All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s06e02 The Trains That Built America.eng

Narrator: This time
on "impossible engineering:"

Extreme railroads"...

Penetrating
the great wilderness,

Facing nature head on...

This is really wild terrain.

There's
a more than 400-foot drop,

And there's no escaping it.

Narrator:
With the solutions...

Like generations of moormen
before him,

He looked to the ground
beneath his feet.

Narrator: That make
the impossible possible.

Dickrell: This has got to be one
of the most hard-fought pieces

Of railway engineering
on the planet.

This is magnificent!
I love it.

?

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Narrator: Across the world,
towns and cities

Are often separated
by vast wilderness.

Inhospitable landscapes,
punishing terrain,

And extreme weather can make
crossing these divides

Seem impossible.

?

But trains stop at nothing,

Tackling previously
uncharted territory

With some of the most
adventurous railroads

On the planet.

Overcoming
the world's wilderness

Poses uniquely
difficult challenges

For even the most pioneering
of railroad engineers.

Potts: Wilderness like this would
stop any train in its tracks.

This is an incredible
feat of engineering.

Mahoney: So, this is the start
of the real climb

Around one
of those tight curves.

This is real mountain
railroading.

Newland: It's bleak.
It's isolated.

It is utterly treeless.

How can you build
a railway here?

What would you build it out of?

Narrator: And it's one such
seemingly impossible challenge

That faced engineers
in north america

In the late 1800s.

?

Promontory summit, utah,
is in the heart of the west.

It's an empty desert landscape,
with few signs of civilization,

As engineer dan dickrell
is finding out.

Gosh, there's really
nothing out here.

If you've never driven across
the western united states,

There's these vast
tracts of nothingness.

?

Narrator:
This particular barren stretch

Hosted perhaps
the most significant moment

In the history
of the north american railroad.

[ Bell clanging ]

Since the inception
of railroads,

Engineers had dreamed
of building

A line that would connect
america's east and west,

And in 1869, that was
about to become a reality.

?

Dickrell: Oh, this is
a really cool moment.

So, I'm riding on the jupiter,

Which is an exact replica
of the steam locomotive

That would have been here

When the two railroads
met from east to west.

For the first time,
you could ride from one end

Of the continent to the other.

I can't describe to you
how cool this is,

Because this is
a beautiful reproduction.

It's in pristine condition.

It weighs 60 tons...
about 10 african elephants.

It burns all of its fuel
in about 30 miles,

Which is not a lot.

It goes about 25 miles an hour.

2,000 gallons of water
to make the steam.

[ Train whistle blows ]

It's
a huge-but-beautiful machine.

[ Train whistle blows ]

?

Hmm.

Well, here it is.

This is the golden spike.

This is the location where the
two lines met and were united.

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Narrator: But the circuitous
mountain route

Added 42 miles to the trip.

The more direct
alternative route, however,

Presented some seemingly
insurmountable challenges.

?

Dickrell:
This is the great salt lake.

It is a mind-blowing sight
when you're here.

It's so massive.
It's so vast.

You can't see the other side.

The sky and the water
blends together.

It's incredibly bright out here.

?

Narrator: This phenomenal
watery wilderness would present

The railroads' engineers
with an enormous task.

Dickrell: Standing in this spot,
it's easy to imagine

What those engineers felt
so long ago,

Trying to figure out
how are they gonna cross

This vast body of water.

It seems almost impossible.

?

Narrator: But in 1902,
engineers defied the odds

And made a plan to build
across the 1,700 square miles

Of exceptionally
hostile landscape.

?

It's not even a bad day,
and it's really choppy out here.

The water is six times saltier
than ocean water.

It makes for a really dense
and powerful wave.

As an engineer, when you want
to build something,

You have to take into
consideration the environment,

And this is probably one of
the most aggressive environments

That you could
build anything, right?

Extremely salty water,
high humidity,

High heat in the desert.

It's not a very hospitable place

For something that's supposed
to last for a long time.

So I wouldn't want to build
anything out here at all.

Narrator: The monumental
solution engineers came up with

Was the lucin cutoff.

For a year and a half,
3,000 men

Grafted two earth-and-rock-
filled embankments together,

Bridged in the middle
by an immense wooden trestle.

