This video has become more relevant than ever given the East Palestine, Ohio derailment, the only way the crew knew something was wrong was the DD giving a defect warning, it was too late though...
A defect detector wouldn’t have done anything. The train crew, the Norfolk southern railroad, Mike DeWine, and the EPA were are all extremely incompetent. They had the chance to clean up the chemical spill properly but they still decided to light the shit on fire for some dumbass reason.
@@michaelblair5566 That is an absolute lie and slander. They DID NOT ignore it. you have no clue how the mechanics of trains work. go learn a thing or two before making foolish comments
I literally haven't cared about trains since I was 10 but this video from a random youtube recommendation was straight up interesting to watch and extremely well made.
While trains aren’t really my thing, I could listen to you talk about them for hours. Just a nice voice to listen to. Reminds me of listening to How It’s Made.
In light of recent events, this is a great refresher for all of us. I am glad I found it again. I do wonder if the last detector you showed is in use up there. Thanks Danny!
Just have to be mindful to keep it away from any employees while they're working. Ultimately I don't think the railroad would allow it if they knew about it... if the drone goes down and lands on the tracks, as it would lead to trespassing to retrieve it, or who knows what worries they'd have if it were left there.
@@nowake The railroad does not control the air space above their trains but the FAA does. Per FAA you can't fly over vehicles, I would assume that includes trains.
Danny, from my engineer sister who works for CSX and is in charge of their Train Inspection Portal program featured at 11:15 in the video: "Those devices at 3:50 aren’t wheel impact load detectors. They are magnetic wheel sensors to help the Hot Bearing Detector know when to measure the heat." Keep up the great videos!
Hello Danny. Just wanted you to know that the Atlantic coastline going north of Ocala from N.W 56th Street to County Road 329 the relay casses for the railroad crossing gates have been deactivated and abandonment has happened the scale house in Kendrick has removed and the spur has been removed
I'm no kind of genuine rail fan, but it's great to know freight trains have this ubiquitous little system! Also, the video wasn't boring, not even to me, and that's pretty impressive. Probably you're pacing it just right, and have good information density. Plus, the drone shots and radio captures add a lot of interest.
@@distantsignal I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with your expertise. ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
Hi Danny, great video! At time mark 3:50 the pair of small boxes mounted to the rail are the Magnetic Transducers that senses the wheel flanges passing over them (no physical contact is made). As the metal wheel flange passes over a transducer entering its magnetic field, it causes an AC voltage of about half a volt to be produced and tells the scanner to start collecting infra-red samples for the wheel bearing & when the flange passes over the 2nd transducer it stops collecting infra-red samples & this process repeats for each wheel flange. And as someone else had commented, the transducers also performs the axle count & makes train speed calculations.
@@ebnertra0004 Yes, there is a drop down menu that allows you to select what info you wish to have transmitted which includes train direction, speed, outdoor temperature, axle count, wind speed (I never knew the reason for wind speed) & train length.
@@tomy6917 I think there are some places with high wind detectors, especially in the mountains, but I don't know if they're incorporated into detector sites or standalone (either is possible, I suppose)
I just want to say how much I enjoy and appreciate your videos. You remind me so much of my grandfather; he was a section foreman for C&O, Chessie, and then eventually CSX. He was the one who started my love of trains, and I spent so many weekends as a kid going to his house and listening to his stories, looking at pictures and slides he took, and watching old train films. He had so many from when the Steam Special came to town, and I thought that locomotive was just SO cool. He's no longer with us, but watching your videos gives me that same feeling I had back then with him and makes me feel like a little bit of him is still around. Thank you so much for what you do.
Indeed. And I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with their expertise. ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
Danny, I have been an avid watcher of your uploads for about 3 years. They are so reminiscent of the old Pentrax videos of the late 1980s and 1990s but will better resolution! Your narration is spot on and so professional. Keep up the great work.
I grew up along a train track. We played around the tracks all the time, though adults would tell us the train would suck us under if we got too close. I loved the sound of the freight trains at night. About a half mile away was a siding where trains would puff off to let another train pass. There was a small wooden building that had an old crank phone that I assumed was connected to all the overhead wires that were along the tracks. It had a big railroad padlock on it but was never locked. The ditch behind it was covered with old 6 volt batteries. We loved climbing those signal light towers and watch a train go by. Once we found some old steel roller skates and built a frame with 2x4s that would roll on the tracks. Memories long forgotten. Now trains are just an annoyance at crossings, though some of the art work is interesting. Thanks for the memories.
I love your videos! I live in Western New York State between Rochester and Buffalo. I'm a truck driver and the yard where I park my truck is right up against the CSX mainline that runs East-West across NY. I believe it is Ex- NY Central track and also Ex- Conrail after the NYC sold out. I remember seeing Conrail locos when I was growing up in the '90s. My grandfather had a beef farm and the small feed store we used to get supplements for the cows from had its own siding! Needless to say I have been a rail fan from an early age.
I love your videos featuring different aspects of the railroading industry. For many years, there was a rail line that directed freight trains through my neighborhood, about one city block from my house. Around the year 2001, a large section of the railroad tracks were removed along with the signals and the custodian shacks at the intersections. I miss the trains, and the memories associated with them. I really miss waving at the guys in the cabooses. I feel as though a large part of my childhood is gone, never to return, and it bothers me as I see my neighborhood dying.
Nice Video Danny! It’s nice how you describe how something works on the railroad such as defect detectors and them being used in real life on the railroad!
Very informative. When I worked in a steel mill we used to call them "pusher cars" They were a skeleton car with just a frame and a cat walk down the middle to get from the engine to the next car so you didn't have to get off the train. They were mainly used with cars with hot slabs or ingots to keep the glowing red steel away from the engine
Good to hear the best narrtor in rail fanning, i really look forward to hear the history & technicalities of the rail system in his area, great job danny.
That inspection portal is pretty interesting! As far as I know, I've never seen one of those before. Very cool sign addition in this video! Very thoughtful of the fan!
Hi, I use to maintain the UK versions of the those Railtrack Defect Detectors. That last one is miles ahead of what we got. But all ours are sent to the SIgnalbox or control centre for that area. So the train crews never see anything of what been printed out.
Indeed. And I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with their expertise. ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
I travel frequently on Amtrak and always wondered what that meant when I heard it on the walkie-talkies constantly. Love this video! It’s very well put together.
Wow what a video of absolutely highest quality. The Voiceover, the shots, explanation of the technical details. This is just something I have a passive interest in but I love that people are so dedicated to it. What a great channel. Makes me want to get back into model railroad again
Model railroading is fun but expensive. Virtual railroading (e.g. train simulation games) can be a good compromise for some, and it's easier on the wallet. There are several such games to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Danny, I would like to offer a small correction to your description of the journal boxes on the trucks. They were packed with "waste" or later with a foam-filled pad that was soaked in journal oil instead of grease. The waste or pads were so fixed that they wiped the bottom of the axle under the journal brass to convey oil to the axle to carry to the brass for lubrication. The journal oil was usually called summer black oil and it was black all right and messy. I usually helped repack the journals of the trucks of the Huckleberry RR passenger cars during the winter. The use of SAE30 oil was also done by some railroads. I can remember seeing a smoking and burning journal on a KCS train heading to the yard from the south of Shreveport on several occasions. When all of the oil was gone is when a hot journal was the most dangerous; the brass and axle got so hot as to lose integrity and break causing a derailment. Before roller-bearings on passenger cars, a substance that emitted a strong odor was added to the oil to help detect hot journals.
Nice explanation of one of the safety factors for the railroads. Some of our government officials need to view this along with the talking heads that claim to be news reporters. Thanks for the video.
Great video, Danny, as always! I will have to correct you on some info that those little stubs on the inside of the rails aren't impact detectors. They're actually transducers that count the axles, measure speed and calculate train length. Impact detectors usually are found sparsely on a line, and usually have concrete ties and sensors along the rails, along with AEI readers. CSX's actually use a female voice and say "CSX impact detector". Also, fortunately, pre-recorded voices are still a thing on modern DD's. However, a detector like the one at Stokes is a synthesized computer voice, it's all over on my local NS line.
if you're lucky enough, you'll find a famous voice pre-recorded in some of the radio boxes on the union pacific and pan am line. the voice is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. reportedly there's only a few left in Maine that bear her voice to this day edits cause i'm tipsy....
@@gigglesseven This is a disputed claim. I read something earlier this year that identified the voiceover actress, and it wasn't Barrett. This might be an urban legend.
