Clear track ahead!

[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] Where are we now, Huh? >> Well, we're making good time, son. But we're not even to Pennsylvania yet. >> Is that near California? >> Nor is near California, son. >> We've been traveling a long time. >> Yep. It'll be 6 months before we get way out there. Maybe longer. >> It says here, "These new railroads will get you off there pretty quick when they get them built." Oh, them railroads. >> Those rail roads. >> That's what I said. Dark corn rail roads. What are they? [Music] >> Here comes another space for us, huh? [Music] Ah, that's what I call traveling. There's nothing better than a good team of horses. [Music] >> Easy, boys. It's easy. Now look for dark [Music] ho [Music] >> boy. Oh boy. >> Oh yeah, teddy boy is easy. >> I'd like to ride a railroad. >> What more? You got to go just where those two little rails go. Suppose you want to go somewhere else. >> I wouldn't care as long as it was a railroad. >> It says here they're building a new railroad in Pennsylvania and the first part is going to open in September, 61 miles long. Redum it says here son that it is going to connect at Harrisburg the capital with a stateowned line from Philadelphia and then people can ride a railroad train all the way to Louis town. >> So the expanding age of transportation began. America built railroads and the railroads helped to build America. Soon the 61 mi of track from Harrisburg to Lewistown extended west to Pittsburgh and east to the great seapport of Philadelphia. Commerce, agriculture, industry, people, all these followed the course of the railroad and the towns along the route began to enjoy a new prosperity out west by way of Pittsburgh. I never would have believed it. I'm sure it's moving fast. Why, I remember when the railroad got its start back in 1846. Took it quite a while to get to Lewistown. Yep. Then to Pittsburgh and now with connections all the way out west. Yes, sir. We sure are moving fast these days. Just a fact, gentlemen. Just a fast. Nothing will ever take the place of the hawks. But America was on the march, and her railroads meant her progress. They set the pattern for a great and vigorous nation. By 1871, the little line that so proudly expanded west to Pittsburgh had already become a great and growing network, the connecting railroad link between the east and west coasts of a vast continent. Along with this progress, commerce increased throughout the nation. The folks out west now had access to the products of the east. Mrs. Pioneer was no longer isolated from the cities. She could dress in the same height of fashion as her sisters in the east. >> Oh, Ella, look. Aren't these lovely dresses? >> Yes, that's a new issue of God's ladies book. Just got in by railroad from Philadelphia. I received some new materials, too. Let me show you. I just can't wait to make one of these dresses. >> In step with the march of progress, railroad operating methods improved. The old highball signal gave way in time to the semaphore and to automatic position light signals. The old iron rail was replaced by the modern steel rail with a deep safe roaded. Wooden cars gave way to all steel construction. And to the original crudely operated brake was added a new invention, the air bra, which has contributed so much to make your railroad the safest form of transportation. By 1880, many thousand miles of track had been laid. The progress of America and the progress of its railroads became one and the same thing. Electricity was harnessed to the railroad. Tunnels were dug under the Hudson River so trains could go directly to the heart of New York City and Pennsylvania Station became a reality, serving in the last 10 years alone more than 757 million passengers. The all rail link with New England and the South and West was established. Industrial America sprang up along the railroads. factories and jobs, steel plants and more jobs and foundaries, our agriculture, our mines, our great mills and oil wells. The whole national economy tied together by senus of steel. The original 61 mi of track from Harrisburg to Lewistown became a system whose network of tracks totals more than 26,000 miles. From one passenger train each day to more than 2,500 trains every day. From one freight train twice a week to more than 5,000 freight trains every 24 hours. And transporting freight is the biggest job of all. From farm and factory and mine, carrying food and finished products and coal by the train load. Coal to furnish power for industry, heat and light for our buildings and homes. From one corner of America to the other, freight trains roll along, tying the nation together, keeping its business on the move. With railroads working as a team, making America a vast network of rails, a giant system for better and faster service. [Music] But moving cars over the rails is only one part of railroading. Let's look behind the scenes of a great freight yard and see how cars are assembled into trains for fast through runs to their destinations. This is known as the hump operation. It speeds the handling of freight and helps make possible today's fast freight limited which move on schedule just like passenger trains. As cars are received, they're pushed up an incline. On the way, they pass over an inspection pit. This is a regular check for safety. As the cars reach the top of the incline, called the hump, they are uncoupled, sometimes singly, sometimes in groups. From here they roll to their proper tracks by gravity, three to four every minute. Masterminding this operation are the men in the control towers. The tower operator works from a teletype list showing the numbers of freight cars and the order in which they will move over the hump. The tower operator by manipulating small levers sets the switches to route each car to its proper track. Another set of levers controls retarders which reduce the speed of the car. In this great freightard, more than 40 tracks are available for quickly assembling all types of cars into freight trains which operate on fast regular schedule for many destinations. Serving industry, serving business, serving you. Refrigerator cars for