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Tracks Ahead.

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Music.

Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead we'll meet the man who's responsible for the operation of famous west coast steam locomotive, the 4449.

We'll visit an American Flyer layout in Pennsylvania and travel a civil war section of railroad still in operation in Tennessee.

First it sounds as unlikely as a car that can fly or a boat that doubles as a motor home, but we found a vehicle that rolls down the highway as well as the rails.

Ancr: Only trucks can deliver freight dock-to-dock and door-to-door, right?

Not exactly, see this, it's a truck isn't it, well not exactly.

It's unique hybrid, called a road railer trailer, it's half trailer, half rail car.

Where's the train you're asking?

Well, we'll show you.

You see the Road Railer is a trailer until it reaches the track, the tractor then drops off the trailer, on go the steel rail wheels and up go the rubber tires.

James: What's done since our trailers move on bogies rather than flat cars, railroad wheels, our drivers back the trailer onto the gauge of the track, they use the air from the tractor and special tractors are used within the confines of the yards to do this.

The tractor airs up the trailer and the air suspension, which is useful in providing a smooth ride over the highway, allows the trailer to actually lift.

The driver then backs the trailer onto rail bogie and releases the air, the trailer settles onto the bogie.

The next trailer is going ahead of that and backs into the bogie, the truck pushes the trailer back and then the link and pin coupling, a tongue essentially on the head of the road railer backs into a pin on the trailer in front of it and it forms a slack-free coupling.

It's done without a lot of drama you see in conventional intermodal business there's no cranes; there's not a lot of big physical movement around and certainly no cars.

But it allows us to have a confined terminal; we drop rates at low cost and puts together a slack-free train.

Ancr: No longer does freight have to be transferred from a train to a truck.

The road railer trailer just slides off the rail hits the road and the goods can be delivered door to door.

James: The road railer technology has allowed us to carry goods that are very competitive within the trucking industry and tend to be things that the railroads have lost their market share of along time ago.

Our primary commodity, although much of it is handled by railroad, our primary commodity is automotive parts.

Ancr: Amtrak makes extensive use of road railer trailers to deliver mail and other time sensitive material.

The road railer trailers are usually hooked on the ends of high-speed passenger trains that roll a heck of lot quicker than freight trains.

Because they're on the end of the trains, the entire road railer trailer can be loaded on and off quickly.

Henry: Amtrak used road railer trailers since 1997 and we currently have a fleet of about 660 trailers and three separate classes and four different types of trailers.

We hold general high priority commodities, among them, but certainly not the complete list, there's mail, periodicals, appliances, LTL shipments, canned food, some building materials and etc.

Amtrak does haul increasing amount of express and the reason we haul it is for a very basic reason, a need to make money and the reason we need to make money is to supplant passenger revenues in the interest of preserving long distance intercity passenger service.

It's probably worthy of note that the last year that intercity, I don't mean Amtrak intercity, I mean general intercity passenger service, was on a break even basis.

In the United States was 1959 and in 1959 46% of the passenger train revenues were attributable to mail d express shipment.

Ancr: The road railer system is a patented technology produced by a company called, Wabash National which is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.

It's the largest US manufacturer of truck trailers.

The concept of marrying the trucking and train businesses really isn't that new.

Piggy backing on train flat cars has been around since the 1950's.

So have versions of the road railer.

In the 1980's road railer trailers had the rail wheels permanently attached but the road railers of today no longer carry their train wheels with them.

Thtrain wheels off, highway rubber on technology has made them much more lightweight, energy efficient and competitive.

Larry: Road railer trailer looks like an ordinary over the road trailer but the resemblance is a skin deep resemblance because the road railer trailer has got to do some things that a ordinary over the road trailer would not be structural capable of handling.

The best way to think about is, if I've got a 125-unit road railer train traveling up a mountain that's probably as much 4,800 trailing tons, tons of road rail and lading, going up a 2% grade on the Rockies, I have 124 trailers hanging on the back of that front trailer.

That front trailer has got to be extremely strong and if we tried to do that with an ordinary trailer it would rip in half.

What we're doing with the road railer trailer much like an airplane, we're making every piece of that trailer work for us in a variety of ways as a system to give us the strength that we require.