@@gigglesseven I found the thread on trainorders. A user claimed that the voice widely believed to be Barrett was actually a professional voiceover artist called Katherine Reynolds who apparently worked for NBC.
Hi there. I wouldn’t consider myself a rail fan per se, mainly dabble in aircraft but I find anything with an engine fascinating. This came up in my recommended and I learned so much, I can’t stop watching. Your voiceover and production techniques make this about as good s any documentary on TV. You’ve earned my sub!
Mr. Harmon is the best. Trains are a fun, fascinating, frustrating, fun, fantastic subject and hobby. Watching a train go by and realizing the power and physics involved for everything on those two tiny rails gives you some respect for everyone who works in the industry. Mr. Harmon's video library is one of the best resources on the internet for new and old railfans alike.
Absolutely love this video! I'm a bnsf carman apprentice learning too fix and inspect freight cars, the detectors make our life easier and better, being able too find a defect on the train that is flagged speeds up down time and makes these trains safer
Well, you're it because I'll never work this into conversation anywhere else. I watch a lot of PBS and the song that accompanies BNSF Railways is my favorite ever. Silly, I know. Ok thanks, I'll see myself out.
Some of these are also combined with AEI tag readers to make them one stop shops to gather all of the information about the train. Great video, always enjoy them.
Our local Norfolk Southern trains in upstate NY have been using the digital voice detectors for some time now, I like them as we can tell a train is arriving soon by the voice on the detector. There is one about 3 miles uptrack from where we watch trains, it tips us off to an impending train, which is nice. The EOTD is also nice as it has a range of 3 or so miles, from what I was told, and the "chirp" they make is another tip off to an impending train. Thanks for another great video Danny!
I was always curious about defect detectors, and I found this video fascinating! I'd like to see a video on flange greasers and their purpose. I thoroughly enjoy watching your videos on trains and how the railroad actually functions! It's obvious that I find trains to be fascinating to watch, and I love the sound of a set of air horns mounted atop of the locomotives!
Our system played with Flange Lube (spot greasers), but decided that sand mixed with the grease and caused more grief for equipment than it was worth, so they were removed. Perhaps another company has found a way to use the little dollop of grease that is shot out onto the flange, when it is in a tight curve. I don't know, but the co. I worked for, had us to un-install all of them and put the axle generators back in stock for speed use only.
Great video! Never knew those existed! I would say the numbering on the flaps is just for maintenance on the flaps, so they know which one to fix if there is a problem.
Danny!! Love the CSX High/Wide detectors because it usually has all of the detectors present (High and Wide, dragging equipment, hot box) I had someone tell me about how the high wide works. All the roads have in their database the dimensions of every car used. If anything is outside of those dimensions it sets it off.
I greatly appreciate the positive tone of this channel. I have watched off and on for several years, the narrative is always upbeat and enjoyable. A lot of very good information is found here, both by Danny Harmon and commenters. Well done! Nick, North West Farmer
Some additions and corrections: More and more railroads are adopting "talk-on-defect-only" detectors to reduce radio "chatter" on the road channels. In my area, most defect detectors now only "talk" if the detector does, in fact, find a defect. In mountainous areas, there can also be "slide detectors" that will audibly report rock or mudslides on the track over the road radio channel. In such areas there are wire fences--called "slide fences" adjacent to the track in slide-prone areas. If mud or rock break any of the wires on the fence, it trips the detector. Similarly, areas of track prone to flash flooding can have "high water" detectors that will trip if flood waters reach the track. Finally, about the "buffer" cars on hazmat tank trains. Usually, the rear buffer car (and sometimes two buffer cars near the middle of the train) are there for when distributed power units are used on the train. Typically, the buffer cars will remain on a unit train, so that they do not have to be added enroute when DP is needed.
Talk on Defect Only sounds like a bad idea. The detector could be down for weeks or months before it gets inspected. I mean, there is not that much chatter on railroad coms.
It's only a bad idea if you foolishly haven't taken that into account. In the simplest of set ups, every time a train passes, all of the detectors are supposed to be working, if the system fails to receive a signal from one of the detectors, it can radio the train that it needs repaired and let the train radio the report in. They also have the ability to self diagnose even if a train hasn't used it in a while, as a computer only has to monitor the flow of electricity to each detector and if the circuit is broken or the voltage return is outside of what is expected, it knows the detector or the wires connecting the detector to the computer have gone bad and can generate a report that way. In a more advanced set up, if it is connected with a phone line, or to a cellular network, or even through satellite in the most remote of locations, you can also have a "home base" call into the DD computer at regular intervals or an operator in a control center can manually trigger a check like they do with automated switches and if the "home base" or control room operator doesn't get a response from the DD, or an incomplete response, or a bad/failure report, a manual inspection order can be issued to repair the problem.
@@currentfaves65 it all depends on what area you’re in. Some railroads have more radio traffic than others. For example, if there’s a DD near a yard, it can tie up traffic, or other traffic can cover its transmission.
I saw this video today and hadn’t watched one for awhile. It reminded me of how informative you are. Thanks Danny. Oh, and I like what Nathan did for you with the Harmon Rd street sign.
Love your channel and your passion for trains. Learned a lot with this video, especially with what happened recently with E Palestine , OH and the derailment there...very sad that even happened with such catastrophic results.
Another excellent production, Danny! Defect detectors are one of my favorite aspects of railfanning. I have a whole collection of audio recordings of various defect detectors from the past three years on my phone. That list is continuously growing every day.
Every new video, there's a new sign on that fence! Good to see you again, Danny. I really enjoy your videos! One small correction: The journal boxes housed very thick oil, not grease. The oil was soaked into a sponge with some springs inside and a mop-head like material on the outside. This was known as "waste" because it used to be a big was of cloth waste, and could be replaced with such in a pinch. The plain bearing inside the journal box was lubricated by the oil soaked up by the waste and would need to be periodically filled. If the oil ran out, the bearing would heat up and could possibly catch fire if it wasn't caught in time (that's why cabooses had cupolas!) and with old wooden train cars, that was never a good thing. Hence the term "hotbox". Now a term used by pot smoking teenagers, the reason for the coining of the term is still the same - identified by a plume of smoke emitting from the journal box.
My word - I wouldn't have thought I would have liked this subject, but you are SO GOOD at presenting it. Then, in the middle of the video I learn about the 'old man's voice' and your preference for that communication. Really added depth to the video, and I wonder who that man was.
That inspection shed there at Race Pond is cool new technology! I bet railfans would love to tap into that photo stock, ha! Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for posting another excellent video, and congrats on the Harmon Rd sign, that surely added to your collection. On the buffer cars, you mentioned that the plant may hook on to the train with terminal power. In addition to that, sometimes the train may need to perform a runaround once it reaches its terminus. It's a zillion times easier to just uncouple the head engines and snap them on the tail. Also in some more rugged terrain they might connect helper DPU on the bottom. OR they may also attach another train to the bottom, with their lead power becoming mid-train DPU. With the time alotted in your video, you covered the basics and that should be clear enough that there's buffer cars on each end so the train can be handled from either end, regardless of which way it's actually traveling. Finally I think we talked briefly about visiting Columbus GA sometime. If you're still up for that, please let me know. I won't be in GA much longer but I would gladly make the trip back to guide you! EDIT: Oh yeah and those numbers on the DD slap plates so they could disassemble and reassemble them. Similar to the way you might mark head bolts on an engine when you disassemble and reassemble them, so that you put the bolts back in the same holes each time.
@@ColtonRMagby Well, those are good questions. There is only sporadic information I can find on the internet about it. From what I see, the first automatic or semi-automatic detectors came about in the 1940s.
Great drone camera shots! Very educational - thanks! I'm so old ... I was working as a signalman's apprentice back in the day when we were installing the first examples of train monitoring technology - the hot box detectors! ;-)
Mr. Harmon, I have learned much from your channel and just when I begin to think I might have a good grasp on things, you come out with another amazing video. Thanks for all you do and I look forward to each and every thing you produce.
I became a defect detector in the fall of 2018 waiting for a UP train to finish passing. I first heard, then saw the wheel on one freight car missing about 1/3rd of the flange. Since the line was CWR the sound from the broken wheel stood out from the train going down grade. I called the UP emergency number very shortly after the train passed and I could see the number on the box by the crossing. You don’t want a tanker with hazardous chemicals in a derailment.
why th do they use this horrible outdated way of voice reports? Digital data over wireless links are much more reliable and accurate and exist for decades.
