Mega Machines (2018) - full transcript

Narrator: Thundering through

the remote wilderness.

One of the toughest trains

on the planet races the clock.

I'm a bit nervous right now.

Narrator:

This heavy hauling mega train

must transport 1,300 tons

of timber a day

through treacherous valleys

and bustling cities.

Marthinsen: If something

falls off the train,

it can kill someone.

Narrator:

Can this monster freight train

deliver a crucial $50,000

payload on time?

Breaking this

extraordinary machine

down into its components,

we'll uncover

its technological secrets.

From high-powered

traction motors

to a reinforced

metal protective cab,

we'll reveal how this colossal

timber-lugging locomotive

evolved to become

a mega machine.

captions paid for by

discovery communications

The sprawling forests

of central norway

are home to one of the country's

most important industries...

Paper manufacturing.

Here in the town of honefoss,

workers gather more than

11 million cubic feet of timber

every year to feed

some of scandinavia's

largest paper mills.

Today, a special consignment

of 1,300 tons of timber

needs hauling to one of europe's

largest paper-producing

factories

in the far south of the country.

This factory supplies the

highest quality magazine paper

to publishers

all over the world,

including some of the largest

in the united states

to keep the factory running.

They need a continuous

supply of timber

to arrive on a tight schedule.

But lying between the forests

and the factory

is over 100 miles

of treacherous terrain.

To haul the timber

through this wilderness,

workers rely on this

super-tough cargo train.

This titanic train can shift

1,300 tons of lumber

in a single trip.

It's 7:00 a.M.

At the timber yard in honefoss.

For jorn marthinsen,

the site supervisor,

the day is already

in full swing.

Jorn's loading team

have just four hours

to fill each of the 26 wagons

with over 49 tons of timber

and set the train on its way

to one of this country's

largest paper factories

over 100 miles away.

It's very important that

we try what we can

to keep the schedule.

If they don't get enough

timber, the factory stops.

So we have to deliver in time.

Narrator: This single delivery

is worth almost $50,000,

so jorn can't afford

for anything to go wrong.

For an ordinary train,

moving this 1,300-ton load

is impossible.

But jorn's train is no ordinary

railroad mega machine.

This giant is the traxx 185.

Under this monster train,

four electric motors,

more powerful than

10 tesla model s cars,

drive four sets of steel wheels.

A carbon-coated pneumatic arm

draws 15,000 volts

from an overhead power line.

And 26 heavy-duty freight cars,

each with

12 telescopic gripper arms,

can hold 1,300 tons of timber.

These innovations

make this train the undisputed

heavy-hauling champion

of the norwegian woods.

The team used

two forestry cranes

to shift the 640-pound

tree trunks

into the waiting freight cars.

Giant 8-foot steel grips

on the sides of the cars

hold each trunk in place.

Jorn's first job

is to make sure every log

on the entire 400 yard train

sits safely

within these steel grips.

Just one loose log falling

onto a passenger-filled platform

along this busy route

could be fatal.

The train is going through

several towns with platforms

and a lot of people.

And if something falls off

the train, you can kill someone.

Narrator: It takes until 11:00

a.M. To secure all 26 cars.

Jorn clears the train

for departure.

Train is safe.

Narrator: Delivering

this precious cargo

rests on the shoulders

of driver sandra lahtinen.

Lahtinen: I'm glad that I'm

entrusted this task to drive a train

because of the responsibility

and to try my best

to be on schedule.

Narrator: Each fully loaded

timber car weighs over 63 tons.

And sandra must shift

26 of them at once.

The train needs to apply

a massive amount of force

to stop the payload getting

stuck in the timber yard.

The path to timber-pulling power

starts with

a highly conductive arm

that draws 15,000 volts

from an overhead line.

Onboard converters adjust

this electricity

to power four induction motors.

Their copper coils produce

powerful magnetic fields

that spin faster

than an aircraft propeller.

These tug the motors

in a rotor around with them,

generating enough force

to tow a 747.

So this train can pull

26 loaded cars

from a standing start

to 60 miles per hour.

For sandra, even with her

7,500 horsepower engine,

it's not as straightforward

as just pulling away.

This much power

could rip the train apart.

