Nice job I was a CSX engineer on the CV sub that’s all we did load coal trains nothing else I think in 2007 we had 16 loadouts good job explaining what we did people don’t understand we did this 24/7 363 days a year we had no family time no anything just loading coal so you could turn your lights on thank you so much good job
This is awesome! I’ve got 2 uncles work up there at the loadout. Ones their mechanic/loader operator. You can see him there at 16:30! The other hauls slate in a rock truck for them. It’s cool to see that they’re apart of this process!
Really enjoyed this video. While it is fun to watch the big, long trains zip by, I like to see the day-to-day operations that make those bigger trains possible in the first place. Thanks!
Thanks. I was interested as I used to haul coal from the railroad up the hill to the college power plant when I was in college. The college had its own siding and sand would come in on it also. We had to open the hopper doors by hand and when the first part of the car was empty, we had to move it down the siding, almost always by hand. The siding had a derailer before it reached the main line as the main line was pretty busy. Watering down the coal was mentioned. Normally, that was nice. However, in the winter, the water would freeze and we would have to break the coal and ice combination out of the bottom by hand. It was a lot easier to load that train than it was for us to unload a single car. The siding had a hopper under it that the coal/sand fell into and then went up a conveyor belt to the trucks. We had to clean up the sand really well as it would mess up the power plant if it was in the coal. The sand would also freeze in the winter. In the summer, we would "stockpile" the coal on the college and then load it with either a coal loader or front end bucket loader in the trucks in the winter because it was used faster than we could haul it up from the railroad. I also learned about demurrage for railroad cars as the college hated paying it and we would often work long days to empty the cars. I couldn't do it any more. Coal was easier than sand in the summer as a lot more of the load would go out the hopper doors without having to get in the car and pushing into the hopper doors. Coal would empty 2/3 or 3/4 by itself, sand, on a good day was about 30 percent. We used sledges to break the ice above the open doors in the winter. Sometimes, we had to use sledges to open the doors in the winter. We also would use bars and pound them into the sand/coal when it was frozen to break off chunks that could go through the doors. If you had to hold a bar a lot, your fingers would ache. Oh well, it wasn't bad when I was young and dumb.
Wife #2 was from Becky West Virginia, been up there a few times looking at at the coal loaders watching the trains get loaded with coal in person, till this day I can watch trains get loaded up all day
I think the skill of a really good model railroader is to make the model look like your viewing it from a distance say 87 feet or so for ho scale , not very well put but you know what I mean
The short but steep mountains and winding valleys of the area are what really do it. Plus the invasive kudzu vines everywhere look a lot like model foliage/ground cover.
This is fantastic work! And I love that you made this. I build routes on Trainz 22, so whenever I get to the point of building a coal loadout area, this is fantastic to have as a base for operations on it.
Hello, as expressed in previous comment, I too enjoyed your video. Keep up the good work. Just one other thing, usually the rail cars are sprayed with an additive to the water usually latex based which seals in the dust particles during transit as pure water would dry out in transit. Thanks again for the video and wish you and the rest of your viewers a Happy New Year.
You are 100 percent correct it was called cenfuel it was something that came up during the Clinton administration I think there was 12 loadouts in the U.S. we had one on the CV at Bledsoe coal and I think their may have been one more in Kentucky but I don’t know if this is the other it might be somebody that worked up there let me know I can’t say either way I do know the government paid them an extra 10 dollars a ton so I would have done it too I don’t remember exactly where our train went I’m thinking Bull Run Tennessee TVA
Latex particles was more of a Powder River Basin thing because the coal is soft and very dusty, it would clog culverts, ballast and concrete ties to decay
Great video, really enjoyed watching it. I know the crew appreciated you asking to film their work, Ive always tried to do that when given the chance. The one conductor I remember gave me some tips on what to show/not show (some not approved procedures that made his life easier but the RR didnt like, lol) and then asked me to send him all the photos so he could share them with his family since they never get to see him working.