@@RandomUser2401 The principle of keep it simple, stupid. They have to listen to the radio anyway. Your idea would require yet another gadget that needs to be installed in every train, it can break, has to have updated software, somebody's going to be distracted poking around in and miss a signal, added cybersecurity concerns, etc. etc. Anyway, in modern defect detectors, non-critical defects aren't announced. Things like images, wheel profiles, bogie geometry, predictive alerts are correlated with the railcar information from AEI, uploaded to servers, and somebody analyzes and views them later and schedules maintenance as necessary.
@@straightpipediesel In Europe these systems are completely integrated into electronic control stations, fully automated and fail-safe. Axle counts are automatically checked against the one reported from the dispatcher and so on. In a defect case, signals will automatically stay red/closed. With this system all it takes is one guy to miss a radio call and you have disaster. Not even mentioning the often horrible audio quality, making it hard to hear what even is going on. You are mistaking simple with proper.
@@RandomUser2401 The "horrible audio quality" doesn't exist because the unit is transmitting literally next to the receiving train. In another example of KISS, radios run simplex, not those overly-complex GSM-R/NRN things you have in Europe. And no, you don't have "disaster". This is not high-speed, or even passenger rail where a derailment sends people to their death in a bridge. This is low-speed cargo rail, where on average, 4 derailments occur in the US per day. The low cost is balanced with the low risk level, again applying KISS.
@@straightpipediesel 4 derailments per day is a very very bad statistic, showing again how little money is invested into proper infrastructure. GSM-R is used for VERY good reason as it can, again, properly secure rail traffic. GSM-R is nothing new but used for decades. And a derailed fright train can cause A LOT of damage to both people and property. Just because there are no people on the train does not mean no people are endangered.
Back in 2018 , we came all the way from Adelaide South Australia to travel on the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago, loved every minute of that trip, and i do recall one of the crew walking thru the car with this recorded message playing on his 2-way, i asked what it was, he said ' checking for defects', i didnt understand what he meant, and now i realize exactly what, and how this works...thanks. You have a voice perfectly suited to doing these documentary type videos...David Attenborough look out ! LOL
Mr Harmon I'd love this video about the defect detector I've been watching your channel for many years now it seems like and you always come up with something new that I didn't know for the longest time thank you so much for doing these videos and I gave this a thumbs up thank you Danny
The defect detector on the MARC Camden Line woke me from my morning nap about 90% of the time when I was riding to College Park for university over 10 years ago. It would play on the conductor’s radio as he would come by and take tickets. I usually had a monthly that I could put up in the seat pocket but I’d open my eyes to nod at him. I can remember the soothing hum of the A/C, the professionalism of the crew, the rare “event” when things broke down, sleeping past my stop, and so many great conversations with fellow rail fans who took the train to work. I never knew what the defect detector was. Now I know. Thank you for helping me learn this tidbit about my young adulthood. This channel always makes me smile.
I worked for the Chessie System in the ‘80s. Standard practice then was to do rolling inspections. Train crews, car inspectors, and clerks were expected to take time and carefully watch the moving train to check its condition. Definitely “old school”, to this day when I am trackside, I find myself checking the train for defects. Old habits never seem to die!
Keep up the good work on these videos and I can’t wait to see more train videos and please keep them coming and 5/5 as always +Distant Signal aka Danny Harmon and your videos never disappoint.
The flappers are likely numbered because they were removed at some point for some type of maintenance, and they wanted to make sure each one was put back where it was when removed. I’ve done stuff like that before when there’s multiple parts on something I’m taking apart.
Great video. It's a coincidence that I discovered your channel and this video the evening the NTSB issued their preliminary report on the Norfolk Southern Ohio derailment and talked about the defect detector catching wheel bearing temps as much as 253 degrees above ambient. Now I know what defect detectors do thanks to your video.
@@cossa6296 The engineer was stopping to check the DD alarm but the car catastrophically failed and derailed before the train came to a full stop. "...by the time an alarm rang to alert the crew of the danger, the bearing was already so compromised that it failed as the train was still coming to a stop."
I wish that the talking heads in the media would stop long enough from their disinformation and watch this. Then perhaps they would have some understanding about how things actually work in the real world. And be far more accurate in their reporting. Accuracy counts. Especially when people blindly believe everything they hear. Thank you for a great informative video about railcar safety inspection.
This was a very interesting video! I work with the FAA VIDS (Video Information Display System), and a portion of this system uses synthesized audio to report weather, airport information, and other items pilots need when departing/arriving into airports. It's mostly automated, and repeats just like this equipment does.
We were recently in Cordele GA and went to the viewing platform! We asked the gentleman who was there what do they mean No defects. He gave a quick description then recommended your video!! Great video as usual!
Hi Danny, another well edited video, carefully crafted script, and as always "professional voice inflection" with just the right stuff!!!! We just returned from our family vacation yesterday (Saturday, Aug 20, 2022) and first time ever with our brand new thirty foot pull-behind style RV travel trailer (Forest River Avenger model). We pulled to Kelley's Island (Lake Erie, Ohio) located among the islands where Commodore Oliver Perry led the American naval victory over the British on Sept 10, 1813 (War of 1812) and Kelley's Island is within sight of the "Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial" that stands 352 feet in honor of those that lost their lives in the Battle of Lake Erie. Reason for the Ohio location description; is that we pulled the trailer through Bellevue, Ohio on the way from Kelley's Island to Grand Lake St Marys (Ohio) State Park to visit the National Musuem of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton before returning to Massachusetts. It was awesome to pass thru Bellevue, Ohio (named in honor of James Bell who built railroads), home to the largest hump yard in the East, (Moorman Yard, Norfolk Southern) and multiple mainlines. We got to see the Moorman Yard's hump in operation! Experienced Bellevue, Ohio's rail industry with a long freight train at the grade crossing for State Route 18. Bellevue, Ohio is a rail town with a connection to your Florida...as Henry Flager left Hopewell, NY at age 14 in 1844 to seek his fortune with his Uncle's grain business in Bellevue, Ohio. As one of my all-time favorite radio broadcaster always said at the end. "...and now you know the rest of the story." Keep up the informative, well scripted & narrated videos! You have the gift of presentation!Kevin Kavanagh from Maynard, Massachusetts.
Mr. Harmon, Coming from East Hartford,Connecticut Been rail fanning for some 50 years now I am a 81-year-old who has been to the Curve and Selkirk, NY, many times now because the price of gas and being on a fixed income can't do it any longer so thanks to your video,s witch are GREAT now I can still watch Great video,s again THANKS VERY MUCH,Ed
Wow thank you, Danny, for your super pro videos and production quality. As an editor in broadcast TV for many years, I really appreciate your top quality production and informational content. It’s like I’m watching a great PBS series of yesteryear.
That's much appreciated, Ben. Compliments from a broadcast editor are the highest kind of praise for me. I've been in TV news and promotion for 44 years.
Even on a topic I know pretty much the top to bottom on, I still will tune in to hear that smoothly modulated baritone explain it to me anyway. Keep it up on down the line.
Yet another excellent video, Danny! Thank you very much for capturing and producing these videos with such superb quality and professionalism. I really enjoy your narration and your explanations of various railroading concepts. If you are taking questions, may I ask if you could produce a video explaining whistle signals that locomotives use (or used to use)? The most famous being the long, long, short, long for approaching a crossing, but where did these communication methods come from? How did they differ from railroad to railroad, and which ones are used today? Thank you for considering my inquiry!
@@brianurban9654 hey Brian! Yeah I’m familiar with that section of GCOR (UP has it posted on their website which is where I found it) but I was curious if Danny had any insight to how those signals and codes came to be and if he knew of any differences in whistle signals between railroads like ACL and SAR before any standardization took place. The history surrounding that is what I was inquiring about.
Hi, Danny Harmon. Great video. Thank you. I was talking yesterday with a man who was wondering how the East Palestine train came to derail. I mentioned that I had heard that there are monitoring systems along the way to check the condition of trains passing through but that I did not know how it was done. You have explained that very nicely. Thank you again. Just my 0.02. You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
This was super interesting, i never knew these things existed, i've seen small 'sheds' like these in the UK too but no idea of their probable purpose until now; always assumed they were part of dispatch such as junction control or signalling, or just part of tracking the trains overall, didn't know about the track sensors and radio feedback though!
There are multiple kinds of detectors. Dragging Equipment and Hot Journal detectors are the most common, but there are others. A UP line near me used to have several different kinds of detectors spread out, many of which I don't even know what they detected. See: 41.48091972658172, -95.88437844404777 Looks like there are two left, plus an AEI scanner. The one at those coordinates looks to have been expanded with fancy cameras similar (if scaled down) to the last one in the video here.