So I'll have to start very easy

to make sure I have

the whole of the train with me.

Narrator:

Sandra needs all the engine's

7,500 horsepower thrust

to shift a payload this heavy.

But if she turns

the train's motors

to full power immediately,

the incredible force

is simply too strong

for the couplings

between the driver's cab

and the freight cars

and will snap them in two.

Lahtinen: If you break the

coupling between the carriages,

you won't get very far.

You have to be gentle

with these expensive vehicles.

You kind of have to learn

to feel the force.

Narrator: The train has over a

hundred miles of treacherous landscape

to cross in less than five hours

to arrive at the factory

on time.

Sandra gradually picks up pace,

but she can't ease off

until she has enough momentum

to run at full speed.

Now I'm quite comfortable

that we are

going to manage this.

That's a good feeling.

Narrator: The timber train

carves through small villages

with a total carriage length

stretching longer than

the eiffel tower is tall.

It's a good start,

but sandra can't rest easy.

Many hazards lie on

the epic journey ahead.

The mega train must travel

over 100 miles,

from the middle of norway

to the deep south,

cross a landscape

fraught with dangers

that could cause delay.

From the timber terminal

of honefoss,

the train must wind its way

around fjords

and along

treacherous river bends.

Then, it must dodge

passenger trains

as it navigates

the busy capital, oslo.

Finally, the train

must scale steep hills

before reaching

the paper factory

in the southern city of halden.

But guiding this massive load

out of honefoss

has its own challenges.

The town is built

on the banks of the begna river,

and the railway tracks

follow its winding bends.

Take a corner too fast

and the entire train

could derail.

Narrator: More than 4,000 miles

of rivers criss cross norway.

These vast winding waterways

carve through

the hilly countryside

and are an iconic feature

of norway's landscape.

Lahtinen: Love driving

alongside the rivers,

and that's absolutely lovely

to look at.

Narrator: But these rivers

also pose a deadly threat

for sandra's mega freight train.

The track ahead follows

the meandering curves

of the fast-flowing begna river.

It's a long, snaking route.

But if sandra takes

the bends too quickly,

the 1,700-ton monster train

could run off the tracks.

Sometimes I get home,

and in my dreams,

like, nightmares of derailing.

Narrator: This is because

sandra's mega freight train

faces a problem that traditional

locomotives don't have.

Since the early days of steam,

traditional passenger trains

relied on the simple cone shape

of their wheels

to navigate bands.

As the wheels hit the bend,

the outer wheel rides up

onto a wider section of the cone

and the inner wheel drops down

on a narrower section.

This way, the outer wheels

travel further

than the inner wheels,

and the train moves

in a curve to follow the bend.

For traditional trains,

cone-shaped wheels

are enough to tackle most bends,

but sandra's 1,744-ton

mega freight train

is too long and heavy to rely on

the shape of its wheels alone.

It needs an added injection

of 21st-century engineering

to prevent it from derailing

around tight curves like this.

Beneath this 90-ton juggernaut

are two flexible

steering assemblies

that guide this machine

along the tracks.

Four steel springs

allow each assembly to twist

and tightly follow a bed.

Two smaller steel springs

at each wheel

absorb shocks from bumpy tracks.

A hydraulic piston at each wheel

soaks up vibrations

from the springs.

This smart system ensures

the train can maintain its speed

around a tight bend

without derailing.

The train navigates safely

through honefoss bends

and powers south.

100 miles away, in halden,

anders hauge johansen,

the paper factory's

technical manager,

is eagerly awaiting

the fresh timber load.

We have some of the largest

paper consumers in the world

as our customers.

Narrator: The factory

supplies a staggering 14%

of the world's highest quality

uncoated magazine paper

and produces upwards of

9,000 tons of it every week.

Johansen: It's a lot of paper.

It's a lot of rolls.

Narrator:

Demand for timber is nonstop,

and the factory can't afford

anything to delay sandra's train

arriving on time.

Johansen: This factory

is totally dependent

on supply of fresh wood.

Without wood,

there's no production here.

It's critical for our business

that the trains

meet our timetables

and are ready to unload

at the set, given time.

