Space Shuttle Era: NASA Railroad Keeps Boosters on Track
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The NASA Railroad at Kennedy Space Center keeps the space shuttles moving. If a recognizable person appears in this video, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this video is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
November 20th, 2011 - 15:54
Wow! Awesome!!!
November 20th, 2011 - 16:20
I got one of those SW1500s in HO scale. Best unit in my collection.
November 20th, 2011 - 17:01
Rocket train.
November 20th, 2011 - 17:33
HA!!!! Eat that Trucking Industry!!!!!!
November 20th, 2011 - 17:54
as they say Railroad is one of the most economic ways of transportation…
November 20th, 2011 - 18:07
lol do not hump
November 20th, 2011 - 18:52
This would make a interesting model railroad.
November 20th, 2011 - 19:10
Wonder what will happen now that the shuttle program is done. How about a excursion train?
November 20th, 2011 - 20:10
I see safety is maintained – They separate the booster sections with boxcars when on main lines and always keep a flatcar or two between the engine and a booster section. And there are lots of other cars with “Do Not Hump” requirements.
November 20th, 2011 - 21:07
Fantastic! I hope they can keep rolling boosters via rail for other space missions, manned or not!!
Thanks for letting us in on the most dangerous train cargo!
November 20th, 2011 - 21:36
It says “DO NOT HUMP” on the cars because the car loads, being rocket fuel, could be explosive. Cars that are sorted in a hump yard are often exposed to shock when the cars roll together and stop suddenly. Not a good thing to do with unstable materials.
November 20th, 2011 - 21:51
“Humping” means letting cars run down an artificial hill in a rail yard (a “hump”) so they can be sorted into specific trains – I don’t think you want a car full of rocket fuel rolling freely downhill – woof … (my Uncle Louie worked as a brakeman)
November 20th, 2011 - 22:20
great video!
and to all of you ‘humpers’ out there, go to wikipedia and search ‘hump yard’
November 20th, 2011 - 23:07
A hump yard is a large RR yard, with many tracks, where trains are basically assembled. A switch engine will push a car, usually slightly downhill, then let go of it, where it usually goes thru several switches to the correct track, and gently (hopefully) bumps and connects to the correct train. Sensitive or fragile cargo should not go thru this procedure, hence the wording “do not hump” clearly marked on these cars. There’s probably many references to hump yards on the internet. Dirty minds ha
November 20th, 2011 - 23:55
for all you people wondering what “do not hump ” means .. its not like humping as in the kinky way a hump on a railroad is a small up hill grade and then a downhill grade to make a rail car alone move on its own with a railroader on the car so they can switch to different track… the railroaders job is to handle car braking so it doesnt couple at over 5 mph .. if it does… the couplers will smash and possibly blow up the solid rocket boosters… wich kills everything near it so they put do not
November 21st, 2011 - 00:08
Do Not Hump refers to a rail hump yard, a method of switching lots of cars at one time over the crest of a small hill (hump) and across sets of automated switches. Cars are released one at a time to roll down the hill and switched onto the proper track, where they smack into other cars previously switched.
Doing this with explosives is not recommended!!
BTW, lots of specialty loads are marked with this ‘Do Not Hump’ warning, so trainmen are used to seeing this marking and handling them.
November 21st, 2011 - 00:47
When I get older, I am gonna be an astronaut. Always have, I do, and I always will love space and rockets!!
November 21st, 2011 - 00:59
@mrstonedwolf I broke down and googled the significance of “Do not hump”.
“Humping” a method of sorting cars in a train. A group of cars are put at the top of a man made hill. The tracks go down the hill, and the car follows the tracks underpowered. In the downward slant of the hill the tracks follow is a series of switches. This allows a series of cars originally on one train to be divided, distributed, and re-arranged, while only powering half the trip.
A less fun definition, I know.
November 21st, 2011 - 01:44
Poor choice of words by the railroad industry. Larger railroad classification yards sort cars by pushing them one at a time over a “hump”, where they’re scanned and switches are automatically aligned into the correct yard track. Although their speed is controlled to some extent, they can still roll pretty hard into the cut of cars already in a yard track, potentially damaging the contents of the car. Cars with fragile cargo are marked with this phrase to avoid damage.
November 21st, 2011 - 02:01
im sorry but did that really say “Do Not Hump” on that and if so why dose it say that is there really that many people that love N.A.S.A’s stuff?
November 21st, 2011 - 02:24
Nice video NASA Kennedy nice job on getting the boosters from ATK Thiokol to here. NASA Railroad is truly the railroad of the space program.
November 21st, 2011 - 02:34
“Do not Hump” my 12 year old brain caught that but my 32 year old brain is screaming to ignore it… Good video
November 21st, 2011 - 03:17
how about making a rail-gun propelled shuttle so you dont have to use so much fuel. i know that technology exists.
November 21st, 2011 - 03:54
disclosure now
November 21st, 2011 - 04:06
1.32 “Do not hump” lol!