It would be very informative to review the various detectors and warning systems that were in effect during the East Palestine, OH train derailment. It's my very limited understanding that all systems were working properly but it was an overheated bearing that caused the accident.
The system worked just as it should. It even alerted the Train operator and the Railroad union to the problem. The Train operator was ordered to continue so it wouldn't hold up the railroad for other trains. This could have been 100% preventable.
@@lmmplus4 No, two detectors before the wreck, that one reported the bearing +40 degrees F above ambient air temp. The recent innovation of the DD "Help Desk" in Atlanta told the crew to keep going. The next detector at Salem, Ohio, 19 miles before the wreck showed it to be 103 degrees above ambient. The "Help Desk" said to go on, it was "trending" warm so they would keep an eye on it (Salem is where the security camera is that showed an axle either sparking or on fire). The DD at East Palestine, Ohio showed that axle to be 253 degrees above ambient and the supervisor in Atlanta told the crew to stop and inspect the train, but it derailed moments after that. Hopefully that wreck is the end of playing games (and the "Help Desk") and taking chances with safety measures, and the beginning of federal regulations regarding DDs, like making them be placed closer together than every 15 to 20 miles, more like 10 to 15 miles apart. Just another part of the Class Is cutting expenses and safety to pay those dividends. Good thing they didn't dump it up the road in Hudson, Ohio, home to many, many rich lawyers who would absolutely have owned NS in the massive litigation to follow, or while it was passing the Amtrak "Capitol Ltd.", which could have easily been the worst wreck in Amtrak's history. "Uphill slow; downhill fast; tonnage first; safety last".
When a defect is found, does that mean the crew has to walk back a mile to locate the broken hose/ broken knuckle? I've always wondered that with these excessively long trains. Great Video Danny.
Yes. My limited understanding is that the conductor gets to take a little walk. You would think with modern technology sometime of electric bike or small 4 wheeler would be most helpful.
Yeah they have to stop the train and the conductor has to make the walk to find out what happened. I just commented about an airhose that was detected that made a car wider than what is previously to a worker having it attached to the side of the car to the back of it. Also if your cars become disconnected you got figure out where at. You got find out what the problem is usually what happens they will break the train apart and another crew will get it. I just watch so many train videos. The crews get really good warning when emergency issues arrive.
@@randyogburn2498 Any kind of four-wheeled vehicle is going to be too heavy for the crew to lift down from the locomotive. Bikes don't work well on rail lines. The ballast is too rough, especially on the shoulder, and there are too many blockages once you get off the ballast. And, in a double-track setting, you certainly wouldn't want somebody cycling down the other track and getting run down by a train. By the way, if it is a broken hose or knuckle, defect detectors are irrelevant. As soon as the knuckle breaks and the train splits, the air lines will part and the train will automatically make an emergency stop.
Great video once again Danny!👍 I have a quick question though. Regarding the high tech DD in the video, do the cameras/system have the ability to check for unauthorized riders (hobo’s) since I’ve heard the railroads are trying their best to minimize the loses to thieves? Thanks again for the great video!!
I somewhat knew what the defect detectors do, I just didn't know all of how they did it. I didn't know about the flapper devices or the camera type. So once again, thanks to you, I learned something new!
I retired from CSX at the end of 2016 - so things may have changed. Trains passing over DD's at less than 10 MPH would frequently get the message "Detector Malfunction, Inspect entire train". A big bummer for the Conductor. Wheel Impact Load Detectors are only installed at a number of strategic locations on the CSX system. WILD's don't radio the train, they send a report to the Headquarters Car Department office in Jacksonville. The WILD's report one of 4 different levels of flat wheels. The first level is 'the wheel is round'. The second level indicates that the wheel does have a flat spot, but no action is required at this time. The third level requires the car to be inspected by the train crew and if found safe for movement, it can be taken to the destination terminal for wheel replacement. The fourth level requires the car to be inspected by the train crew and to be SET OUT on the nearest available track. The HQ Car Dept. notifies both the Train Dispatcher and the Chief Train Dispatcher for the cars that activate at either the 3rd or 4th levels. The Train Dispatcher will notify the train when a WILD activation happens. The Car Dept. will arrange for a local 'shop truck' to go to the set out location of 4th level activations to replace the offending wheel set(s). I have seen cars activate level 3 and go to destination and hot have the wheel set changed out; go back to origin empty and register as a level 2 and then come back loaded again and activate a level 4. The HQ Car Dept. reports the offending cars by car initial and number; not by axle count.
NS recent derailment in Palistine, OH, do you think the engineers had enough communication to stop that train before the disaster?? l just heard on this video that defect detector for CSX are located every 20 miles. A major problem can happen between detectors.
Absolutely amazing how the defect detectors "inspect" every wheel. I enjoyed hearing the new synthesized voice vs the older recorded voice. Nicely done! Thank you!
Thank you Danny for the lesson on what defect detectors do and the reasons for their existance. That comprehensive defect detector at the end of the video is very impressive looking. I wonder if it has found any defects on trains that have passed through it? Will CSX be builiding any more of this type of defect detector or will this be a one of a kind model?
Defect detectors can serve as hot box detector, hot wheel bearing detector, high water detector, dragging equipment detector, high/wide load detector, sliding fence detector. I was with Harmon Industries from 1989 to 1995.
I came back to re-watch this after the catastrophic derailment in Ohio. Turns out there was a bad bearing that was overheated, and also a defect detector that might have alerted the crew was also broken.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
This video has become more relevant than ever given the East Palestine, Ohio derailment, the only way the crew knew something was wrong was the DD giving a defect warning, it was too late though...
They IGNORED the warnings however.
A defect detector wouldn’t have done anything. The train crew, the Norfolk southern railroad, Mike DeWine, and the EPA were are all extremely incompetent. They had the chance to clean up the chemical spill properly but they still decided to light the shit on fire for some dumbass reason.
@@michaelblair5566They didn’t. Dispatch told them to go to the yard, so it’s really the dispatchers fault
@@michaelblair5566 That is an absolute lie and slander. They DID NOT ignore it. you have no clue how the mechanics of trains work. go learn a thing or two before making foolish comments
I literally haven't cared about trains since I was 10 but this video from a random youtube recommendation was straight up interesting to watch and extremely well made.
While trains aren’t really my thing, I could listen to you talk about them for hours. Just a nice voice to listen to. Reminds me of listening to How It’s Made.
In light of recent events, this is a great refresher for all of us. I am glad I found it again. I do wonder if the last detector you showed is in use up there. Thanks Danny!
Defect Detector -“Your videos have no defect - repeating, no defect!
Another great production Danny! Thanks for sharing! 👍
I demand an axle count.
@@beeble2003 total axles, one four, two five. Detector out.
I have never felt a more genuine "please hit the like button" in my life. This man must be protected
The drone footage has brought this channel to the next level. Well done Danny!
Just have to be mindful to keep it away from any employees while they're working. Ultimately I don't think the railroad would allow it if they knew about it... if the drone goes down and lands on the tracks, as it would lead to trespassing to retrieve it, or who knows what worries they'd have if it were left there.
@@nowake The railroad does not control the air space above their trains but the FAA does. Per FAA you can't fly over vehicles, I would assume that includes trains.
Yeah, a lot of visual interest and shots you can't safely or legally get oneself.
The drone is a great idea and allows the safe capture of footage without trespassing on the tracks or putting your life at risk.
It takes rail fanning to a whole new level. (no pun intended).
Danny, from my engineer sister who works for CSX and is in charge of their Train Inspection Portal program featured at 11:15 in the video: "Those devices at 3:50 aren’t wheel impact load detectors. They are magnetic wheel sensors to help the Hot Bearing Detector know when to measure the heat." Keep up the great videos!
Great video as always, The videos never gets boring. Danny Harmon makes the greatest videos, keep it up.
Yeah
When I hit the Like before the video starts..... says it all. I have enjoyed each & everyone of his videos. I learn so much.
I have tried watching other videos of other railfanners, just not the same without Danny.
Best of the best.
Hello Danny. Just wanted you to know that the Atlantic coastline going north of Ocala from N.W 56th Street to County Road 329 the relay casses for the railroad crossing gates have been deactivated and abandonment has happened the scale house in Kendrick has removed and the spur has been removed
I'm no kind of genuine rail fan, but it's great to know freight trains have this ubiquitous little system! Also, the video wasn't boring, not even to me, and that's pretty impressive. Probably you're pacing it just right, and have good information density. Plus, the drone shots and radio captures add a lot of interest.