This is the point
where the old, original trestle

Would have started
extending out into the lake.

It was 12 miles of timber.

2 square miles of forest

Were used to make
this immense wooden structure.

Narrator: In 1904,
a train passed over the lake

For the first time,

Cutting the journey through utah
from 10 hours to a mere 2 hours.

But, by the 1950s,

Conditions had taken their toll
on the trestle bridge.

Dickrell: The pilings themselves
weren't driven

That far into the lake bed,

And the lake bed in this
particular lake is very soft.

So the weight of the trestle
itself, as well as trains,

Would cause subsidence.

The trestle would sink.

The aggressive nature of salt
infiltrating the wood

Would cause it
to split and deteriorate.

Ultimately, it was decided that
the trestle was to be torn down

And replaced
with something stronger.

Narrator: Faced with
such extreme conditions,

Engineers had to find
a more robust solution.

In 1956, work began to create
an epic causeway

That would carry the railroad

Across a raised stone embankment

Across the entire span
of the lake.

?

This is the causeway.

It stretches almost as far
as the eye can see.

Tons and tons of fill rock
are dumped into the lake...

Something to build a track upon.

Narrator: 75,000 tons of rock
were transported daily

On six of the largest bottom-
dump barges ever constructed.

Seeing workers on top
of the causeway

Gives a sense of
the epic scale of this work.

The size of the boulders,
the elevation above the lake...

It's massive.

It's a massive structure.

Narrator: But once again,
mother nature showed her hand.

Dickrell: Now, these rocks and
boulders that fill the causeway

Look large,
but the forces that this lake

Can bring to bear
are even larger.

But it's a testament
to how heavy this causeway is

And how soft and squishy
the lake bed is...

It's always sinking,
always subsiding.

And so it's a continual battle
to replenish this structure

In a constant fight against
the environment

That engineers, the rail line

Are continuing to fight,
but it's tough.

It's a tough fight.

Narrator: And crucially,
culverts that had been built

To allow water
to flow through the causeway

Had cracked to the point
they could collapse

And take the track
out of service.

Due to the nature of this
extreme environment,

Those culverts were folded
upon each other,

They were consumed,
it didn't work.

Narrator: To keep trains running, the
cracked culverts were filled in.

But what happened next
was unprecedented.

?

Blocking the flow of water
created a startling difference

In salinity,
water level, and even color.

So, the engineers had to come up
with a different plan,

A different solution,

That ultimately would enable
the lake to breathe its water

And allow railways to move.

Narrator: In 2016, this clash
with nature inspired

Another incredible
feat of engineering.

?

Dickrell: So, this is
the brand-new bridge

That engineers hope will solve
the causeway's problems

Once and for all.

The new pillars are driven
200 feet down,

Even though the lake's
only 35 feet deep.

The pilings themselves
are steel core

Covered in a special material

To prevent, effectively,
environmental damage

Eroding and destroying
the columns.

See as we pass
underneath the berm here...

This allows the railway to add
and remove material,

To help flow control
in between the northern

And the southern parts
of the lake.

The northern part's
much saltier,

So the water exchanges through.

Wood couldn't make it.
Concrete couldn't make it.

So hopefully this is
the solution

That will solve
these problems,

From a material science
perspective, for the railway.

Narrator: This watery wilderness
baffled engineers for decades.

But, despite the struggle,
the railroad ultimately won.

This has got to be one of
the most hard-fought pieces

Of railway engineering
on the planet.

Nothing but respect
for the people

That keep this line in service
in such a tough place.

[ Train horn blows ]

Ohh, what a cool sight to watch

This actually happening
on the great salt lake.

Oh, this is awesome.

?

Narrator: But harsh environments
come in many forms.

In new zealand's north island,
for example,

Is an epic wilderness
of impenetrable rainforest

And soaring volcanoes...

A terrain completely
inhospitable for a new railroad.

But the innovative minds
behind the main trunk line

Weren't about to take
impossible for an answer.

?

?

Narrator: In the late 1800s,
engineers were trying to connect

New zealand's
two major cities,

Auckland and wellington,
by train.

But there was one spot
on the route

Where progress reached
an impossible impasse.

