ASSEMBLING A FREIGHT TRAIN

foreign [Music] here is the freight yard of a big city nearby is the engine house with the big diesel engines that pull the freight trains here are the engineer and firemen who run one of the Diesels they are going to the freight yard with their engine to couple onto the cars they will pull today the cars are waiting 18 . they are loaded with lots of different things they will go to many different places it is the railroad's job to be sure that the cars get to the right places a big part of the job is putting the freight train together or making up the train the work begins almost as soon as the freight cars are loaded here is a factory that makes cans some of the cans are loaded right into the boxcars every day a man from the railroad comes to the factory to see how many cars are loaded and ready to go he is called an industry Clerk he gets a paper called a bill of lading for each car that tells how many cans are in the car and where the car is to be sent then the industry clerk puts a numbered card on each card the card is like the address on a letter tells other railroad men wear the car is to be taken this is called carting the car the industry clerk also looks to see that the doors are properly closed and sealed then he goes to other companies and puts cards on the loaded cars they have and he picks up the bills of lading that tell where the cars are going there are other industry clerks working in other parts of the city in one day they carved a great many cars all kinds of cars flat cars box cars hoppers tank cars gondolas carrying everything you could imagine when he is finished the industry clerk brings all the bills of lading to the freight office now the railroad needs to bring the loaded cars to the freight yard this is a job for the switch engines they move the freight cars around in the city and in the freight yard a man at the freight office writes the order is to tell the switch engine crew where the loaded cars are the switch engine crew gets the orders and goes out to pick up the cars modern switch engines have two-way radios while they are out working the yardmaster's office calls to tell them about more freight cars to pick up when the switch engine has a load of cars it takes them back to the freight yard now the cars must be sorted up all those that will be in the same train are put on one track another switch engine does this job it pulls a string of cars to the switching track this man looks at the cards on the cars to see what train each car belongs in he makes a list that tells where to switch the cars the switchman uses this list to sort out the cars in this yard cars for the train going north are switched on to track eight track 14 is for cars that will go south cars for the train going east are put on track nine but this is only part of the job at the other end of the yard are more switch engines they put the cars together in the order they will leave the city in a long train here are all the cars that are going east some of them are to go to different cities than others so they need to be separated and grouped once more this time all the freight cars that are going to the same city are put together on a separate track this is called blocking the train here is a model train that shows how a real train looks when it is blocked now the blocks are put together in one train the car to go to the city farthest away or put at the rear end of the train cars to be left at points a little closer are placed in the middle of the train cars that go to nearby places are put at the front end of the train in this way as the train goes along the cars can be quickly switched or set out from the train without disturbing the rest of the train now let's get back to the real train when all the blocks are put together in proper order on one track the Caboose is put on but before the Freight engine gets here there is a lot of last minute work to be done a blue flag is put on the train as a warning that men are working around the Train the inspectors hook up the airline to the cars in the train then the inspectors check the air hoses between the cars to be sure they are all connected air pressure is used to work the Train's brakes the wheels and axles are inspected to see that everything is in good condition this man with a walkie-talkie radio on his back walks along the train and reads off the numbers of all the cars in the train a man in the freight office listens and writes down the numbers boxster146-742 then a list of all the cars in the train is tight it tells where each car is going and what it contains the freight papers or wave bills for all the cars are put with the list the list is called a wheel report it is for the conductor so he will know where all the cars are to be delivered he is in charge of the train this is the rear Brakeman on the train he is making his own inspection of the cars now here comes the Freight engine the blue flag is moved up to the engine the engineer cannot go until the blue flag is taken off when the engine's airlines are connected to the cars the engineer makes a brake test first he applies the brakes by moving the brake valve yard men walk along the train to see that all the brake shoes are tied up against the wheels then the engineer releases the brakes and there is another inspection to see that all the brake shoes are away from the wheels the inspections are all over and everything is all right the engineer gets his orders from the conductor the blue flag is taken off and the train may go there's the high ball the signal to start the engineer pulls the throttle and the train starts to move the head Breakman rides in the key engineer environment the conductor and rear Brakeman ride in the Caboose soon the train is out of the yard and on its way yard the switch engines already are making up another freight train