That's a very nice compliment. Many thanks!
It's never too late to become a railfan. Trains are mighty, massive, and mystical. And just fun to watch and darn impressive under the hood!
@@distantsignal I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with your expertise.
ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
@@distantsignal Echo the above, new sub here. This is gold :)
@Jovet Also efficient
Hi Danny, great video! At time mark 3:50 the pair of small boxes mounted to the rail are the Magnetic Transducers that senses the wheel flanges passing over them (no physical contact is made). As the metal wheel flange passes over a transducer entering its magnetic field, it causes an AC voltage of about half a volt to be produced and tells the scanner to start collecting infra-red samples for the wheel bearing & when the flange passes over the 2nd transducer it stops collecting infra-red samples & this process repeats for each wheel flange. And as someone else had commented, the transducers also performs the axle count & makes train speed calculations.
CN uses them to get direction, as well
@@ebnertra0004 Yes, there is a drop down menu that allows you to select what info you wish to have transmitted which includes train direction, speed, outdoor temperature, axle count, wind speed (I never knew the reason for wind speed) & train length.
@@tomy6917 I think there are some places with high wind detectors, especially in the mountains, but I don't know if they're incorporated into detector sites or standalone (either is possible, I suppose)
@@ebnertra0004 Oh cool, thank you. I have seen videos in the past showing a wind vane on the roof of the Defect Detector's equipment house.
@@ebnertra0004 'Ya learn something new every day!
I just want to say how much I enjoy and appreciate your videos. You remind me so much of my grandfather; he was a section foreman for C&O, Chessie, and then eventually CSX. He was the one who started my love of trains, and I spent so many weekends as a kid going to his house and listening to his stories, looking at pictures and slides he took, and watching old train films. He had so many from when the Steam Special came to town, and I thought that locomotive was just SO cool. He's no longer with us, but watching your videos gives me that same feeling I had back then with him and makes me feel like a little bit of him is still around. Thank you so much for what you do.
your comment brings back memories of my grandfather; he was an engineer for L&N back in the steam engine days
You never fail to entertain AND teach. Thanks for doing this. Keep 'em coming!
Danny is the BEST of the BEST.
Really good stuff, well presented👏
edutainment!
Indeed. And I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with their expertise.
ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
I normally don't write comments but this video made me so happy to watch it!
Danny makes the most interesting train videos out there.
Holy moly. Definitely expected that this video was going to be informative but was not expecting how good the presentation and quality is. Nice video
Danny, I have been an avid watcher of your uploads for about 3 years. They are so reminiscent of the old Pentrax videos of the late 1980s and 1990s but will better resolution! Your narration is spot on and so professional. Keep up the great work.
I grew up along a train track. We played around the tracks all the time, though adults would tell us the train would suck us under if we got too close. I loved the sound of the freight trains at night. About a half mile away was a siding where trains would puff off to let another train pass. There was a small wooden building that had an old crank phone that I assumed was connected to all the overhead wires that were along the tracks. It had a big railroad padlock on it but was never locked. The ditch behind it was covered with old 6 volt batteries. We loved climbing those signal light towers and watch a train go by. Once we found some old steel roller skates and built a frame with 2x4s that would roll on the tracks. Memories long forgotten. Now trains are just an annoyance at crossings, though some of the art work is interesting. Thanks for the memories.
I love your videos! I live in Western New York State between Rochester and Buffalo. I'm a truck driver and the yard where I park my truck is right up against the CSX mainline that runs East-West across NY. I believe it is Ex- NY Central track and also Ex- Conrail after the NYC sold out. I remember seeing Conrail locos when I was growing up in the '90s. My grandfather had a beef farm and the small feed store we used to get supplements for the cows from had its own siding! Needless to say I have been a rail fan from an early age.
I love your videos featuring different aspects of the railroading industry. For many years, there was a rail line that directed freight trains through my neighborhood, about one city block from my house. Around the year 2001, a large section of the railroad tracks were removed along with the signals and the custodian shacks at the intersections. I miss the trains, and the memories associated with them. I really miss waving at the guys in the cabooses. I feel as though a large part of my childhood is gone, never to return, and it bothers me as I see my neighborhood dying.
Nice Video Danny! It’s nice how you describe how something works on the railroad such as defect detectors and them being used in real life on the railroad!
Very informative. When I worked in a steel mill we used to call them "pusher cars" They were a skeleton car with just a frame and a cat walk down the middle to get from the engine to the next car so you didn't have to get off the train. They were mainly used with cars with hot slabs or ingots to keep the glowing red steel away from the engine
Good to hear the best narrtor in rail fanning, i really look forward to hear the history & technicalities of the rail system in his area, great job danny.
I think he also narrates videos for FDOT! I heard a familiar voice at a FDOT presentation recently.
That inspection portal is pretty interesting! As far as I know, I've never seen one of those before.
Very cool sign addition in this video! Very thoughtful of the fan!
Hi, I use to maintain the UK versions of the those Railtrack Defect Detectors. That last one is miles ahead of what we got. But all ours are sent to the SIgnalbox or control centre for that area. So the train crews never see anything of what been printed out.
Indeed. And I just shared this video on DEFECT DETECTORS on Roman's news coverage of the recent MASSIVE CHEMICAL SPILL which authorities are blaming on a HOT BOX AXEL fire. This channel should jump on the breaking story with their expertise.
ruclips.net/video/oV3K0JOJowE/видео.html
I travel frequently on Amtrak and always wondered what that meant when I heard it on the walkie-talkies constantly.
Love this video!
It’s very well put together.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is cool! I hear these a lot while railfanning and it was great to learn more!
Wow what a video of absolutely highest quality. The Voiceover, the shots, explanation of the technical details.
This is just something I have a passive interest in but I love that people are so dedicated to it. What a great channel. Makes me want to get back into model railroad again
Model railroading is fun but expensive. Virtual railroading (e.g. train simulation games) can be a good compromise for some, and it's easier on the wallet. There are several such games to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Danny, I would like to offer a small correction to your description of the journal boxes on the trucks. They were packed with "waste" or later with a foam-filled pad that was soaked in journal oil instead of grease. The waste or pads were so fixed that they wiped the bottom of the axle under the journal brass to convey oil to the axle to carry to the brass for lubrication. The journal oil was usually called summer black oil and it was black all right and messy. I usually helped repack the journals of the trucks of the Huckleberry RR passenger cars during the winter. The use of SAE30 oil was also done by some railroads. I can remember seeing a smoking and burning journal on a KCS train heading to the yard from the south of Shreveport on several occasions. When all of the oil was gone is when a hot journal was the most dangerous; the brass and axle got so hot as to lose integrity and break causing a derailment. Before roller-bearings on passenger cars, a substance that emitted a strong odor was added to the oil to help detect hot journals.
Thank You! ☺️
@@Bassotronics aa
The defect detector is an integral component of American railroading. Each day countless accidents are prevented by these safety devices. Great video!
The best railfan channel on RUclips! Thanks Danny!
Nice explanation of one of the safety factors for the railroads.
Some of our government officials need to view this along with the talking heads that claim to be news reporters.
Thanks for the video.
Great video, Danny, as always! I will have to correct you on some info that those little stubs on the inside of the rails aren't impact detectors. They're actually transducers that count the axles, measure speed and calculate train length. Impact detectors usually are found sparsely on a line, and usually have concrete ties and sensors along the rails, along with AEI readers. CSX's actually use a female voice and say "CSX impact detector". Also, fortunately, pre-recorded voices are still a thing on modern DD's. However, a detector like the one at Stokes is a synthesized computer voice, it's all over on my local NS line.
if you're lucky enough, you'll find a famous voice pre-recorded in some of the radio boxes on the union pacific and pan am line.
the voice is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.
reportedly there's only a few left in Maine that bear her voice to this day
edits cause i'm tipsy....
@@gigglesseven The Enterprise computer lives on!!
@@gigglesseven This is a disputed claim. I read something earlier this year that identified the voiceover actress, and it wasn't Barrett. This might be an urban legend.
@@gigglesseven I found the thread on trainorders. A user claimed that the voice widely believed to be Barrett was actually a professional voiceover artist called Katherine Reynolds who apparently worked for NBC.
@@PrenticeBoy1688 oooh, thank you. some info is very buried and easily overlooked
Hi there. I wouldn’t consider myself a rail fan per se, mainly dabble in aircraft but I find anything with an engine fascinating. This came up in my recommended and I learned so much, I can’t stop watching. Your voiceover and production techniques make this about as good s any documentary on TV. You’ve earned my sub!