Amongst the rugged,
overgrown wilderness

Was the central plateau.

?

Local railway expert
paul mahoney

Is taking the railroad
to this challenging location.

Mahoney: I'm at otorohanga
railway station,

About to get the train
down to raurimu.

This railway was surveyed
from the north and the south.

But for 14 years, raurimu was
a sticking point for engineers.

Narrator: But, in 1898, it fell
to engineer robert west holmes

To conceive a plan to surmount
the wild landscape.

However, it wouldn't be
as simple as carving a path

Through the untamed bush
of raurimu,

As heritage adviser
karen astwood

Is discovering for herself.

Astwood: When engineers were
trying to make a railway

Through this area,
they had such a lot of trouble.

It was a real nightmare.

Coming down from
the central plateau,

There's
a more than 400-foot drop,

And there's no escaping it.

Narrator: Faced with a distance
of just 1.2 miles

In which to negotiate
the steep rise

Between the valley
and the plateau,

The gradient of 1 in 15

Would be too extreme
for standard locomotives.

Astwood: The only way to make it
up that gradient in the train

Would be to use
specialist trains,

But the cost
of maintaining those

Was simply too prohibitive.

There was talk that the line
might have to be rerouted.

The government
didn't want that.

They'd already spent
enough money on the project.

Overcoming the wilderness here

Was seen as the lesser
of several evils.

Narrator:
Even riding the rail link today,

The journey is a reminder
of what holmes was faced with.

This was covered
in a thick native forest.

It's very rugged country.

Here's the sort of forest
they were working in.

Narrator:
With help from technology

That holmes could
only have dreamed of,

Karen is getting
a bird's-eye view

Of this
uncultivated landscape.

This is really exciting.

?

Narrator: And from the sky,
the extraordinary solution

That holmes came up with
can be viewed in all its glory.

?

The raurimu spiral.

Astwood: What we can see below
is one of the most ambitious

And brilliant pieces
of wilderness engineering

In the world.

?

Here comes a train,
so we're gonna be able to see

Holmes' masterpiece
in its full glory.

Narrator:
Following an intricate route,

The single track snakes
its way around

To lengthen the line
at a shallow gradient.

?

The raurimu spiral
is a really impressive

And complex set of elements

Which is really compactly
put together.

Narrator: But holmes' masterpiece
was anything but straightforward.

The spiral twists
and tunnels under itself,

Up first through a giant
horseshoe curve,

And then a pair
of tight quarter turns,

Before winding around on itself
in a complete circle

To reach the plateau.

It extends a distance of just
1.2 miles as the crow flies

To create a track
over 4 miles long.

Seeing the spiral
from holmes' perspective

Reveals the curves close up.

So, this is the start
of the real climb

Around one of those tight curves
that are 150 meters radius,

And we're on a 1 in 15 grade.

This is real mountain
railroading.

They had to fit this railway
to the landscape,

And it was very dense
forest here,

So they couldn't actually see
very far to do the surveying.

Narrator: A problem made worse
by the treacherous terrain,

Which gave holmes
no natural vantage points

To plot a route from above.

Mahoney: There was no way
he could get to a high point

To see how the land was set out.

He had to do a lot of exploring
to create a picture in his mind

Of what the terrain was like.

So this is an amazing
railway-location achievement.

Narrator: These days, engineers
would carry out an aerial survey

And simply take to the skies.

Astwood: All the loops and
curves, even the small ones,

Are really critical,

Because they lessen the wear
and tear on the trains,

And on the track, as well.

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Narrator: But mapping a route
wasn't the only challenge

That had to be overcome to
pull off this audacious build.

?

Mahoney: So, coming out
of tunnel number two,

We're, more or less, halfway
'round the spiral now.

Looking back, you can see just
what rugged country this is.

Narrator: Carving a path through
the impenetrable forest,

Steep ravines, and sheer cliffs
had to be done by hand.

Mahoney: So, the spiral was entirely
constructed by pick and shovel

And some dynamite blasting.

And this is
a high rainfall area.

The workers lived
in tent camps.

And it was pretty tough going.

What an achievement.

?

Narrator: In 1908,
the first train traveled down

The raurimu spiral...

Almost four decades after
the north island main trunk line

Was first conceived...

