Not sure if this thread is a good idea, or whether it will just fade away. But I thought perhaps it might be a centralized place for us to share with each other various videos showing how & why certain things are done around railroads. I would prefer to see the videos restricted to non-train watching, as those types are easily found on youTube.
How about the old railroad safety films on youtube? The kind that would make current safety managers have cardiac arrest to see how things used to be done.
Somewhat off topic, my parents bought me a set of “The Young People’s Science Encyclopedia” back in the early 1960’s. The suggested experiments included using carbon tetrachloride as a fire extinguisher and a mercury barometer. So I can understand how what used to be standard railroad practice would clear out the GI tract of modern day safety managers.
I don’t even remember where to start looking, but I recall a portion of an informational railroad film that included the process of changing locomotives at a passenger terminal.
A worker was in between the tender and the first car before the train even stopped, closing anglecocks and getting ready to make the break.
Documentary regarding the end of steam. From the National Film Board of Canada, 1959, including some interviews with railroaders, some with the public, some steam footage, some early diesel footage.