of million in grants pretty quick.
Cabooses on US railroads were phased out in the mid 1980's. It was in 1982 when a NLRB ruling ordered railroads to begin phasing out cabooses. On most railroads some cabooses were retained as "shoving platforms" as the agreements stipulated penalty pay for a crewmember having to ride a freight car being shoved more than 1 mile. Also some states passed "full crew laws" at the behest of the unions which required lines operating through those states to still use cabooses. Wisconsin and Virginia come to mind as states that had these. These laws were eventually repealed by 1990. The Canadian roads lagged a bit behind as the Canadian regulators dragged their feet due to union pressure, with cabooses gradually going away in the 1990-92 period.
here's article 10 from the UTU 1982 national agreement... it explains it all in detail go001.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Agreements/419/FWD/82NatArtX.pdf
carvcom1 They probably assigned the power based on the return run's tonnage, which would predominantly have been loads of bentonite clay, making for a heavy train.
WOW, look at all those great covered 2-bay hoppers! @ 4:03 a graffiti that says "Free Masons Are Evil!" WOW, all your videos are amazing! Just hoping that you to upload some of the railroad I model, the Detroit & Mackinac... KEEP THESE VIDEOS COMING, they are ALL priceless treasures- Oh, did you see the 3 ballast hoppers at the end of the first train, they were covered hoppers converted to open, the GTW had some of those too-
lcar4000 the line was originally given to Union Pacific who used it for like a year, then they sold it to the DM&E. CP bought the DM&E in I think it was 2008, then in 2013-ish they sold it to the genesse and Wyoming who made it into the rapid city Pierre and eastern
I agree that horn sounds great. Great footage. I think the bright zito Yellow looks way better than the new color. Notice how there is really no graffiti on them cars compared to today. At the beginning of the video the guy riding in the middle of that covered hopper spotting that industry, I'm sure even in 94 that had to be against the rules, if you fall off he would be cut into pieces.
It is now Rapid City,Pierre,& Eastern.
I Miss the CNW Locomotives and paint schemes, I remember seeing the cow as a kid, I live here in SD
At the Soo Line were I worked in train service (until retirement) it was a big "no-no" rules violation to ride the crossover while shoving a car as seen at 1:06. If the slack ran out and you lost your step, and/or hand hold, well, good bye and hello "pushing up daisies." A classic example of how "railroad rules are (eventually) written in blood."
When I worked for UP it was a rules violation to ride the crossover. Just one unexpected bump of slack and a man could be cut to pieces.
Love those GP7s!
Both original & secondhand on the C&NW Roster during their entirety before the UP takeover on 7/1/1995.
Great video!!! Thank you for posting! Many memories from a retired CNW locomotive employee. Loved the times in the CNW and the people!❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸👍👍
Ahhhh, the days of CNW 5 unit trains! Trains like this used to run through the Manitowoc / Two Rivers area here in eastern Wisconsin, on their way to Green Bay 5 times a day. Sadly, the line is gone now. I never thought I would see that day. God, I miss that stuff.
Beautiful horn on the 4169, pure Rock Island.
I noticed that too.....my father was a rock islander, then worked for CNW.....
Purchased in 1981.Operated during C&NW's entirety before the UP takeover.
great videos! thanks....
Great scenes. One of few videos from that part of the railroad. I saw it mostly in the Chicago area. Lived at Harvard, the end of the commuter line.
It was shot before the UP takeover on 7/1/1995.
I love the winding up of the geep at the end. I miss those sounds on the local freight switching in town.
i was a CNW switchman in the early 90s... you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one of these rebuilt ex-rock island geeps, they were all over the CNW system, loved working on them... just don't use the toilet, YUCK... filthy as you know what
Purchased in 1981.Served the CNW system before the UP takeover on 7/1/1995.
@@kurtkauffman4326 yep
This is back in the day when there was still an engineer in the engine, and the brakeman didn't have a remote control unit on his waist..
Remotes....more horror. Like PSR....and trainmasters recruited out of biz school
What video format was this shot with, VHS, 3/4", Betacam? The quality is very good and the subject matter is excellent.
