Loading a Coal Train onto a Cargo Ship

Wherever you choose to film next, just keep to the format of all commentary and birds with no crappy music and I will keep watching.

This very impressive operation (built in the 30's) is pretty much immune to cyberattack. Sometimes, old technology is more robust than the latest cutting-edge, computer-driven techniques. You're commentary and drone/video work is superb! Thanks for it!

I like Great Lake Freighters, and I Really Like Trains. These are where the two come together.

81 years old and still a jewel. Amazing video, sir.

Those types of rail cars were in use when I sailed the Lakes in the late 70s. Visited that same dock many times. The unloading boom on the Tregurtha is 260 feet. With her 75 foot beam, the Tregurtha can dump her load over 200 feet from the boat!

Just so pleasant to watch. Informative, yet free from silly music. Calm and nice!

My grandfather was a skipper on the bulk freighters in 30s and 40s, retired in 55. Loved visiting him on his ships.

I really like this video, it goes to show that with all the tech going, analogue old school stuff still works well, many thanks

It's amazing how long maritime machines and ships last when they work around fresh water. I love the footage of this dock in action. It's satisfying to watch this ballet of railcars and freighter that's worked for almost a century.

very interesting and we now have a complete picture of how the unloading and ship loading works, thanks for making the video and sharing

dude, what a fabulous education on how this works. loved all the dubbed in info, and definitely the 4k footage. SO GOOD!

Wow, what a view, with great narration, very cool production, thank you! Fantastic work! (Dave).

@17:05 - That large sheave with all the cables hoists that whole boom. I think that each turn of the sheave equated to about 10K pounds or at least it did on our yard crane. What a mechanism.

That is some cool stuff, with amazing shots! Thanks for sharing with us all.

That was fascinating. Next time I see her coming in through the Duluth Ship Canal, I'll know way more about her. Thank you!

Very informative, indeed. Thanks so much for this additonal video at the coal dock. I love this kind of stuff. Cheers from Wisconsin!

Shorty Parker built a working model of this coal dumper in HO Scale. It's just as impressive as the real one. :)

The ship is moved via two winches that the mooring lines run through. One winch heaves, one plays out and so on depending on which direction the ship needs to scoot.

Man oh man. I grew up in the Toledo area, and was a cop at Cedar Point in 2003. I know the area and those waters really well - spent a lot of time out there. Great drone footage and wonderfully narrated - excellent job!

In the "Know Your Ships" book (consider getting one) she is listed as a Self-Unloader (SU), which is also evidenced by the 250 foot long unloading boom. All Self-Unloaders have an internal "hopper like" structure (vaguely V-shaped along the axis of the ship) to guide the load in the hold down to the central unloading belt, which pulls the bulk cargo back towards the base of the boom where other machinery lifts the bulk cargo up onto the boom to be expelled at the unloading destination. Because all of the bulk load needs to be carried by the unloading belt at the bottom of the hold space, even if each loading hatch opened into a separate compartment they are all open to the bottom any way to allow Self-Unloading. Not all bulk carriers are self-unloaders, but that is the trend. I am pretty sure that in this case that is all one big bulk cargo area. The hartches are only big enough to fit the old "Hulett" style unloader, Hulett unloaders were high tech in their day but are now completely obsolete and you would be hard pressed to find even one still in operation.. The bigger you make the hatches, the weaker they get unless you made them very strong, which would add too much weight, so their size has been standardized Not being an expert Boat Nerd (I am a junior boat nerd in training, a JeBNIT), I do not know all of the precise terms for all of these things, but I think I have explained the basic idea pretty well. Nice video footage, thanks for posting. If you like to learn about Great Lakes boats check ouy this channel: youtube.com/@authorwes