Listen we do appreciate it but I always enjoyed seeing you guys just as long as you don’t interfere in any way I think it’s great where do grown men and women get to go play with trains all day I will tell you this it’s not for everyone you have to have a strong woman by your side or it can’t work because your kids will grow up without their father she will raise them you won’t be going to weddings family get together’s you won’t be going to the lake on the weekend you will not even be going to funeral’s unless it’s immediate family you will spend more time with the guy’s you work with than your own family so we are a tight community you really are but I can also say this there is a lot of dangerous ground work in all conditions and I’ve never seen 18 year old babies act like grown men and do their jobs the way they did on the CV and I watched them grow up to be good engineer’s
Yeah, I really like to watch them load a coal train but anyway, my friend another great video and happy New Year’s to you and you. Stay safe out there and watch your back and we’ll see you on the next one.
Been burning coal to heat the house for four decades. Best fuel for the money and heat output. Your video was a look into how it's transported by rail. Wonder if that is chestnut coal they're loading or a larger size. Thanks for the video and Happy New Year.
One of my first cousins loaded trains just about his whole life until he retired a few years ago . As far as I know the last time he worked was over around Pikeville somewhere but not sure the name of the job .
I feel like there might be a small coal boom coming soon so maybe we'll see some more rail traffic in Eastern Kentucky. RJ Corman would love to be revitalizing those tracks if he were still alive.
@eastkentuckyrailfan - thanks. I unexpectedly caught the B&O heritage unit leading a westbound coal train outside Gordonsville, VA in August. I bet it was this same train headed out to your area. Very cool.
How long was the crew there? I'd think with the downed tree and waiting on the trainmaster to call a crew in to remove it they were close to outlawing.
This may be a dumb question but couldn't the loco have some type of plow or blade on the front that would enable it to push some small to mid sized brush or trees out of its way and keep moving? Obvi he'd have to go very slow but it's not a question of power right? I mean they plow snow with them right?
@eastkentuckyrailfan possibly! Me personally, I don't like to leave the front door open because all the dust, dirt and whatever else is on the floor blows past your face! Spartan Cabs are better with the front door open. I've had co-workers say they'll leave the front door open just to mess up a rail buff's picture! Notice the door closed after they stopped for the downed trees? On another note, we may get a few of the trains that load here and take them to Gary, In. (Miller Siding) and hand it to a Chicago South Shore and South Bend transfer crew. I've often wondered where some of these trains loaded at.
The loadout’s location is Spurlock, that’s also what it’s known by on CSX coal origin map, the company that operates the loadout is Elk Horn Coal of Prestonsburg Ky
No there is a hopper above that is measured out so if they are loading 110 tons it’s measured out and that’s what fills the hopper if you notice they will open the chute and start loading about where the base of the slope of the front of the car and then raise the chute about 3 feet above the top of the car and it will run out about the base of the slope of the car at the other end
Thanks for beautiful video that shows what it takes to keeps the lites on and hard working coal miners that do the dangerous work of mining coal out of the ground and thanks to surface workers that help loading the coal on the train Like to see more videos like this in the future Sense now that Donald Trump back in the white maybe starts reopening these mines to get back out energy independence back again and putting people back to work
sad, but wishful thinking; the long-term outlook for coal is bleak; my grandfather was an engineer back in the steam engine days; he worked for L&N out of Corbin
No believe it or not that’s it on those tubs you should see about a 3 foot hump he is batch loading over 100 tons a car when we got done we averaged a little over 13,000 tons for 95 cars he is right on it
I can honestly say not throwing to much shade on that operation but you don’t see cat loaders shoving coal the big boys use 2 or 3 D11s I’ll bet that was a nightmare on that engineer all you hear is spot and hold
Nice job I was a CSX engineer on the CV sub that’s all we did load coal trains nothing else I think in 2007 we had 16 loadouts good job explaining what we did people don’t understand we did this 24/7 363 days a year we had no family time no anything just loading coal so you could turn your lights on thank you so much good job
Thank you !
May I get your contact
Fascinating! This is the best view I've had of coal hoppers loading, very basic to our economy.