Inside the factory,

a giant debarker machine

strips the bark

from the tree logs

and shreds the trunks

into wood chips,

which are ground into fibrous

strands to make the pulp.

The team then mix

this pulp with water

to create a thick paper base.

Finally, the factory's rollers

do the rest.

They flatten

and compress the pulp

over and over again

to create the finished product.

In many respects, our paper

is the best quality paper

in the world.

We do here at the mill

everything we can to make sure

that our clients

get the right quality paper

in the right amount

at the right time every time.

Narrator:

But the factory can only operate

when they have

a constant supply of wood.

Back on the tracks,

sandra faces a new challenge

that could delay her journey,

a section of the track

so steep that speed alone

isn't enough to get the train

over the hill.

She'll have to deploy

this train's secret weapon.

It's a super invention.

Narrator:

Norway is a country of fjords,

deep valleys and hills

carved by glacier

during the last ice age.

They make the norwegian

landscape very mountainous.

But these mountains

pose a huge challenge

for a freight train

carrying a load

that weighs

more than seven blue whales.

Lahtinen: The landscape itself,

challenge for the driver.

It's not flat

and straightforward.

Narrator: The train makes it

through honefoss's winding bends.

Now sandra faces the next test.

The track ahead

follows steep inclines,

including a hill that rises

100 feet in less than a mile.

This incline may not sound

like much,

but for a train's steel wheels,

it's a monumental challenge.

When you have forces

working against you uphill,

you have to work hard.

Narrator: For a train,

having steel wheels

running on smooth steel tracks

is both a blessing and a curse.

On the flat,

it can roll effortlessly.

And pull five times more weight

per horsepower than a truck.

But on a hill,

the steel wheels lose their grip

on the smooth steel rails,

and the heavy load

pulls the train back.

This gets even worse

when it rains.

And once the wheels

get into a spin on a hill,

it's game over.

Norway's unpredictable

autumn weather

makes the mountainous landscape

even more precarious

for the 1,700-ton train

to climb.

And a recent sprinkling of rain

is the last thing sandra needs.

Enduring wet weather

is extra difficult.

Narrator: To stop it

getting stuck on an incline,

this fully loaded freight train

packs an ace up its sleeve.

Hanging in front

of each wheel is a metal box

that can hold

13 gallons of sand.

A small heating element

inside the box

keeps the sand warm and dry,

even in the cold

norwegian autumn.

A compressor.

Fitted with two

heavy-duty screws,

shoots compressed air

into the box

to blast a jet of dry sand

under the wheels.

This gives the train traction

even on the steepest,

wettest climbs.

Sandra switches on the sandbox

and fires a blast of sand

in front of the wheels.

The secret weapon for getting

up hills is the sandboxes.

Narrator: The quartz grains in

the sand are harder than steel

and dig into any small grooves

in the wheel or rail.

The sandblasted wheels

grip the track.

The train claws

its way up the hills.

Lahtinen:

Sand is definitely a lifesaver.

It wouldn't be possible

sometimes without the sandboxes.

It's vital that the sandboxes

work without fail

so the train can navigate

norway's mountainous landscape.

But the sandboxes are located

next to the wheel

underneath the train,

which makes them vulnerable

to wear and tear.

Even losing one sandbox

could cause trouble.

Narrator:

Deep underground,

below the city of oslo

is the place

that keeps mega trains

like sandra's in top condition.

At the lodalen repair yard,

engineers like philip simensen

fix up to a thousand trains

each year.

Today, philip undertakes an

inspection of an identical train

to sandra's traxx 185

timber locomotive.

This machine had an unfortunate

collision with a wild moose.

There's probably

some moose left here.

Narrator: And philip

suspects that the crash

damaged one of the sandboxes.

This could pose a serious

problem for the train

on its next journey.

Simensen: In norway,

the traction is very important,

because we have steep hills

and lots of mountains.

If you don't have the sand,

then might as well

don't come up the hill.

Narrator: Philip inspects the

underside of the locomotive

and identifies

the damaged section.

This nozzle is supposed to be

aiming to the wheel,

straight to between

the tracks and the wheels,

not underneath the loco

like it's doing now,

so it needs to be replaced.

Narrator: He fits the new

sanding components in place.