Finally taming
what had seemed

Like an
insurmountable wilderness.

Over a century later, it's still
considered one of new zealand's

Greatest feats of engineering.

This must have been so complex
to try and lay out,

And it really is just a tribute
to holmes' genius,

And also the engineers
that he worked with.

It's just... it's spectacular.

Mahoney: 80 years after holmes
laid out the spiral,

I was riding with the chief
civil engineer of the railways,

And he'd been involved
with trying to improve the route

Of the railway, really,
for electrification.

And the modern engineers
were still not able to improve

On george holmes'
spiral location.

It's a masterly piece
of engineering

That survives to this day.

?

Narrator: But imagine
the challenge of building

One of the earliest railroads
in britain.

?

In devon
in the southwest of britain

Sits a huge expanse of harsh,
magical, and ancient landscape.

Newland:
This is dartmoor national park,

Which is just shy
of 1,000 square kilometers

Of amazing wilderness.

It's full of ponies, rolling
heathlands full of gorse,

And its most famous export...
granite.

Narrator: And in the 1800s,
that granite was in demand.

With the british industrial
revolution at full steam,

Buildings were getting taller,
bridges were getting larger,

And engineers were looking
close to home for supply

To meet
the ever-increasing demand...

As historical archaeologist
cassie newland is finding out.

You can really see 'round here,
that the...

The granite just sort of
comes out of the ground,

It's everywhere you step,
everywhere you look,

Which is why people have used
this resource in this place

For thousands of years.

Narrator: Dartmoor
might have been full of granite

For almost 300 million years.

But in 1820, the enormous
challenge would have been

Building a transport system
to get the rock to civilization.

Newland: It's bleak.
It's isolated.

It is utterly treeless.

You can go from frostbite
to heatstroke in a blink.

How can you build
a railway here?

What would you build it out of?

?

Narrator: Entrepreneur george templer
decided he could defy the odds

And build a railroad
to transport goods

From his quarry at haytor.

But it was the intrepid
railroad engineers

He called on who would have
to make his plan possible.

?

?

Narrator: 19th-century
entrepreneur george templer

Needed a way to transport
vast quantities of granite

From his isolated quarry

To the building projects
that needed it.

Newland: This idyllic little
oasis is actually haytor quarry.

And it would have felt
incredibly different

150 years ago.

We'd be surrounded
by bustling men hard at work

Drilling holes
and blasting with dynamite

To take vast chunks of granite
out from the cliff walls.

The air would be thick
with dust.

It would be
completely unpleasant.

Just behind me, if you can see
the log in the pond,

That log is actually
the base of a derrick,

A kind of crane that would
have been used with the winch

That you can see
in the background

To lift
these huge blocks of granite.

So, you would turn
this handle.

[ Creaking ]
ooh!

And it would crank a cable
to lift up the arm...

Your jib arm of your crane,
which is just over here.

And if you're very careful
and don't fall in,

It's this huge, huge length
of wood with a socket

At one end through
which all your winching gear

Would pass right the way down
to the base over here,

Which would fit into
a metal socket in the ground

And allow you to pivot around

To lots of different points
in the quarry,

Lifting the stone
that's blasted off from the side

To places it can be worked

And also lifting it
onto the wagons to take it away.

So, the challenge of haytor
is getting the granite out.

But at 1,300 feet
above sea level

With no other natural resources,

It is an impossible challenge.

Narrator: Templer had realized
that building a track

Out of the quarry
was the only option.

Like generations of moormen
before him,

He looked to the ground
beneath his feet,

And he built
the railway from granite.

?

Narrator: This engineering
marvel born out of the ground

Is the haytor granite tramway,
amazingly developed to transport

The very granite that it was
made of from the quarry

To a canal for distribution.

Now, this rail here is the
perfect place to see how skilled

And arduous a job it is
to produce a granite railway,

Because using a chisel
and a hammer,

You've got to cut this lovely,
precise line

Right the way along your rail
for the wagon wheels to run in.

The one good thing about having
invested all that time

In creating a granite rail is,
you don't then need sleepers.

The stone itself is so heavy,
it holds it in place.

Now, granite is incredibly hard.