This is awesome! I’ve got 2 uncles work up there at the loadout. Ones their mechanic/loader operator. You can see him there at 16:30! The other hauls slate in a rock truck for them. It’s cool to see that they’re apart of this process!
Really enjoyed this video. While it is fun to watch the big, long trains zip by, I like to see the day-to-day operations that make those bigger trains possible in the first place. Thanks!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Dig that intro!!! Great video! Thanks for sharing
Thanks. I was interested as I used to haul coal from the railroad up the hill to the college power plant when I was in college. The college had its own siding and sand would come in on it also. We had to open the hopper doors by hand and when the first part of the car was empty, we had to move it down the siding, almost always by hand. The siding had a derailer before it reached the main line as the main line was pretty busy. Watering down the coal was mentioned. Normally, that was nice. However, in the winter, the water would freeze and we would have to break the coal and ice combination out of the bottom by hand. It was a lot easier to load that train than it was for us to unload a single car. The siding had a hopper under it that the coal/sand fell into and then went up a conveyor belt to the trucks. We had to clean up the sand really well as it would mess up the power plant if it was in the coal. The sand would also freeze in the winter. In the summer, we would "stockpile" the coal on the college and then load it with either a coal loader or front end bucket loader in the trucks in the winter because it was used faster than we could haul it up from the railroad. I also learned about demurrage for railroad cars as the college hated paying it and we would often work long days to empty the cars. I couldn't do it any more. Coal was easier than sand in the summer as a lot more of the load would go out the hopper doors without having to get in the car and pushing into the hopper doors. Coal would empty 2/3 or 3/4 by itself, sand, on a good day was about 30 percent. We used sledges to break the ice above the open doors in the winter. Sometimes, we had to use sledges to open the doors in the winter. We also would use bars and pound them into the sand/coal when it was frozen to break off chunks that could go through the doors. If you had to hold a bar a lot, your fingers would ache. Oh well, it wasn't bad when I was young and dumb.
Thanks for sharing! Souds like hard work!
Wife #2 was from Becky West Virginia, been up there a few times looking at at the coal loaders watching the trains get loaded with coal in person, till this day I can watch trains get loaded up all day
This video was very well done, with a great soundtrack. Thank you for sharing this with us
Glad you enjoyed it!
The soundtrack is so apropos considering the venue & subject matter.
From the drone it looks like a model garden railroad.
I know!
I think the skill of a really good model railroader is to make the model look like your viewing it from a distance say 87 feet or so for ho scale , not very well put but you know what I mean
The short but steep mountains and winding valleys of the area are what really do it. Plus the invasive kudzu vines everywhere look a lot like model foliage/ground cover.
The video was well done. Thanks for sharing it. I hope you have a happy new year!
Beautiful country. All of eastern Kentucky is.
The soundtrack is so apropos considering the venue & subject matter.
THIS GUY IS VERY GOOD---far better than most train channels
@@mainesail3097 thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video
Very interesting video.
This is fantastic work! And I love that you made this. I build routes on Trainz 22, so whenever I get to the point of building a coal loadout area, this is fantastic to have as a base for operations on it.
Thanks for the kind words and hope it helps!
Very nice work buddy!!
Thanks!!
Great seeing tubby on the side of all these cars.
Hello, as expressed in previous comment, I too enjoyed your video. Keep up the good work. Just one other thing, usually the rail cars are sprayed with an additive to the water usually latex based which seals in the dust particles during transit as pure water would dry out in transit. Thanks again for the video and wish you and the rest of your viewers a Happy New Year.
Thanks for the info!
You are 100 percent correct it was called cenfuel it was something that came up during the Clinton administration I think there was 12 loadouts in the U.S. we had one on the CV at Bledsoe coal and I think their may have been one more in Kentucky but I don’t know if this is the other it might be somebody that worked up there let me know I can’t say either way I do know the government paid them an extra 10 dollars a ton so I would have done it too I don’t remember exactly where our train went I’m thinking Bull Run Tennessee TVA
But not every loadout did this I think it was just water somebody that worked their weight in
Latex particles was more of a Powder River Basin thing because the coal is soft and very dusty, it would clog culverts, ballast and concrete ties to decay
Great video.
