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Watched the rest of the the video. The elevator operator was his own switch engine. No trackmobile here. He had to physically move the boxcar himself from the set out point near the mainline to the loading point at the side of the elevator. No wonder those guys were so skinny, doing stuff like that and up and down a 150′ ladder all day long.
He started the car moving with a come-along lever and then an apparent slight downgrade to the elevator allowed it to roll into place at the elevator, with the operator now being the brakeman with the brake wheel, stopping the car right in place with no one on the ground to help locate it.
After loading, the operator got the car rolling again, downgrade to the end of the siding where other boxcars, apparently already loaded, were sitting. Gravity was the prime mover here.
We live in cities today and forget how physical and dangerous rural ag life was and still is.