The man-hours that go into
taking out a slice of granite

Like this are incredible.

And if you think, you'd do that
over 10 miles' worth of railway.

The labor is extraordinary.

The first thing you've got to do
is split your rock

Into manageable chunks.

And you do that using
a feather-and-tear method.

These slots here are remnants
of that process.

Narrator: The ingenious feather-and-tear
method is still used today,

Though made much easier
with the help of modern tools,

As demonstrated by dartmoor
national park employees

Lee and andy.

[ Drill whirring ]

So, what we're doing here...
we're drilling a line of holes

Down the length of the granite
where we want the split to be.

?

Now, the next stage
of the process here

Is to use the
feather-and-tear tools.

Two types of tool here.

We have
this metal iron chisel,

Which is the tear
in the process,

And these two thinner
strips of iron

Which fit down the side of it
in the hole.

Once you've got this arrangement
in the hole,

If you hit this on the top
with a hammer,

It will force it down
and force the granite sideways.

If you do that in each of
the holes along the length,

Eventually, the stress
will cause the granite

To split along the line
we want it to.

That's not going anywhere, so
that's ready for the next stage.

?

Learn Thai online with BananaThai
http://osdb.link/bananathai

I think that's it.

We have now successfully split
the slab

Exactly
where we wanted it to.

Shows it's a very effective
and quick technique, really.

Narrator: This astounding feat
of engineering

Is made more impressive by
the speed of its construction,

Precipitated by
an important commission.

So, as soon as george templer
had won the contract

To build london bridge,

He had to get this railway in
as quickly as possible.

The quarry opened in 1819,

And this railway
was opened by 1820.

That is an astounding feat
of will.

Narrator: But solving the challenge
of building this railroad

Is only half
of this incredible achievement.

As steam locomotives had
only just been invented,

Templer used the more
common engine of the day...

Good old horsepower.

The problem was how to avoid
your prized equine engine

Getting crushed
by a load of granite.

So, grading is always an issue
for every railway.

But, here, where you've got just
regular wagon wheels

Running on grooves cut in stone,
it's a particular problem.

Instead of the horses
pulling the wagons,

What they effectively have is
the horses braking the wagons

From behind and up to 12 wagons,

Each of them carrying
3 tons of granite,

Being sort of slowly lowered
down the hill on these rails.

Narrator:
And bringing 40 tons of granite

To a stop on an incline
is no small task.

But the solution would help
to build some of britain's

Most iconic structures.

?

?

Narrator: The engineers
responsible for laying a track

That would transport granite

From templer's
mountaintop quarry

Had a major problem to solve...

How to slow the wagons when
horsepower alone wasn't enough.

With the dramatic inclines
along the way

And tons of granite on board,

It was crucial to develop
a dependable braking system.

So, you've got the horses
behind, but for tricky bits

Where there's
an incline or points,

You've got a man with a stick...
a 12-foot pole

That he jams against
the wheels as an extra brake.

The whole thing is at the
absolute limit of human skill

And ingenuity.

And the reason the horses
went down

Was not just to brake it,
but to pull the wagons

Back up the hill
from the other end.

So, it's all thanks to templer's
pragmatic solutions

That the granite from
the high tors can now be found

In some of
our most iconic buildings...

Nelson's column, the british
museum, london bridge.

And it's all down to this
perfect-yet-simple railway.

Narrator: It's another tenacious
solution to reach into the wilderness.

?

But for some remote railroads,

It's about
connecting civilizations.

Covering an area greater
than western europe,

The tibetan plateau in asia

Is the largest
and highest plateau on earth.

With drifting sand dunes
and alpine wetlands,

Temperatures swing from
a bone-chilling minus-40 degrees

In the winter

To a sweltering 86 degrees
in the summer.

It's a treeless
and windy wilderness.

At first, this seems like
the last place on earth

For a railroad.

?

But the qinghai-tibet railway
has taken on this challenge.

For a century, china had dreamed
of connecting

With the inaccessible
region of tibet.

In 1974, work on a railroad
began at xining,

Cutting across
the rugged northern edge

Of the plateau east to golmud.

When engineers tried to head
south to lhasa,

They encountered a
seemingly impossible obstacle...