Thanks!
I went to college in Barbourville 20 years ago... It is a beautiful part of the country that easily gets overlooked due to the poverty.
Thanks for putting this up.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Really good visual on how the loads are done
Great video, really enjoyed watching it. I know the crew appreciated you asking to film their work, Ive always tried to do that when given the chance. The one conductor I remember gave me some tips on what to show/not show (some not approved procedures that made his life easier but the RR didnt like, lol) and then asked me to send him all the photos so he could share them with his family since they never get to see him working.
That is awesome that you have that kind of connection with a crew!
Listen we do appreciate it but I always enjoyed seeing you guys just as long as you don’t interfere in any way I think it’s great where do grown men and women get to go play with trains all day I will tell you this it’s not for everyone you have to have a strong woman by your side or it can’t work because your kids will grow up without their father she will raise them you won’t be going to weddings family get together’s you won’t be going to the lake on the weekend you will not even be going to funeral’s unless it’s immediate family you will spend more time with the guy’s you work with than your own family so we are a tight community you really are but I can also say this there is a lot of dangerous ground work in all conditions and I’ve never seen 18 year old babies act like grown men and do their jobs the way they did on the CV and I watched them grow up to be good engineer’s
Awesome video buddy loading that black gold
Thank you!!
@eastkentuckyrailfan You're welcome
Texas tea
Thank you for making that awesome video, it was very informative.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderful Great Catch especially that CSX 1827 B&O HU & Great and Interesting video
Thank you, I appreciate the kind words!
Great video!😊
Well done. I enjoyed the sound track as well.
Thank you!
Great video - love all the different elements and explinations
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah, I really like to watch them load a coal train but anyway, my friend another great video and happy New Year’s to you and you. Stay safe out there and watch your back and we’ll see you on the next one.
You simply can't overstate the importance of coal to the railroad industry 😮
Thank you! Happy New Year to you as well, stay safe!
Well done!
Good video. Speaking from experience needs excellent skill on the part of the driver and the loader operator.
Nice catch with the B&O heritage unit
Good job on the cowboy voiceover
very nice Palfinger crane on that truck
great video 😍😍❤❤
Thank you!
Very nice.
Great vid! U should check out the Chattanooga sub, steep grades and a fair amount of traffic
I’ll have to check it out, thanks!
What Beautiful country your in
Thank you
Excellent video well done!
Been burning coal to heat the house for four decades. Best fuel for the money and heat output. Your video was a look into how it's transported by rail. Wonder if that is chestnut coal they're loading or a larger size. Thanks for the video and Happy New Year.
i like coal trains
One of my first cousins loaded trains just about his whole life until he retired a few years ago . As far as I know the last time he worked was over around Pikeville somewhere but not sure the name of the job .
Very nice video, LIKE
Big thanks
I worked on the long fork sub a couple times about 28 years ago….another load out closer to Martin that we hated, the tracks always under water😮
That one’s gone now and site reclaimed
@ yep, it’s long gone….the old heads talked about Spurlock, but most though it would never reopen…..ya just never know.
I feel like there might be a small coal boom coming soon so maybe we'll see some more rail traffic in Eastern Kentucky. RJ Corman would love to be revitalizing those tracks if he were still alive.
Great video man, enjoyed it, is there a state road to run close by to the tracks to follow? Thanks for posting
Yes
Thank You for the video and Happy New Year. I am just curious, how long does it take to load the entire train?
Once they begin loading roughly 4 hours to load 100 cars
When was this filmed? Great video!
August 2024
@eastkentuckyrailfan - thanks. I unexpectedly caught the B&O heritage unit leading a westbound coal train outside Gordonsville, VA in August. I bet it was this same train headed out to your area. Very cool.
How long was the crew there? I'd think with the downed tree and waiting on the trainmaster to call a crew in to remove it they were close to outlawing.