perishables, flat cars. This one with tractors, coal cars, tank cars, cars with lumber, steel, livestock, merchandise of all kinds. Yes, virtually everything you use in your daily life travels first as freight. Container cars with individual units for less than car load lots. So constructed that each container may be shifted from car to car according to its destination. Here's a freight train pulling out. Let's go with it as it starts its journey. For this is the way America moves its goods more economically than by any other means of transportation. In the caboose, members of the crew serve as lookouts, watchful of their train. On the shelter on the engine tender, a breakman watches from the head end in the cabs of both freight and passenger locomotives. An added safety precaution. Signal panels give the engineer and the fireman constant information about track conditions ahead. Those illuminated dots on the panels reproduce the wayside signals regardless of outside visibility. If a signal changes to a less favorable indication, a warning whistle sounds, which the engineer must acknowledge by turning off the sounding device. New technical developments like radar, for instance, are constantly explored for their possible application to railroad safety and efficiency. The search never ends. Already, for added safety, there is now in operation the train telephone in use on both freight and passenger trains. It is typical of the fruits of neverending research. >> Engine extra 6841 west calling Mifflin signal tower. Engine extra 6841 west calling Mifflin signal tower over. Mifflin signal tower answering engine extra 6841 west over. Making use of electric currents in the tracks and along telephone lines paralleling the tracks. Two-way telephone communication is established between engine and signal towers along the route from one train to another [Music] >> and between locomotive engineer and crew members riding the caboose. >> Yes, I understand. I'll call you again when we pass Huntington. And so a nation's freight keeps rolling, keeping a nation's business on the move, providing also a link to foreign countries the world over. Some of these cars loaded with coal will arrive at seapports for ships that sail the seven seas. Others will go to inland ports for vessels that sail the Great Lakes. Coal cars by the thousands, unloaded at the rate of one every minute. [Music] An ingenious device known as a pig pushes each car up the incline. The car is then raised to the dumper and quickly unloaded. Other cars are destined for the car floats. At New York, for instance, much of the food and merchandise for the city is handled in that way. Cars loaded with wheat and other grains will find their way to the grain elevator for storage until the ship is ready to carry on the journey. Other cars carry ore and minerals. When iron ore arrives by ship, these giant unloaders pick up 17 tons in a bite and unload a vessel in a matter of hours. This is the vital material which feeds our great steel mills. Vital because steel is the basis of American industry. [Music] Still, one other phase of this vast business of moving goods from one place to another is door-to-door delivery, which provides the last link in the chain of nationwide transportation service. But a railroad is not alone a thing of steel and cars and rails. There is something else. Something that gives it warmth and life and vitality. Something that makes it click. Railroad men and women. Yes, railroading is people constantly trained for their jobs to give friendly, efficient railroad service. Take Jim for instance, an engineer on a cracked blue ribbon train. Jim's father was a railroad man. And Jim's boy wants to be a railroad man, too. After his day with his family, Jim has a job to do. Let's go with him and see some of the thousand and1 things that make a great railroad. Here is his locomotive, one of the biggest of a fleet of nearly 5,000 engines. It is brought out of the roundhouse ready for its run. Its tender is filled with water and coal. And now it will be coupled to the train. [Music] The air and steam lines are connected and the air brakes tested. Meanwhile, you have bought your ticket. Perhaps you've made a reservation. The reservation bureau has it ready for you. [Music] You may prefer the savings and economy of the air conditioned reclining seat coach. Or perhaps you prefer the air conditioned parlor car or a roomette, a bedroom or master bedroom for an overnight journey. [Music] >> All aboard. Jim slowly opens the throttle and you are on your way. Meanwhile, from the signal tower that controls the maze of tracks and switches at every large terminal, Jim's route out of the station is lined up. The model board displays every track, switch, and signal light leading into and out of the area controlled by the tower. The movement of every train within the area is indicated by changing lights on the board. Here we can follow the course of Jim's train as it moves out of the station. [Music] Signal towers along the route control the movement of every train. Meanwhile, meals are served in the dining car by men and women who, like all railroad employees, are constantly schooled in courtesy and efficiency, and passengers relax in comfort as the teamwork of a great organization makes their journey safe and sure through scenes of natural beauty. Today's trains, fine as they are, are about to be surpassed in beauty, comfort, and conveniences. New cars and new trains, more individual rooms for the privacy of yourself and your family. Beautiful coaches, finer lounge cars. All these are now being built to make tomorrow's railroad travel not only the safest but the most luxurious the world has ever known. Progress, new services, improvements, and safety are the tools of the railroad team. Jim is part of that team, and the most modern automatic electric signaling system in the world guides him safely on. Jim knows the organization behind his job, which includes an army of maintenance men who keep the roadway in shape. Track walkers are constantly making their rounds of inspection. Then there is the train dispatchers office, which directs the movement of all trains