Many thanks, Alex!
Mr. Harmon is the best. Trains are a fun, fascinating, frustrating, fun, fantastic subject and hobby. Watching a train go by and realizing the power and physics involved for everything on those two tiny rails gives you some respect for everyone who works in the industry. Mr. Harmon's video library is one of the best resources on the internet for new and old railfans alike.
Absolutely love this video! I'm a bnsf carman apprentice learning too fix and inspect freight cars, the detectors make our life easier and better, being able too find a defect on the train that is flagged speeds up down time and makes these trains safer
Well, you're it because I'll never work this into conversation anywhere else. I watch a lot of PBS and the song that accompanies BNSF Railways is my favorite ever. Silly, I know. Ok thanks, I'll see myself out.
"stuffed and mounted" - you have a delightfully deadpan sense of humor in your writing / delivery - LOVE IT!
Some of these are also combined with AEI tag readers to make them one stop shops to gather all of the information about the train. Great video, always enjoy them.
I didn’t realize how interesting trains were until your channel! Thank you!!
That's a nice compliment, Cora. Much appreciated.
Our local Norfolk Southern trains in upstate NY have been using the digital voice detectors for some time now, I like them as we can tell a train is arriving soon by the voice on the detector. There is one about 3 miles uptrack from where we watch trains, it tips us off to an impending train, which is nice. The EOTD is also nice as it has a range of 3 or so miles, from what I was told, and the "chirp" they make is another tip off to an impending train. Thanks for another great video Danny!
I've been a carman for 2 different railroads for 14 years and I never knew how these detectors work. Nice video 👍
I was always curious about defect detectors, and I found this video fascinating! I'd like to see a video on flange greasers and their purpose. I thoroughly enjoy watching your videos on trains and how the railroad actually functions! It's obvious that I find trains to be fascinating to watch, and I love the sound of a set of air horns mounted atop of the locomotives!
Our system played with Flange Lube (spot greasers), but decided that sand mixed with the grease and caused more grief for equipment than it was worth, so they were removed. Perhaps another company has found a way to use the little dollop of grease that is shot out onto the flange, when it is in a tight curve. I don't know, but the co. I worked for, had us to un-install all of them and put the axle generators back in stock for speed use only.
Great video! Never knew those existed! I would say the numbering on the flaps is just for maintenance on the flaps, so they know which one to fix if there is a problem.
Danny!! Love the CSX High/Wide detectors because it usually has all of the detectors present (High and Wide, dragging equipment, hot box) I had someone tell me about how the high wide works. All the roads have in their database the dimensions of every car used. If anything is outside of those dimensions it sets it off.
I greatly appreciate the positive tone of this channel. I have watched off and on for several years, the narrative is always upbeat and enjoyable. A lot of very good information is found here, both by Danny Harmon and commenters. Well done! Nick, North West Farmer
Some additions and corrections: More and more railroads are adopting "talk-on-defect-only" detectors to reduce radio "chatter" on the road channels. In my area, most defect detectors now only "talk" if the detector does, in fact, find a defect. In mountainous areas, there can also be "slide detectors" that will audibly report rock or mudslides on the track over the road radio channel. In such areas there are wire fences--called "slide fences" adjacent to the track in slide-prone areas. If mud or rock break any of the wires on the fence, it trips the detector. Similarly, areas of track prone to flash flooding can have "high water" detectors that will trip if flood waters reach the track. Finally, about the "buffer" cars on hazmat tank trains. Usually, the rear buffer car (and sometimes two buffer cars near the middle of the train) are there for when distributed power units are used on the train. Typically, the buffer cars will remain on a unit train, so that they do not have to be added enroute when DP is needed.
Talk on Defect Only sounds like a bad idea. The detector could be down for weeks or months before it gets inspected. I mean, there is not that much chatter on railroad coms.
It's only a bad idea if you foolishly haven't taken that into account. In the simplest of set ups, every time a train passes, all of the detectors are supposed to be working, if the system fails to receive a signal from one of the detectors, it can radio the train that it needs repaired and let the train radio the report in. They also have the ability to self diagnose even if a train hasn't used it in a while, as a computer only has to monitor the flow of electricity to each detector and if the circuit is broken or the voltage return is outside of what is expected, it knows the detector or the wires connecting the detector to the computer have gone bad and can generate a report that way. In a more advanced set up, if it is connected with a phone line, or to a cellular network, or even through satellite in the most remote of locations, you can also have a "home base" call into the DD computer at regular intervals or an operator in a control center can manually trigger a check like they do with automated switches and if the "home base" or control room operator doesn't get a response from the DD, or an incomplete response, or a bad/failure report, a manual inspection order can be issued to repair the problem.
@@currentfaves65 it all depends on what area you’re in. Some railroads have more radio traffic than others. For example, if there’s a DD near a yard, it can tie up traffic, or other traffic can cover its transmission.
@@Stant123 Doesn't account for the failure of the radio system. A better design would at least ID with "NO DEFECTS".
@@bluegrassman3040 Yep, I live in Cincinnati so radio traffic on the scanner is light. I forgot all about the massive yards in other states !
Outstanding, You are truly a remarkable Railway Enthusiast, Stay well Sir.
Thank you very much!
I saw this video today and hadn’t watched one for awhile. It reminded me of how informative you are. Thanks Danny. Oh, and I like what Nathan did for you with the Harmon Rd street sign.
Love your channel and your passion for trains. Learned a lot with this video, especially with what happened recently with E Palestine , OH and the derailment there...very sad that even happened with such catastrophic results.
Another excellent production, Danny! Defect detectors are one of my favorite aspects of railfanning. I have a whole collection of audio recordings of various defect detectors from the past three years on my phone. That list is continuously growing every day.
Thank you Professor Harmon. I feel like I have taken a class on railroad knowledge every time I watch your videos.
Every new video, there's a new sign on that fence! Good to see you again, Danny. I really enjoy your videos!
One small correction: The journal boxes housed very thick oil, not grease. The oil was soaked into a sponge with some springs inside and a mop-head like material on the outside. This was known as "waste" because it used to be a big was of cloth waste, and could be replaced with such in a pinch. The plain bearing inside the journal box was lubricated by the oil soaked up by the waste and would need to be periodically filled. If the oil ran out, the bearing would heat up and could possibly catch fire if it wasn't caught in time (that's why cabooses had cupolas!) and with old wooden train cars, that was never a good thing. Hence the term "hotbox".
Now a term used by pot smoking teenagers, the reason for the coining of the term is still the same - identified by a plume of smoke emitting from the journal box.
My word - I wouldn't have thought I would have liked this subject, but you are SO GOOD at presenting it. Then, in the middle of the video I learn about the 'old man's voice' and your preference for that communication. Really added depth to the video, and I wonder who that man was.
Thank you Danny for the video. Being a railfan for so long, you have helped me understand the rail system so much more.
Excellent video. Should be required viewing for all the reporters after the recent wreck in Ohio.
That inspection shed there at Race Pond is cool new technology! I bet railfans would love to tap into that photo stock, ha! Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for posting another excellent video, and congrats on the Harmon Rd sign, that surely added to your collection.
On the buffer cars, you mentioned that the plant may hook on to the train with terminal power. In addition to that, sometimes the train may need to perform a runaround once it reaches its terminus. It's a zillion times easier to just uncouple the head engines and snap them on the tail. Also in some more rugged terrain they might connect helper DPU on the bottom. OR they may also attach another train to the bottom, with their lead power becoming mid-train DPU. With the time alotted in your video, you covered the basics and that should be clear enough that there's buffer cars on each end so the train can be handled from either end, regardless of which way it's actually traveling.
Finally I think we talked briefly about visiting Columbus GA sometime. If you're still up for that, please let me know. I won't be in GA much longer but I would gladly make the trip back to guide you!
EDIT: Oh yeah and those numbers on the DD slap plates so they could disassemble and reassemble them. Similar to the way you might mark head bolts on an engine when you disassemble and reassemble them, so that you put the bolts back in the same holes each time.
First video I watched but very professionally narrated almost like a news report. Subscribed
Thanks and welcome aboard!
The next video should be on high-rail vehicles. I'd love to know more about them.
What do you want to know?
@@jovetj The history behind them, like who came up with the idea.
@@ColtonRMagby Well, those are good questions. There is only sporadic information I can find on the internet about it. From what I see, the first automatic or semi-automatic detectors came about in the 1940s.
I am an intermodal driver and I love how this channel teaches so much about RR. Ty for the great videos.
