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New Directions in Modern Railroading (1966)

1966 · Short film · 28 min

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Synopsis

This 1966 color film highlights the return of the high use of railroads to transport goods due to new train car developments. It was backed by the Association of American Railroads was produced and directed by Robert Yarnall Richie Productions Inc. and narrated by broadcaster Chet Huntley. The video begins with footage of various angles of Hoover Dam (0:06-0:32). The poster to the grand opening of the Union Pacific Platte Valley Route is shown, and the camera pans around Joseph Pickett’s 1914-1918 Manchester Valley folk painting (0:33-1:25). A train passes through tunnels and the Utah ghost town and former railroad hub Wahsatch; the tracks and cargo containers are shown up-close (1:26-4:16). Construction equipment and workers improve tracks, and dynamite is used to clear an area (4:17-5:43). Engineers, managers, and typists receive and analyze real-time data from automated checkpoints along the track (5:53-7:00). A scanner is demonstrated identifying train cars with color-coded barcodes (7:01-8:00). Specialized freight cars and loading, including a Monsanto tanker car, are shown up-close (8:01-8:40). Lumber is forklifted into side-loading cars, workers fill a specialized car full of liquid hydrogen, materials are pumped into specialized cars, and a turbo-generator is loaded onto a specialized flat car (8:41-10:46). The business deal for the automobile rack-car train is reenacted, with the railroad Vice President speaking to a Detroit auto-manufacturer representative,…

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Details

Running time
28 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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