1950s stock footage - the freight train

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] e there goes the fast freight train from Kansas City to Chicago one mile of freight cars passing day after day by this gate right on time let's go back a few hours to the freight yard at Kansas City it's 8:00 in the morning the conductor and the rear Breakman have orders to report for Duty on the Chicago Freight number 40 the conductor is the captain of the Train the yard Master brings him a list that's all there is of our train at 8:00 a.m. just a list filled with numbers numbers telling which cars are scheduled to leave for Chicago at 9:30 this morning each freight car has a number on its side with the name of the company which owns it and each whole train has a number instead of a name like our fast Freight number 40 other trains have brought cars to this yard from all over the western United States and Canada now they are still strung together and the ones that are to go to Chicago on number 40 must first be [Music] unscrambled this man has the job of separating cars for all trains to do this he orders the cars to be pushed up this hill called a hump when they are over the hump the cars roll downhill all by themselves on the hump a man separates one car from another by pulling out the pin which holds them [Applause] together on their way over the hump all cars pass above an inspection pit strong lights show the bottom of cars if the inspector finds anything wrong he squirts white paint on a wheel as a sign that the car must go to the repair shop two tank cars for number 40 and two cars go down the tracks together the switch and brakman watches from another Tower he can see 56 tracks branching out like fingers of many hands each track for one train one on track is for break train number 40 going to Chicago with a flick of his wrist the man moves a switch and the heavy Gondola swings to the Chicago [Music] track now he pushes a button a car filled with plate glass rolls down from the hump the huge claws grip the wheels and slow them down the car stops for a moment and then coasts along at just the right speed Another Touch on the button another car is slowed down and switched to the Chicago [Music] track a fruit Express Car follows the others on its way to Chicago [Music] next comes a load of steel pipe for train number 40 and a piece of Machinery from Texas traveling back to Chicago for repairs men in other Towers move other cars to other tracks all cars move at just the right speed speed so that they will touch the next car without damage to its load a brakman couples together the cars for our [Music] train there they are a long line of freight cars strung together according to the numbers on the conductor's list but this is not yet all of number 40 here are some more cars for our train in in the icing dock a machine fills the refrigerator cars with crushed ice so that the fruit and vegetables from the Rio Grandy Valley and from California will stay fresh for the markets in the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] East it's past 9:00 a switch engine is ordered to pull number 40 to the station for departure there it goes to the departure track in another part of the yard the front Brakeman the engineer and the fireman check the time and board the road engine the conductor receives his last orders the front Brakeman Pilots the diesel engine to the departure track at the freight station from the bridge the conductor can see the engine hooking up to our train and there Comes The Caboose where the conductor and rear brakemen ride finally number 40 is complete between 8:00 and 9:30 a mile of freight cars were all sorted out and put together every wheel and every brake is checked before the train leaves inspections over this man inspected the front part of the train fast Freight number 40 for Chicago is all ready for the trip the engineer takes [Music] over slowly he starts the long line of cars rolling [Music] the front brakman sits at the window of the engine cab and looks to the rear that's how he checks the train during the trip the conductor jumps on the train last he signals I'm on and the engineer knows that it's safe to increase speed the sign reads 15 Mi and 15 Mi reads his pedometer green light means go and the engineer shifts to higher speed meanwhile the conductor settles down in his office in the Caboose to check his travel documents and read his orders freight train number 40 is carefully winding its way through the many tracks that lead out of the freight station up on a special seat in the Caboose the rear Breakman keeps watch by radio telephone he can tell the engineer when the rear end of the train has passed a curve or a Trestle then the train can pick up speed again the engineer keeps his eye on the road all the time and his ears alert for any War War like now signal crackers repair men put them on the tracks to tell the engineer to slow down you see why while number 40 speeds Eastward another freight train is on its way west from Chicago mile after Mile Station after station passed by swiftly as our train travels at a maximum speed of 60 [Music] [Applause] M again the engineer slows down to 20 M hour it's not safe to hurry across a bridge but as the last car leaves the bridge the engineer speeds up [Applause] [Music] [Applause] again soon the freight train arrives at its first [Music] stop the engineer switches over to a Sidetrack and a passenger train pulls into the [Music] station the conductor steps out to watch for the go-ahead signal 1 minute later the passenger train pulls out of the station here's the signal now the Chicago Freight can follow the fast passenger train on the same track the engineer calls the brakman who's a mile away at the other end of the train let me know when we pass the crossing he asks fast Freight number 40 is picking up speed again a mile of freight cars over a hundred of them passing this gate day after day at the same time carrying Freight from many parts of the country to the big markets of Chicago and the industrial East