As you can see now,

the nozzle is pointing

in the right direction,

is pointing towards the wheel,

not underneath the loco,

as it was before.

Narrator:

With a brand-new sanding tube,

this monster train is ready

to tackle norway's

mountainous landscape once more.

Back in the driver's cab,

sandra approaches the halfway

point of her journey.

The further south she travels,

the more people she encounters.

First farms, then towns,

then cities.

With a surge in passenger trains

sharing the line,

red stop signs could light up

at any moment.

Sandra needs enough

stopping distance

or it could mean catastrophe for

this timber-carrying monster.

Narrator: Sandra's 1,700-ton

mammoth train powers south,

through the dense forests

toward farmland

and rural communities.

She's on high alert

and can't afford

to take her eyes off the tracks.

After 10 miles

of uninterrupted train line,

there are places where road

traffic must cross the track.

Colliding with a vehicle

stuck on a railroad crossing

is every driver's

worst nightmare.

Lahtinen: If you hit

a tractor with a train,

that might hurt, actually.

I haven't hit anyone,

luckily, but I've had

near misses earlier.

And, of course,

the kind of marks you.

It's not something

you can really imagine

before it happens.

Narrator:

As she approaches a crossing,

sandra sounds her horn...

To warn any rural farm traffic

that her mega timber train

is passing through.

Lahtinen: That crossing

doesn't have any barriers,

so you have to warn a potential

tractor or pedestrian

that the train is coming.

The main thing more

than anything is safety,

both for us

and for the community around.

Narrator:

Though accidents are rare,

this train must be built to

survive worst-case scenarios.

The snowplow is

the first line of defense

to protect the driver.

It can push a wild moose

off the tracks

without stopping the train.

Just above it,

two buffers with elastic rings

can deflect objects

as heavy as a small car.

A steel cage around the driver

is designed to crumple

in a predictable way

while keeping a safe

survival zone in the cab

during a collision with a truck,

and a high-strength steel wall

protects against sharp objects.

Together, these keep

the drivers safe

from almost anything

the journey throws at them.

Two hours along her route,

sandra reaches a metropolitan

city neighboring oslo.

She's almost

at the halfway point

but can't afford to lose time,

as the factory's production line

rests on her delivery.

We cannot keep the guys

in the factory waiting.

Narrator: The terrain changes

as high-rise buildings

replace farmland.

But as the scenery changes,

so does the danger.

Instead of worrying

about tractors,

she must now shift

her focus to passenger trains.

We're not in the wooden

landscape anymore.

Here, the traffic

is more intense.

There are several tracks here.

Narrator: Sandra's train

is three times heavier

than an ordinary passenger train

and has a much longer

stopping distance.

A collision with another

locomotive would be fatal.

It's a busy midweek

in the country's capital,

with more than 30 trains an hour

leaving the main station,

oslo central.

As sandra approaches,

passenger train traffic

surrounds her on all sides.

This is a recipe for chaos.

To avoid a deadly collision,

sandra has a team of protectors

guarding over her.

Tale frostrund is scheduling

controller in oslo's

train traffic control center.

From here, tale and the team

keep a careful eye

on all the trains

coming and going

on the lines in and around oslo.

Everything that happens

with the train

is monitored by us

and controlled by us.

A lot of traffic in rush hours,

during the morning

and in the afternoon.

Trains coming and going

every two minutes,

and it's quite busy.

Narrator: Tale and her team need

to keep sandra's freight train safe

by carefully scheduling

the other trains around it.

It's a little bit

like playing chess.

You need to think a few steps

ahead all the time.

Narrator: But when a train

is running late,

dangerous bottlenecks can form.

So the traffic control center

puts special measures in place

to prevent passenger trains

from slamming

into the back

of sandra's 400-yard

log-laden freight train.

Every time the timber train

passes a green light,

the tracks sense the wheels

and change the light to red.

This leaves a trail of no-go

zones behind our train,

creating a safe distance

for any trains following it.

If a driver runs the red,

a transmitter on the tracks

feeds a command to the train

to automatically apply

emergency brakes.

It's in our backbone.

As a controller,

you always think safety first.

Narrator: With these

in-built safety measures,

the team in

the traffic control room

can ensure the trains can go

as fast as possible

without any danger of crashing.