The trailer assembly starts off with our front and rear under frame, we build the sides up, the sides are composed, in most cases, a composite material called duraplate which is a material that Wabash uses to build our van trailers, it's a sandwich of steel skins and plastic core.

We rivet the sides of the trailer together from the panels to 48 inches wide by roughly 112 tall, which is the height of the box of the trailer.

We then flip the sides up and fasten them to the floor structure of the trailer, the floor structure consisting of cross members, you might think of them as beams, across the bottom of the trailer, they're made of steel.

Then we have the aluminum floor laid on top of that and they're fastened together and then flip the sides up.

We put on the nose and the doors of the trailer and then lay a thin aluminum roof across the top over roof bows, which again, are like equivalent of rafters that actually hold the roof of the trailer.

We have about 8,000 road railer trailers in we use today and we're running on just about every one of the major railroads.

Norfolk Southern, through Triple Crown Services, the largest user of road railer, but we also have road railers that are being operated by Amtrak behind their passenger trains carrying high-speed mail and express.

We have road railers running for Swift Transportation, which is one of the major truckload of motorcarriers.

It's very interesting; they're buying their own train.

Between Los Angles and Portland, an exclusive Swift train runs twice a week composed of road railers.

We have the Burlington Northern Santa Fe running their ice cold express service which utilizes the refrigerator road railers and they have just recently extended their run over CSX transportation to New York and the first train that ran on that service here a couple of weeks ago, ran from Los Angles to New York in 86 hours.

What that translated into was that the trailers that were loaded with fresh produce in California on Wednesday that produce was on the store shelves in New York the following Monday.

That is a very high quality service, probably one of the fastest trans continental freight trains in the country.

Ancr: The road railer system, a unique combination of truck and train.

An efficient use of two separate types of transportation, 21st century freight shipping.

Amtrak uses hundreds of road railer trailers from coast to coast.

Right now we're going to head out to Philadelphia to show you an impressive American flyer layout.

It's impressive for a number reasons, it's large, it's realistic and you'll get a charge out of how these trains were converted so that they have more power now than the day they were new.

Ancr: What you see here is the combination of a fantasy, a realization of a dream.

A dream that was born back in the 1940's when a young boy named Richard Robinson use to stare with wonder at the giant model train layouts in the big downtown Philadelphia department stores.

Maybe one day he would have one.

Maybe one day people would stare with wonder at his layout.

That day, is today.

Richard: I've always liked American Flyer because it was much more realistic than the competitive Lionel train.

It was scaled to prototype dimensions, operated very smoothly and operated on a two-rail track which was certainly much more realistic and combined the smoke and choo-choo that Gilbert heavily advertised in the era.

I started in 1948 when I was given my first train when I was 10 years old for a Christmas present and I've collected trains ever since.

All the money I could save when I was a kid I went to buy trains from collecting soda bottles off the beach and save that money until Christmastime and buy trains.

When I got out of the service in 1962, I was able to realize a lot of childhood fantasies because these trains were readily available for a minimal cost.

It was relatively easy to accumulate a very nice collection very quickly.

Ancr: Now Robinson has an American Flyer layout with over 1,000 feet of S gauge track.

Construction began a quarter of a century ago and improvements are made continuously.

The layout is 12 feet wide and more than 50 feet long.

More than 40 switches keep things running smoothly.

This layout is somewhat like a smorgasbord of modeling.

Included is a loop of more than 125 feet of three rail Lionel O gauge track.

Richard: It started out as an S gauge layout but I realized that I always liked O scale and it was impractical to try to combine the two into one layout.

You can't really operate two different scales in an integral layout.

By combining the O scale loop on the outside edge of the trains, in affect they don't interfere, I don't run them at the same time but I can enjoy running O gauge trains as well.

I've always liked Flyer S gauge but in recent years, particularly the last 15 years, they produced a product available in O scale both two rails and three rails, it's been phenomenal.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to buy, operate and run these wonderful O scale models that are available today.

Ancr: The trains are American Flyer, the track is not, it's bendable Gargraves track which allows the modeler to a great deal of flexibility.

Richard: Started with Gargraves and stayed with it, at that time in the 1970's when I started this layout, it was really the only track available.

It's flexible; it allows you to design any radiuses that you want.