Nearly 350 miles
of unstable terrain

With a permanently frozen layer

Below the surface
known as permafrost.

Senior engineer
mr. Jinchang wang

Was part of the team in charge
of finding the solution.

[ Wang speaking
native language ]

Interpreter:
Permafrost is a mix of soil

And sand bound by ice
with a temperature

That remains below zero
for at least two years.

?

[ Speaking native language ]

If the frozen soil
is always below zero,

It will provide a solid
and stable foundation

For buildings above it.

However,
the surface layer can melt,

And its load-bearing capacity
can decrease,

Damaging all
the architecture above.

Narrator: Without solid land
to lay a track on,

Engineers had to find
an innovative solution.

[ Speaking native language ]

Interpreter:
So, we built a bridge

Instead of laying tracks.

Narrator:
This is the qingshuihe bridge.

At over 7 miles long,

It is the longest bridge
over permafrost in the world.

?

To make it a reality, engineers
had to dig deep enough

To reach the solid base below.

[ Wang speaking
native language ]

Interpreter: So, there must be
four piles beneath every pillar.

The pile foundations are 20
to 30 meters deep.

Narrator:
To reach those depths,

A rotary digging machine
is used.

The holes are then
filled with concrete.

But as heat is released
by a chemical reaction

During the concrete-mixing
process,

The danger is damaging
the permafrost.

So the work needed
to be completed

During the harsh winter months.

But to set and strengthen,

Concrete must be kept
above 50 degrees,

Which means it has to be heated
before it's poured.

So chemicals are added
to the mixture to help speed up

The setting process
and safeguard the permafrost.

?

This phenomenal bridge spanned
the most difficult section

Of the qinghai-tibet railway
and enabled engineers

To finally complete their
journey across the plateau.

[ Speaking native language ]

Interpreter: Building a railway
under extreme weather conditions

On the qinghai-tibet plateau
is 10 times more difficult

Than building a railway
on normal, solid ground.

Narrator: It took an army
of more than 600 medics

And 17 oxygen stations to
support the construction team.

Reaching altitudes
of over 16,400 feet

Means that oxygen is 45% lower.

[ Train horn blows ]

Today, just traveling the route
gives a real sense

Of the conditions
that the workers faced.

Even passengers on this
highest stretch of rail

Need to have access to oxygen.

?

Completed in 2006, the railroad
was mainly used by tourists

Visiting the once-isolated
region of tibet.

Today, it's a vital part
of everyday life for the locals,

With the number of trains almost
doubling in just over a decade.

But none of it
would have been possible

Without the qingshuihe bridge.

Interpreter: Being part
of the operation and management

Of this worldwide engineering
project is my glory and my duty.

?

Narrator: Permafrost might be
a formidable opponent,

But around the world,

Railroads must cross many
different landscapes.

And one that presents an
altogether different challenge

Is a forested wilderness.

Steep inclines and dense foliage

Once stood between
the california lumber industry

And its ability to meet
skyrocketing demand

For building materials
in the 19th century.

But the engineers behind
the sugar pine railroad

At the base of
the sierra nevada mountain range

Were prepared to make
the impossible possible.

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Narrator: In the late 1800s,
fueled by the gold rush,

The demand for timber across
north america was sky-high.

Thick pine forests
on the western slope

Of the central
sierra nevada wilderness

Offered an abundant supply.

Horses and oxen were the usual
method of transport.

But to meet demand, locomotives,
with their superior power,

Began to appear.

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But getting them through
thick forests was far from easy.

Engineer chris potts
is at the site

Of a once-prolific
logging operation.

This is the sugar pine railroad,

Located in california's
sierra nevada forest.

And these surroundings
are what would be typically seen

In the early logging camps.

These tracks here
are actually quite modern,

Made of steel, sturdily fixed
into place, and well-maintained.

The difference is that
the early railroads

Would have had no such luxury.

Earlier railroads were made
of the logs they milled.

The tracks would have
only ever been temporary.

Narrator:
Quickly-laid temporary tracks

Would weave their way
through the trees.

The tracks' tight curves and
makeshift nature were a recipe

For disaster for the recently
introduced rod locomotives.

These huge trains were powered
by pressurized steam,

With their horizontally
mounted pistons

Driving only
a single set of wheels.