and keeps a record of their progress. Jim knows, too, that every signal tower along the way will be notified of his progress, and that each tower will report his time of passing to the train dispatcher. He knows that every point in the system may be kept in touch with at all times. Messages of every kind are constantly sent and received by teletype. Telephone exchanges permit instant communication to all points of the system. This exchange just one of many is big enough for a city of 15,000. Electricity too plays an important part in railroading. in areas of great traffic density, electrification speeds operations. This is the power director's room where electrified trackage and the necessary lines are shown on a giant chart. Hot lines are indicated by lights. In another room, the load dispatcher makes sure that the supply lines from the powerhouses to the railroad are functioning properly. A battery of instruments records the load on every line. This tremendous power is at the fingertips of the engineer of the electric locomotive. Still another important part of railroading is the building and maintenance of equipment. You do things big when you build for the railroads. Giant castings made in one piece become the frames for modern locomotives. Driving wheels in an endless procession, accurately balanced, tested, and double-cheed. Skilled craftsmen hammer and rivet to create these towering boilers. Other men build and repair all types of freight and passenger cars. New construction and maintenance on a broad basis. Welding flu for boilers, melting iron for castings, preparing molds, checking, grinding, heating, quenching. These are just a few of the many big jobs which go on behind the scenes with automatic lathes and precision machines helping to keep up the pace. A small forging is needed. A bigger piece for a bracket on a freight car. A mighty chunk the driving rod for a locomotive. And all this activity follows a wellthoughtout pattern to keep countless projects going and progressing all the time in order to turn out the stuff that keeps the railroads rolling. When finally a newly designed locomotive has received its last coat of paint, it is ready for a run in the locomotive test plant, the only one of its kind in America, where every engine becomes a colossal guinea pig, and where it is put through tests which simulate every condition encountered on the road, ready for a test run under its own power, slowly at first, while the experts watch every move. Then gradually the throttle is open. [Music] Instruments chart and record vital data for the mechanical engineers so that the engine's performance will be perfect before it goes into service on the road. But let's go back to Jim. He has completed his run which has taken him away from home overnight. He will rest now before his return journey in a railroad man's dormatory built and operated by the railroad. Here he may wash up, meet with his fellow railroad men, play a game of cards, and get a comfortable rest. Meanwhile, the engines are thoroughly inspected, washed, and cleaned, and made ready for their next runs. Many different types of locomotives come in for their regular checkup. These are electric engines powered by 11,000 volts through overhead wires. Here is one of the new diesels. Modern railroads use all types of power. This giant is one of a great fleet of newly developed multiple cylinder steam locomotives which are now ready to haul tomorrow's brand new trains. Here is the power for the new era of rail transportation. power which already has been joined by a newly developed steam turbine locomotive which operates without driving rods or cylinders. Truly, transportation has come a long way since the days of the covered wagon and the stage coach and the little old choo choo of a 100 years ago. Progress like this is a result of ever searching for new things, ever searching to improve in order to perform more efficiently. For research is a vital part of railroading to make tomorrow's transportation better than today's. Here, rail is tested under a pressure of a million pounds per square in. Finding out about springs for a smoother ride. Studying and testing metals, materials, and parts for better quality, for greater safety, for smoother, faster performance. Testing the qualities of coal. To perform properly in a locomotive, coal should swell up. The rubber glove test, where gloves are immersed in water and subjected to 50,000 volts. The tiniest flaw can be fatal to alignment handling high tension wires. See that spark leaking through? rejected. Checking metals for defects. Electric currents and iron filings locate a flaw invisible to the naked eye. The headlight reflector test. Photoelect electric cells measure its intensity on a white target to make sure that on a night run, the locomotive engineer will have a clear view of the track ahead. Yes, we do have a clear view of the track ahead. The track that leads us to the years ahead. For America has developed this transportation system that ties together our industry, our trade, our agriculture, our nation. Far beyond its own territory. Its cars and trains travel over many connecting lines for uninterrupted journeys between the east and the north and south and west between Washington, New York, New England, and Montreal. The north and the south by many connecting lines straight through without change. The east and the southwest through the St. Louis gateway to the great cities of Texas and over the border to Mexico City, the east and the far west through the Chicago gateway. A choice of routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific without change of cars. Here is a transportation system permitting through passenger service without change. A service which had its beginning in 1852 and which has been steadily expanding ever since to serve us now and in the future. For this is the age of tremendous transportation needs and mass transportation is therefore the keystone on which the progress of America depends. In the vanguard of that progress are the railroads moving America's goods, its people economically, swiftly, and above all safely, ever at the nation's service.