Tale counts herself lucky

to live in an era of rail safety

because much of today's

ultra-safe infrastructure

owes its existence

to a 20-year-old tragedy.

On the 4th of January 2000,

two passenger trains

collided in the town

of asta in norway.

The crash tragically killed

19 people.

In the wake of this

devastating accident,

engineers installed

automatic braking systems

on every train line

across the country.

I know people who were at work

the day

the asta accident happened.

And it's... it's difficult

to remember and to talk about,

but it's important

that we remember,

and it's important

that we work every day

to make sure that nothing like

that will ever happen again.

It's 2:00 p.M.,

and the mega train

passes through the country's

busiest station,

oslo central, without a hitch.

Lahtinen: Now we have passed

the busy area.

I'm hoping

to make up some speed.

That gives me hope that we will

reach our destination

more or less on time.

Narrator:

As sandra pulls away from oslo,

she reaches a stretch of track

that crosses the glomma river,

the longest waterway in norway.

The view is jaw-dropping,

but there's a problem.

The bridge over the river

comes just after a sharp bend

at the bottom of a steep hill.

Lahtinen: You have to be careful

when going down the slope

so you don't derail.

Narrator: And derailing

on a bridge would be fatal.

Narrator: The 1,700-ton

freight train steams ahead

over halfway through

its hundred-mile journey.

Sandra must be on her guard.

Beyond the rural towns

after oslo,

the terrain begins to drop.

Lahtinen:

The main key is actually

to have knowledge of the area

you're driving in

so that you know

what comes up next.

I need to anticipate

the landscape before it changes.

Narrator: If left unchecked,

the fully loaded timber train

could build up so much momentum,

sandra could lose control

when speeding downhill.

The gradients are hard

because you'll have to prevent

the train from

running away from you.

Narrator:

Sandra's first line of defense

owes its origins to 150 years

of engineering evolution.

If a driver doesn't

slow down on a descent,

a freight train

could derail on the next bend.

In the early days of railway,

freight trains had a brakeman

on each carriage

who would manually

apply a brake.

But in 1869, george westinghouse

invented an air-powered system

that the driver operated

to apply continuous

braking power to all train cars.

This is what most ordinary

freight trains use even today

to keep their cars

in check on a descent.

Sandra keeps one hand

on the air brakes

as she powers

through the smaller hills.

But up ahead is a 3-mile-long

downhill stretch

that hits a precarious bend

into a bridge at the bottom.

As she approaches this descent,

she must turn to another

incredible technology.

Because when you have a train

this heavy

and a hill this long,

air brakes alone aren't enough.

Using the brakes

heats up the discs

and wears down

the brake pads over time.

So the driver uses

the motors as brakes.

She slows their

spinning magnetic fields,

resisting the rotor's motion...

Slowing them down.

The wheels now decelerate

without touching the brakes.

The motor uses energy from the

wheels to produce electricity.

As the train slows down,

it feeds this power back

to the overhead lines.

This clever friction-free system

is called regenerative braking.

Sandra switches it on,

and the train's speed

gradually drops

to a steady level,

keeping control

of the 1,300-ton load behind.

She eases over the bridge safely

without even touching

the air brakes.

Lahtinen: It's amazing

to think that with the help of

the magnetic field in the motor,

it can almost stop

a heavy-loaded train.

Narrator: It's not only sandra

who is thankful

for regenerative brakes.

In the repair yard,

philip undertakes

a crucial inspection

on another colossal

traxx 185 freight train,

simensen:

And we see a huge difference

between the locomotives

with and without

the regenerative brakes.

Because the ones without

wear down the brake pads

really fast

compared to these ones.

Narrator: But no matter

how careful the drivers are,

it's impossible to avoid wear

and tear on these monster trains

when driving through norway's

rugged terrain.

Norway's a tough place

for trains to run.

It's not possible to avoid that.

We'll have to maintain it

and keep the trains running.

Narrator: Philip guides

the train down into the heart

of the underground repair yard

onto raised tracks

so he can access the brakes.

We got to check

the entire locomotive,

get underneath,

and it's messy, it's greasy,

and you get your hands dirty.