Thank you, Luis!
Great drone camera shots! Very educational - thanks! I'm so old ... I was working as a signalman's apprentice back in the day when we were installing the first examples of train monitoring technology - the hot box detectors! ;-)
Mr. Harmon, I have learned much from your channel and just when I begin to think I might have a good grasp on things, you come out with another amazing video. Thanks for all you do and I look forward to each and every thing you produce.
I've always been a big fan of defect detectors and their voices. They amuse me. Cool video explaining the science behind them, they are so cool.
with the recent derailment in Ohio, I found this video, very informative.
I became a defect detector in the fall of 2018 waiting for a UP train to finish passing. I first heard, then saw the wheel on one freight car missing about 1/3rd of the flange. Since the line was CWR the sound from the broken wheel stood out from the train going down grade. I called the UP emergency number very shortly after the train passed and I could see the number on the box by the crossing. You don’t want a tanker with hazardous chemicals in a derailment.
why th do they use this horrible outdated way of voice reports? Digital data over wireless links are much more reliable and accurate and exist for decades.
@@RandomUser2401 The principle of keep it simple, stupid. They have to listen to the radio anyway. Your idea would require yet another gadget that needs to be installed in every train, it can break, has to have updated software, somebody's going to be distracted poking around in and miss a signal, added cybersecurity concerns, etc. etc. Anyway, in modern defect detectors, non-critical defects aren't announced. Things like images, wheel profiles, bogie geometry, predictive alerts are correlated with the railcar information from AEI, uploaded to servers, and somebody analyzes and views them later and schedules maintenance as necessary.
@@straightpipediesel In Europe these systems are completely integrated into electronic control stations, fully automated and fail-safe. Axle counts are automatically checked against the one reported from the dispatcher and so on. In a defect case, signals will automatically stay red/closed. With this system all it takes is one guy to miss a radio call and you have disaster. Not even mentioning the often horrible audio quality, making it hard to hear what even is going on. You are mistaking simple with proper.
@@RandomUser2401 The "horrible audio quality" doesn't exist because the unit is transmitting literally next to the receiving train. In another example of KISS, radios run simplex, not those overly-complex GSM-R/NRN things you have in Europe. And no, you don't have "disaster". This is not high-speed, or even passenger rail where a derailment sends people to their death in a bridge. This is low-speed cargo rail, where on average, 4 derailments occur in the US per day. The low cost is balanced with the low risk level, again applying KISS.
@@straightpipediesel 4 derailments per day is a very very bad statistic, showing again how little money is invested into proper infrastructure. GSM-R is used for VERY good reason as it can, again, properly secure rail traffic. GSM-R is nothing new but used for decades. And a derailed fright train can cause A LOT of damage to both people and property. Just because there are no people on the train does not mean no people are endangered.
Back in 2018 , we came all the way from Adelaide South Australia to travel on the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago, loved every minute of that trip, and i do recall one of the crew walking thru the car with this recorded message playing on his 2-way, i asked what it was, he said ' checking for defects', i didnt understand what he meant, and now i realize exactly what, and how this works...thanks. You have a voice perfectly suited to doing these documentary type videos...David Attenborough look out ! LOL
Mr Harmon I'd love this video about the defect detector I've been watching your channel for many years now it seems like and you always come up with something new that I didn't know for the longest time thank you so much for doing these videos and I gave this a thumbs up thank you Danny
The defect detector on the MARC Camden Line woke me from my morning nap about 90% of the time when I was riding to College Park for university over 10 years ago. It would play on the conductor’s radio as he would come by and take tickets. I usually had a monthly that I could put up in the seat pocket but I’d open my eyes to nod at him. I can remember the soothing hum of the A/C, the professionalism of the crew, the rare “event” when things broke down, sleeping past my stop, and so many great conversations with fellow rail fans who took the train to work. I never knew what the defect detector was. Now I know. Thank you for helping me learn this tidbit about my young adulthood. This channel always makes me smile.
I worked for the Chessie System in the ‘80s. Standard practice then was to do rolling inspections. Train crews, car inspectors, and clerks were expected to take time and carefully watch the moving train to check its condition. Definitely “old school”, to this day when I am trackside, I find myself checking the train for defects. Old habits never seem to die!
Ha! I'll bet not, John. You guys did a lot more work back then. Thanks for sharing.
there are very,very few,,if any to watch trains anymore,,,,,,, what a shame and what a lack of safety.
“Until we meet again on the high iron”. Love hearing that sign-off. Thanks Danny for all your entertaining and educational videos!
Keep up the good work on these videos and I can’t wait to see more train videos and please keep them coming and 5/5 as always +Distant Signal aka Danny Harmon and your videos never disappoint.
The flappers are likely numbered because they were removed at some point for some type of maintenance, and they wanted to make sure each one was put back where it was when removed. I’ve done stuff like that before when there’s multiple parts on something I’m taking apart.
Great video. It's a coincidence that I discovered your channel and this video the evening the NTSB issued their preliminary report on the Norfolk Southern Ohio derailment and talked about the defect detector catching wheel bearing temps as much as 253 degrees above ambient. Now I know what defect detectors do thanks to your video.
If this fault detector worked as I understand it should, why did the train not immediately stop and the fault addressed?
@@cossa6296 The engineer was stopping to check the DD alarm but the car catastrophically failed and derailed before the train came to a full stop. "...by the time an alarm rang to alert the crew of the danger, the bearing was already so compromised that it failed as the train was still coming to a stop."
@@jimharris8707 Thanks for answering my question.
Great content. As a Tampa resident I always find Danny's content super enlightening. Real asset to the region.
Wondered what it meant when I heard "no defects" every few minutes over an Amtrak employee's radio. Thanks for explaining it so well!
Danny your videos never cease to amaze me with these videos! "The Legendary Cheering Railfan" always enjoys them! Great video as usual!! :)
I wish that the talking heads in the media would stop long enough from their disinformation and watch this. Then perhaps they would have some understanding about how things actually work in the real world. And be far more accurate in their reporting. Accuracy counts. Especially when people blindly believe everything they hear. Thank you for a great informative video about railcar safety inspection.
This was a very interesting video! I work with the FAA VIDS (Video Information Display System), and a portion of this system uses synthesized audio to report weather, airport information, and other items pilots need when departing/arriving into airports. It's mostly automated, and repeats just like this equipment does.
We were recently in Cordele GA and went to the viewing platform! We asked the gentleman who was there what do they mean No defects. He gave a quick description then recommended your video!! Great video as usual!
Hi Danny, another well edited video, carefully crafted script, and as always "professional voice inflection" with just the right stuff!!!! We just returned from our family vacation yesterday (Saturday, Aug 20, 2022) and first time ever with our brand new thirty foot pull-behind style RV travel trailer (Forest River Avenger model). We pulled to Kelley's Island (Lake Erie, Ohio) located among the islands where Commodore Oliver Perry led the American naval victory over the British on Sept 10, 1813 (War of 1812) and Kelley's Island is within sight of the "Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial" that stands 352 feet in honor of those that lost their lives in the Battle of Lake Erie. Reason for the Ohio location description; is that we pulled the trailer through Bellevue, Ohio on the way from Kelley's Island to Grand Lake St Marys (Ohio) State Park to visit the National Musuem of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton before returning to Massachusetts. It was awesome to pass thru Bellevue, Ohio (named in honor of James Bell who built railroads), home to the largest hump yard in the East, (Moorman Yard, Norfolk Southern) and multiple mainlines. We got to see the Moorman Yard's hump in operation! Experienced Bellevue, Ohio's rail industry with a long freight train at the grade crossing for State Route 18. Bellevue, Ohio is a rail town with a connection to your Florida...as Henry Flager left Hopewell, NY at age 14 in 1844 to seek his fortune with his Uncle's grain business in Bellevue, Ohio. As one of my all-time favorite radio broadcaster always said at the end. "...and now you know the rest of the story." Keep up the informative, well scripted & narrated videos! You have the gift of presentation!Kevin Kavanagh from Maynard, Massachusetts.
Mr. Harmon,
Coming from East Hartford,Connecticut Been rail fanning for some 50 years now I am a 81-year-old who has been to the Curve and Selkirk, NY, many times now because the price of gas and being on a fixed income can't do it any longer so thanks to your video,s witch are GREAT now I can still watch Great video,s again THANKS VERY MUCH,Ed
Wow thank you, Danny, for your super pro videos and production quality. As an editor in broadcast TV for many years, I really appreciate your top quality production and informational content. It’s like I’m watching a great PBS series of yesteryear.