Video 8 tape on a Canon A1 camera. Thanks for watching.
I still can't figure out why this line from Pierre to Rapid City is such a maintenance headache. RCP&E just got a grant to perform a line rehab. Pictures in Trains still shows jointed rail outside of Wall. Some sections look like welded rail in this video with good track speeds, yet RCP&E says they are down to 10mph in areas. Why does this line suffer in maintenance so badly?
Years of deferred maintenance. Even with grant money, crossties are verging on 100 bucks each installed in track. At 3000 plus ties per mile, that will eat up a couple of million in grants pretty quick.
rapid city used to have the...milwaukee road!
Is this now Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern trackage? I was out there last year and much of this looks familiar
Yes
Yes it is. The RCP&E goes out to Tracy, MN where Canadian Pacific has ownership to Winona.
Memories. Gone forever :( I will always remember the great C&NW.
Some of those long overhead shots show that quintet of units bouncing along like Slinkies!
CNW's paint scheme really matched the landscape
I %100 AGREE LOL
The grain mill shown being switched at the beginning is still there; now served by the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern.
Yes....I've ridden by it!
For an instant, I saw *”Rabid City…”*
Good to see some action in my home state!
Does anyone know when cabooses were phased out? Was it in the early 1990s?
Cabooses on US railroads were phased out in the mid 1980's. It was in 1982 when a NLRB ruling ordered railroads to begin phasing out cabooses. On most railroads some cabooses were retained as "shoving platforms" as the agreements stipulated penalty pay for a crewmember having to ride a freight car being shoved more than 1 mile. Also some states passed "full crew laws" at the behest of the unions which required lines operating through those states to still use cabooses. Wisconsin and Virginia come to mind as states that had these. These laws were eventually repealed by 1990. The Canadian roads lagged a bit behind as the Canadian regulators dragged their feet due to union pressure, with cabooses gradually going away in the 1990-92 period.
here's article 10 from the UTU 1982 national agreement... it explains it all in detail
go001.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Agreements/419/FWD/82NatArtX.pdf
1:54 THE P5
Love that Rock Island horn sound.
Some fantastic shots here but the one at 4:15 is one of those "I wish I'd taken that" moments. Top Job.
Nice!
It looks very dry that late winter out there
Those 5 units are a lot of horsepower for such a short freight.
carvcom1 They probably assigned the power based on the return run's tonnage, which would predominantly have been loads of bentonite clay, making for a heavy train.
Great video. I'm working on a CNW n scale layout and the hills in this video give me plenty of ideas for landscaping
i know exactly where this is!
Excellent video and lighting.
lotta grain cars!
That was not a safe location for switchman riding the hopper.
Fantastic history recorded in this video. Loved it!
CNW high hood nice shots!!
WOW, look at all those great covered 2-bay hoppers! @ 4:03 a graffiti that says "Free Masons Are Evil!" WOW, all your videos are amazing! Just hoping that you to upload some of the railroad I model, the Detroit & Mackinac... KEEP THESE VIDEOS COMING, they are ALL priceless treasures- Oh, did you see the 3 ballast hoppers at the end of the first train, they were covered hoppers converted to open, the GTW had some of those too-
Is this line now operated by Union Pacific? or by DME? or abandoned?
lcar4000 CP owns it now via their purchase of DME.
lcar4000 It's now called RCP&E
lcar4000 the line was originally given to Union Pacific who used it for like a year, then they sold it to the DM&E. CP bought the DM&E in I think it was 2008, then in 2013-ish they sold it to the genesse and Wyoming who made it into the rapid city Pierre and eastern
I like chicago northwestern
That was before it merged with UP.
off...omaha street!
Very Classical
Those are rare now days
Go CNW Go! Good Video.
That 645!!!
I agree that horn sounds great. Great footage. I think the bright zito Yellow looks way better than the new color. Notice how there is really no graffiti on them cars compared to today. At the beginning of the video the guy riding in the middle of that covered hopper spotting that industry, I'm sure even in 94 that had to be against the rules, if you fall off he would be cut into pieces.
OC P5 all the way