This is stainless Gargraves track so it's relatively impervious to moisture, has not had any corrosion problems or plating problems that some of the other track can do.

It's flexible like other competing brands of flexible track but it's just a matter of taking it and you can scribe lines on your layout to the curves that you wanted, it's just a matter of taking your hands and bending it.

Ancr: Did you notice how smoothly everything is running here?

Part of the reason is simply good execution and good design.

But part of the reason is because Robinson converted these American Flyers from AC power to filtered DC power.

It's not only smoother, it's quieter and it allows the train to operate with more power while generating less heat.

It's actually something American Flyer itself experimented with a long time ago but the power supplies back then simply couldn't supply the get-up and go.

In the 1960's the technology became possible to do what Robinson wanted to do.

It allows him to use toy trains on a scale layout.

And it's something almost any modeler can do with a little time, a little know how and a few bucks worth of material from the corner electronic store.

Richard: To convert any Flyer Gilbert engine to run on DC power is really quite simple.

This is a Hudson Tender from the 1950 era.

By removing Tender shell and exposing the sequence reverse unit inside, we can leave that in place and just re-route the wires around or take it out if you like but you want to leave in it place for originality sake.

This is a silicon diode rectifier available at Radio Shack for a few dollars.

By placing that directly behind the sequence reversing unit it's only a matter of unsoldering the power lead wires from these and connecting them up.

You can leave in place the original wire on the sequence reverse unit if you put pig-tailed wires on this and solder them on.

You could leave in place all the original wiring, it's just a matter of jumper the lead over to the original one, once it's power lead is disconnected, it's inactive anyway, it serves as a junction block for the wiring.

That's all there is to it, you could put it back on, takes five minutes to make the conversion.

Ancr: With the different types trains and tracks, the 100's of cast iron figures and the realistic scenery, what you also see is potential.

The potential of what you can do with classic American Flyers and a little creativity.

Richard Robinson says the older he gets the more appreciative he is of one of the most wonderful aspects of the hobby; being able to share the joy of model trains with your grandchildren.

On this program, you often hear us talk about the beauty of steam.

Well today we're going to talk with the man who's in charge of one that's often describe as the most beautiful of all scene locomotives.

The sound of a steam train running through the south is part of American history that history is live and well and living outside of Chattanooga.

Ancr: The sound and the site of steam in the south goes a long way back in history, something the folks here at the Tennessee Valley Railroad want you to think about and feel when you come here.

Steve: We tried to make everything as authentic as possible.

The crewmembers dress appropriately and hopefully responding to the passenger the way passengers could have expected to be around the turn of the century, for instance.

We have rolling stock from what we call the Golden Age of railroading from 1910 to 1950 or so.

We do have a mixture of coaches on our train usually the early types, heavy weight, adjustable window style built in the 1915 -1925 period.

Then also the new, we call them, modern coaches built in 1940's - 1950's and those would be the lighter weight coaches with air conditioning and etc.

Ancr: If you think about it, the sound of the whistle and steam blasting into the sky is a kind of air conditioning; it gives this place the air of being walked in another time, one where gazing out at the south through train windows was something new, not nostalgia.

Steve: We are trying to preserve a little piece of history and running the trains from that period of course is part of that.

This is what people would have experienced when they rode the train back in the days when you didn't have automobile travel.

People didn't have a car in their parked in their garage or out in their driveway, they just didn't run out and jump in the car and take off.

They were accustomed to a scheduled environment; of course they would probably ride their horse or horse and carriage to the depot and then catch the train to another city, shopping, visiting or whatever purpose.

That was the life style and that's what we're trying to portray.

Ancr: It's a pretty ride through lovely country and while right here the train isn't really going anywhere, the turntable is a favorite destination in itself.

As always, the stars of the show are the steam engine, just like people, each has it's own story.

Steve: Locomotive number 16 is kind of unique.

It's the last locomotive built by a major builder for domestic use in United States built by the Baldwin Lima Hamilton Corporation after the merger, built in 1952, actually two years after the plant closed down.

They built for the US army Corp transportation; they use it for training purposes at their facility in Fort Eustis, Virginia.

It was brought here to the Tennessee Valley Railroad in 1990, restored back to operation and we've been running it now for about 10 years.

It's an excellent performer.

With proper maintenance of course.