That's much appreciated, Ben. Compliments from a broadcast editor are the highest kind of praise for me. I've been in TV news and promotion for 44 years.
Even on a topic I know pretty much the top to bottom on, I still will tune in to hear that smoothly modulated baritone explain it to me anyway. Keep it up on down the line.
The production quality in these videos is top notch. Thanks for taking the time to make these.
Awesome video. It explains very well why you don't see many cabooses on the ends of trains anymore.
Yet another excellent video, Danny! Thank you very much for capturing and producing these videos with such superb quality and professionalism. I really enjoy your narration and your explanations of various railroading concepts. If you are taking questions, may I ask if you could produce a video explaining whistle signals that locomotives use (or used to use)? The most famous being the long, long, short, long for approaching a crossing, but where did these communication methods come from? How did they differ from railroad to railroad, and which ones are used today? Thank you for considering my inquiry!
Whistle signals are spelled out in the rules. GCOR 5.8.2
@@brianurban9654 hey Brian! Yeah I’m familiar with that section of GCOR (UP has it posted on their website which is where I found it) but I was curious if Danny had any insight to how those signals and codes came to be and if he knew of any differences in whistle signals between railroads like ACL and SAR before any standardization took place. The history surrounding that is what I was inquiring about.
Hi, Danny Harmon.
Great video. Thank you. I was talking yesterday with a man who was wondering how the East Palestine train came to derail. I mentioned that I had heard that there are monitoring systems along the way to check the condition of trains passing through but that I did not know how it was done. You have explained that very nicely.
Thank you again.
Just my 0.02.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
This was super interesting, i never knew these things existed, i've seen small 'sheds' like these in the UK too but no idea of their probable purpose until now; always assumed they were part of dispatch such as junction control or signalling, or just part of tracking the trains overall, didn't know about the track sensors and radio feedback though!
There are multiple kinds of detectors. Dragging Equipment and Hot Journal detectors are the most common, but there are others. A UP line near me used to have several different kinds of detectors spread out, many of which I don't even know what they detected. See: 41.48091972658172, -95.88437844404777 Looks like there are two left, plus an AEI scanner. The one at those coordinates looks to have been expanded with fancy cameras similar (if scaled down) to the last one in the video here.
Danny..so informative. Like a weigh station for trains. Very cool. At least the engineer won't get a fix-it ticket like in trucking. Good work.
It would be very informative to review the various detectors and warning systems that were in effect during the East Palestine, OH train derailment. It's my very limited understanding that all systems were working properly but it was an overheated bearing that caused the accident.
The system worked just as it should. It even alerted the Train operator and the Railroad union to the problem. The Train operator was ordered to continue so it wouldn't hold up the railroad for other trains.
This could have been 100% preventable.
also heard that one of the last DD's that train passed by wasn't working...not sure if that's true or not.
@@lmmplus4 No, two detectors before the wreck, that one reported the bearing +40 degrees F above ambient air temp. The recent innovation of the DD "Help Desk" in Atlanta told the crew to keep going. The next detector at Salem, Ohio, 19 miles before the wreck showed it to be 103 degrees above ambient. The "Help Desk" said to go on, it was "trending" warm so they would keep an eye on it (Salem is where the security camera is that showed an axle either sparking or on fire). The DD at East Palestine, Ohio showed that axle to be 253 degrees above ambient and the supervisor in Atlanta told the crew to stop and inspect the train, but it derailed moments after that. Hopefully that wreck is the end of playing games (and the "Help Desk") and taking chances with safety measures, and the beginning of federal regulations regarding DDs, like making them be placed closer together than every 15 to 20 miles, more like 10 to 15 miles apart. Just another part of the Class Is cutting expenses and safety to pay those dividends. Good thing they didn't dump it up the road in Hudson, Ohio, home to many, many rich lawyers who would absolutely have owned NS in the massive litigation to follow, or while it was passing the Amtrak "Capitol Ltd.", which could have easily been the worst wreck in Amtrak's history. "Uphill slow; downhill fast; tonnage first; safety last".
That is correct. The detectors were working as intended
I absolutely love listening to Danny! He just has that perfect voice and mannerism keep going Danny!!!
When a defect is found, does that mean the crew has to walk back a mile to locate the broken hose/ broken knuckle? I've always wondered that with these excessively long trains. Great Video Danny.
Yes. My limited understanding is that the conductor gets to take a little walk. You would think with modern technology sometime of electric bike or small 4 wheeler would be most helpful.
Yeah they have to stop the train and the conductor has to make the walk to find out what happened. I just commented about an airhose that was detected that made a car wider than what is previously to a worker having it attached to the side of the car to the back of it. Also if your cars become disconnected you got figure out where at. You got find out what the problem is usually what happens they will break the train apart and another crew will get it. I just watch so many train videos. The crews get really good warning when emergency issues arrive.
Depends on the type of defect, some will allow you to proceed until you hit another detector or get to a terminal
@@scottivlow9962 they dont have enough crews to do that. Crew will fix the problem
@@randyogburn2498 Any kind of four-wheeled vehicle is going to be too heavy for the crew to lift down from the locomotive. Bikes don't work well on rail lines. The ballast is too rough, especially on the shoulder, and there are too many blockages once you get off the ballast. And, in a double-track setting, you certainly wouldn't want somebody cycling down the other track and getting run down by a train.
By the way, if it is a broken hose or knuckle, defect detectors are irrelevant. As soon as the knuckle breaks and the train splits, the air lines will part and the train will automatically make an emergency stop.
I never knew about this until I heard about it at the catastrophic accident in Ohio but your video here explains it in great detail. Thanks.
Great video once again Danny!👍 I have a quick question though. Regarding the high tech DD in the video, do the cameras/system have the ability to check for unauthorized riders (hobo’s) since I’ve heard the railroads are trying their best to minimize the loses to thieves? Thanks again for the great video!!
Hobos don't steal from trains.
@@beeble2003 They just steal a ride
I somewhat knew what the defect detectors do, I just didn't know all of how they did it. I didn't know about the flapper devices or the camera type. So once again, thanks to you, I learned something new!
I retired from CSX at the end of 2016 - so things may have changed. Trains passing over DD's at less than 10 MPH would frequently get the message "Detector Malfunction, Inspect entire train". A big bummer for the Conductor. Wheel Impact Load Detectors are only installed at a number of strategic locations on the CSX system. WILD's don't radio the train, they send a report to the Headquarters Car Department office in Jacksonville. The WILD's report one of 4 different levels of flat wheels. The first level is 'the wheel is round'. The second level indicates that the wheel does have a flat spot, but no action is required at this time. The third level requires the car to be inspected by the train crew and if found safe for movement, it can be taken to the destination terminal for wheel replacement. The fourth level requires the car to be inspected by the train crew and to be SET OUT on the nearest available track. The HQ Car Dept. notifies both the Train Dispatcher and the Chief Train Dispatcher for the cars that activate at either the 3rd or 4th levels. The Train Dispatcher will notify the train when a WILD activation happens. The Car Dept. will arrange for a local 'shop truck' to go to the set out location of 4th level activations to replace the offending wheel set(s).
I have seen cars activate level 3 and go to destination and hot have the wheel set changed out; go back to origin empty and register as a level 2 and then come back loaded again and activate a level 4. The HQ Car Dept. reports the offending cars by car initial and number; not by axle count.
i miss running trains from Fitzgerald to Moncrief and Fitzgerald to Atlanta. Was some good times. Thanks for all the great info in the video.
NS recent derailment in Palistine, OH, do you think the engineers had enough communication to stop that train before the disaster?? l just heard on this video that defect detector for CSX are located every 20 miles. A major problem can happen between detectors.
Absolutely amazing how the defect detectors "inspect" every wheel. I enjoyed hearing the new synthesized voice vs the older recorded voice. Nicely done! Thank you!
Thank you Danny for the lesson on what defect detectors do and the reasons for their existance. That comprehensive defect detector at the end of the video is very impressive looking. I wonder if it has found any defects on trains that have passed through it? Will CSX be builiding any more of this type of defect detector or will this be a one of a kind model?
Defect detectors can serve as hot box detector, hot wheel bearing detector, high water detector, dragging equipment detector, high/wide load detector, sliding fence detector. I was with Harmon Industries from 1989 to 1995.
I came back to re-watch this after the catastrophic derailment in Ohio. Turns out there was a bad bearing that was overheated, and also a defect detector that might have alerted the crew was also broken.
The importance of routine maintenance even on defect detectors !!!!!!!