With all the power
from the engine

Concentrated in a small area,
it meant poor traction

And a limited ability
to climb gradients.

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This is a rod locomotive's
worst nightmare.

They could only travel
about 4% grades at their max,

And this right here
is about 12%...

Almost three times as much
as a rod locomotive

Could usually go on.

With the rough terrain,
the tight curves,

And the steep grades,

Rod locomotives would have
a hard time making it here.

Narrator:
But it's not just the terrain

That the engineers
were battling.

Potts: When the rod locomotives
went down the track,

The action of the piston
moving back and forth

And back and forth

Would have easily tore the
tracks right out of the ground.

If locomotives were gonna make
a positive impact

On the logging industry,

The rod engine would have
to be completely rethought.

Narrator: And in 1877,

Entrepreneurial-logger-
turned-inventor ephraim shay

Proposed a solution
with the introduction

Of his radically
redesigned locomotive.

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[ Bell clanging ]

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This is incredible!

I'm riding the number 10 shay,

The largest narrow-gauge shay
ever built.

Standing up here, you can truly
appreciate the power...

The steam, the heat of the fire,

And the pistons
moving up and down.

What a feat of engineering.

Absolutely incredible.

Narrator:
This is a shay lima locomotive,

And it's impressive
beyond its mighty power.

Potts: At first glance, you'd be
forgiven for confusing the shay

With a rod locomotive.

But, actually, it was
a revolution in design.

It completely transformed
the locomotives

For the logging industry.

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Wilderness like this would stop
any rod train in its tracks,

But not the shay.

Narrator: In fact, the innovative
design making this locomotive move

Changed the lumber industry.

So, just how did the shay

Help make the
sugar pine railroad a reality?

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Narrator: Engineer chris potts
is discovering

How ephraim shay's
revolutionary locomotive design

Enabled the sugar pine railroad
to take on the dense woods

At the base of the sierra nevada
mountain range.

The key to shay's design
is that, instead of using rods

To power just one set of wheels,

It uses gears to share the power
between six sets of wheels.

It's a fundamental change

That transforms how a locomotive
uses its power

And gives the shay
its unique appearance.

This is how it works.

There are three giant pistons,

And these massive pistons
work in a vertical direction.

As the power generated
by the steam from that boiler

Is transferred
into this gear train,

It is sent down
to the bevel gears,

And these gears work
with a 2:1 ratio,

Where the smaller gear spins

Twice as fast
as the larger gear.

And the way it works is,

It takes that speed
from the smaller gear

And transforms it into torque,

Meaning that this train
can go up 14% grades...

Unheard of for trains
of its age...

And can take huge loads
across huge distances.

There's a bevel gear on each one
of these wheels,

Essentially making it
a 12-wheel drive.

Pretty cool.

Narrator:
By realigning the cylinders

And gearing the power
to each set of wheels,

Shay also had increased
traction,

And would be far better suited

To the demands of the
challenging logging landscape.

So, one of the key differences
here is that this train operates

With three vertical pistons,

Meaning that it was
a lot less destructive

Than the rod locomotives
of its time,

Where they operated
with a horizontal piston,

Meaning that it was
less destructive to the tracks.

Narrator:
After its introduction in 1878,

The shay locomotive was
an instant success story,

Enabling these relatively
small engines

To move heavy goods at low
speeds through rough terrain.

Over the next 10 years,

More than 300 shays
were produced,

Totally transforming
the logging industry.

Potts: The shay train was
perfectly equipped to brave

Even the most
challenging of wilderness.

This is an incredible feat
of engineering.

Just the sheer power.

I love it!

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[ Bell clanging ]

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Narrator: For centuries,
railroads have carved paths

Through the world's
most unforgiving wilderness.

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Through exceptional creations...

It's spectacular.

You don't find
this type of thing

In many places in the world.

It's rainforest-railway
engineering at the world's best.

Narrator:
And cutting-edge solutions...

Someday, they'll have to build
a train on mars

Or the moon or whatever,

But this is about as close
as that gets on earth.

Narrator: Engineers continue
to succeed,

Creating impossible railroads.

Engineering versus
the wilderness...

I think engineering won.

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