Ancr: Proper maintenance is something they're proud of here whether it's restoring an old local or keeping up gems like this old tunnel that was hand dug before the Civil War.

Attention to detail and authenticity of experience keep visitors climbing aboard year after year.

Music Ancr: The Southern Pacific 4449 certainly is certainly one of the most famous steam locomotives ever constructed; it's earned every bit of that fame.

It combines an unparalleled combination of steam power, beauty and nostalgia.

It was built by the Lima Ohio Locomotive Works in 1940's to pull the Southern Pacific popular Daylight Passenger Trains along the west coast.

It was newest and most beautiful train the west had ever seen and it was larger than life.

An engine and tender nearly 100 feet long loaded with fuel and water the locomotive alone weighed in more than 840,000 pounds.

The 4449 was in service for 15 years until the growing popularity of diesel forced her into retirement in the mid 1950's.

Given to the city of Portland she sat until the 1970's when train lovers had the brilliant idea of making this locomotive the one to pull America's Bi-Centennial Freedom Train across the country.

The man selected to get the retired train back into working order for the bi-centennial run back in 1976 was Doyle McCormack.

A man whose made railroading both his vocation and his avocation.

He supervised the restoration and rebuild, and then rode with the Freedom Train every inch of the way.

Doyle: That train was a 26-car train that toured the whole continental United States during the 1975-1976 bi-centennial celebration; that took pieces of American history to the American people.

During its tour, I can't exactly remember the number, there were like three or four million people that went through the train and there were 15 or 20 million people that saw the train.

There were places in Chicago in particular, to talk about it today people wouldn't believe, but there were so many people down that trackside to see that train go by that it was a ship parting the ocean.

The slower we went, the longer they stood on the track and you're just piloting this thing through an ocean of people.

There were thousands upon thousands of people, you wouldn't believe it today, but the reaction was that there's a lot patriotism in America and they all came down to see the Freedom Train.

Ancr: Afterwards, she was returned to Portland and restored to her original red, orange and black paint scheme.

Today, she carries the black and silver colors of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Doyle McCormack is in the cab during the occasional excursion.

At most other times a nostalgic McCormack pursues his other love.

Doyle: What you're looking at here is the remains probably one of the classiest diesel locomotives ever built.

This is an Alco PA; I can say the remains thereof.

My intention is to make it look as good as the day it came out of the factory eventually.

Put my heart and soul into it and most of my bank account too.

The PA's hold a special place in my heart, if you want to call it that.

My dad worked with in the Nickel Plate got me hooked on trains at an early age.

In 1955 he made a trip to New York City and took me with him, we went down to the depot to get on the train and he took me up and we road the engine on Nickel Plate number eight, to Conway out in Buffalo, which is 116 miles.

The engine on that train was Nickel Plate PA number 190, that was the first diesel locomotive I ever rode.

From that point on that became a special engine in my passion and I've always wanted to own, even as a teenager with these wild fantasies, I wanted to own a PA.

It's been a quest I've been on since I was 14 years old; it only took me 40 years to do it.

If you look at the lines of these and the architecture and design they just say speed, the curves, you don't see curves in industrial equipment today, everything is box, square corners, these have the nice lines and curves, they're sleek, they got the long wheel base trucks under them.

They just look like something that wants to get out and run at a 100 mph.

They got a face on them that only a mother could love, I guess.

To a lot of rail fans these are the epitome of the diesel locomotive.

I can remember as a boy, my first ride was in a cab just like this, first diesel locomotive I ever rode, sat in the middle seat there.

The engineer, I was only about 12 years old, he brought me over and sat me in his lap and let me blow the horn too, that's pretty exciting for a 12 year old.

Then over the years I rode on the PA's on the Nickel Plate dozens of times, I rode back and forth in the Navy Great Lakes, my dad would take me on trips.

Just formed a real connection with these engines.

I just stand here and I remember those days.

I could see them coming back.

I'll be 60 some years old when I'll do it again but it'll be worth the trip.

Ancr: There are those of us who love the history of trains.

It's people like Doyle McCormack we can thank for keeping that history alive.

Now year-to-year the 4449 has a very irregular running schedule, so it's best to call out to Portland if you're planning a trip to see it.

Thanks for being with us and please join us next time for more Tracks Ahead.

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