Narrator: Philip detaches

the wheel caliper

to take a closer look

at the brake pads.

Friction with the wheel causes

the surfaces of the brake pads

to wear down over time.

This makes them thin

and ineffective.

As you can see,

this is a new brake pads,

and it's like

three times the size,

and the grooves are much deeper.

Almost gone here.

And here, they are brand-new,

so it's a big difference.

Narrator: Thanks to the work

of the electric motor,

brake pads this worn out

are rare.

Those brake pads

are probably five years old,

so now it's time to change them.

Narrator: Philip replaces

the pads with a new set

that should last

for the next five years.

Back in the driver's cab,

sandra races

the mega timber train

through

the norwegian countryside

to deliver her precious

timber load on time.

On her right

is the stunning iddefjord,

a straight of water

separating norway and sweden.

And up ahead, the paper factory

finally comes into view.

Her journey is nearly over,

but she has one last challenge

to overcome.

The factory sits at the top

of the steepest incline

of the whole route,

and the only way to make it up

the hill is backwards.

I just hope we get up.

Narrator: Sandra pulls up

one mile short of the factory,

which sits at the top

of a steep hill above.

She may be on time...

But now faces the toughest

test of the entire journey.

For the train to run,

the front cab must be connected

to the power lines.

But the tracks closest

to the factory

don't have any lines above them.

This is because the cranes

that unload the freight cars

can't operate with

electrical lines in the way.

To keep the train

connected to the power lines,

sandra must perform

an extraordinary maneuver.

She must move the engine

to the back of the train

and push it uphill backwards.

This is one of the hardest

bits of the journey.

Narrator: Sandra separates

her driver's cab

from the front timber car

and drives the engine

on a parallel track,

passing the full length

of the payload

all the way down

to the back of the train.

She then reattaches

her driver's cab

to the very rear freight car.

Now she can keep her cab

connected to the power lines

above the train at all times.

But she faces backwards down

the slope and is driving blind.

As she edges

towards the factory,

sandra's locomotive struggles

to push all 26 timber cars

up the steep hill.

This hill we are climbing

is known for being a challenge.

Narrator: She cranks up

the power to the engines

to try and keep momentum.

Lahtinen: I have to be a little

bit careful not pushing too hard

because I don't want to derail.

Narrator: The laden freight

cars weigh the equivalent

of over 230 african elephants

pushing down the hill

against the driver's cab.

The wheels spin

as they struggle for traction

on the slippery tracks.

Uh, I'm a bit nervous right now.

Narrator:

The train slows down to a creep.

As dusk falls, sandra has one

last roll of the dice

to try

and get her up this incline.

After using sand

throughout the journey,

she is down to her

last precious reserves.

She fires a blast of sand

at the wheels.

Sandra hopes there's just

enough left

to give her 1,700-ton train

the extra traction it needs

to get over the incline.

I'm just watching the speed

to see if it's accelerating

or if it's decreasing.

Narrator: She edges the train

closer to the top of the hill,

hoping it'll make it up to the

factory without getting stuck.

Lahtinen: I know now that

the tail of the train

is getting close to the factory.

Narrator: The driver's cab

eases up to the top of the incline

without its wheels

spinning out of control.

We're not gonna get stuck now,

so I'm very happy.

Narrator: Sandra eases the load

right into the yard

as far as the overhead cables

will take her.

For sandra,

her mission is finished.

It's now time

for some well-earned rest.

We have arrived ahead

of schedule, actually,

so I'm happy and relieved.

It's gonna be good to get home.

Narrator: The team begin

to unload the precious timber

and deposit it into the factory

for immediate processing,

ready for the eager magazine

publishers around the world

to hit the newsstands

on schedule.

For the traxx 185, it's the same

again in 12 hours' time.

The mission has been a success

thanks to this machine's

four 1,800-horsepower motors,

the high-control flexy steering

that allows this train to handle

even the tightest corners,

and the efficient

regenerative braking system

that maintains momentum

without wear and tear on

the busiest parts of the track,

and the cab's reinforced

metallic protective shell

that keeps drivers

like sandra safe

in the toughest terrain

of the norwegian wilderness.

It's these incredible

technological features

that allow this

timber-hauling freight train

to be a true mega machine.