The crew that took the train up and staged it was different from the crew that loaded the train and took it back to the yard.
Papaw worked at price tipple and we’re all from right here
That’s awesome!
This may be a dumb question but couldn't the loco have some type of plow or blade on the front that would enable it to push some small to mid sized brush or trees out of its way and keep moving? Obvi he'd have to go very slow but it's not a question of power right? I mean they plow snow with them right?
All we have is the pilot plow under the anti-climber. It does a pretty good job at deflecting trees and vehicles
Cool. I guess these trees were too big then.
@@Glitch-nr9ct they might have been afraid of dragging them. You can knock out wayside infrastructure if they are long enough
*Does that dust controller have "Elmers Glue" in it?...*
I've been told its some sort of latex based stuff, it STINKS too.
what camera do you use ??
Most of this video was shot with the DJI mini 3 pro drone
Nice vid. Who uses coal much anymore? Does TVA still use it?
Several still use coal, not sure about TVA
We - BNSF service TVA. they use Powder River Basin and Illinois Basin coal. they blend it all together then it's Barged to the plants
I see someone on the crew thInks it's funny to leave the front door open!
It was really hot, I figure maybe the AC wasn't working
@eastkentuckyrailfan possibly! Me personally, I don't like to leave the front door open because all the dust, dirt and whatever else is on the floor blows past your face! Spartan Cabs are better with the front door open.
I've had co-workers say they'll leave the front door open just to mess up a rail buff's picture! Notice the door closed after they stopped for the downed trees?
On another note, we may get a few of the trains that load here and take them to Gary, In. (Miller Siding) and hand it to a Chicago South Shore and South Bend transfer crew. I've often wondered where some of these trains loaded at.
I looked for Spurlock and couldn't find it. Can you elaborate on what coal company you were at?
It was formally Blackhawk Mining’s Spurlock Prep plant. I’m not sure what company it is now, I’ll find out though
The loadout’s location is Spurlock, that’s also what it’s known by on CSX coal origin map, the company that operates the loadout is Elk Horn Coal of Prestonsburg Ky
Does the chute stop passing coal at the end of a car being filled, or keep it flowing?
No there is a hopper above that is measured out so if they are loading 110 tons it’s measured out and that’s what fills the hopper if you notice they will open the chute and start loading about where the base of the slope of the front of the car and then raise the chute about 3 feet above the top of the car and it will run out about the base of the slope of the car at the other end
Now some single car loadouts use a belt fed direct load like that
@@pamhensley3126 Thanks! Closer shots would have been very useful.
I’ll try to make another trip up there and get some closer shots of the way coal falls into the empty cars. May post it as a short
@@eastkentuckyrailfan Thanks if you can. I really enjoyed your presentation style and narration.
I'm thinking in the future that someone might trim all those trees
Thanks for beautiful video that shows what it takes to keeps the lites on and hard working coal miners that do the dangerous work of mining coal out of the ground and thanks to surface workers that help loading the coal on the train
Like to see more videos like this in the future
Sense now that Donald Trump back in the white maybe starts reopening these mines to get back out energy independence back again and putting people back to work
Thank you for watching!
sad, but wishful thinking; the long-term outlook for coal is bleak; my grandfather was an engineer back in the steam engine days; he worked for L&N out of Corbin
We cleared our own trees. A chainsaw in the cab.
The coal cars look overfilled!
I have seen plenty of coal trains but have never seen how they are loaded.
Rookie running the loadout lord looks like someone lied to get a job 😂
Well I wasn’t gonna say anything lol
No believe it or not that’s it on those tubs you should see about a 3 foot hump he is batch loading over 100 tons a car when we got done we averaged a little over 13,000 tons for 95 cars he is right on it
That’s exactly how you do it a 47 and 48 car cut
I can honestly say not throwing to much shade on that operation but you don’t see cat loaders shoving coal the big boys use 2 or 3 D11s I’ll bet that was a nightmare on that engineer all you hear is spot and hold
Does it take 5 hours for 100 cars?
Around 4 hours
Load speed is generally .3 mph.
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