Hump Yards

I was just watching a new railroad video I got in the mail. It had a segment on Barstow yard. I always thought there was a really smart guy in the tower throwing all the switches, but no, hump yards are totally computerized! No wonder hump switching in YD is a challenge. None of us can think like a computer... I guess that's why I prefer flat switching, even if I do it in the hump yard. Jim

Yard Duty, The National Freight Yard Simulation - http://groups.msn.com/YardDuty

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RE: Hump Yards, kforsyth, Dec-30-02, 06:37 PM, (1) RE: Hump Yards, KingJPW, Dec-30-02, 07:51 PM, (2) RE: Hump Yards, NSSpike, Feb-06-03, 00:43 AM, (3) RE: Hump Yards, Davecr0, Feb-06-03, 10:35 AM, (4) RE: Hump Yards, NSSpike, Feb-06-03, 04:46 PM, (5) RE: Hump Yards, KingJPW, Feb-06-03, 04:57 PM, (6) RE: Hump Yards, Smiley, Feb-15-03, 00:48 AM, (7) RE: Hump Yards, DaveHonan, Feb-15-03, 01:52 AM, (8)

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Several months ago the Chief of Police for the Belt Railway of Chicago gave me a tour of the BRC's Clearing Yard hump tower. To say it was way cool is to use little words for what to me was a very big deal. Everything in the tower is run by computer: switches, brakes, etc. The guys are there just to keep an eye on things, and could jaw with the Chief and me without worry. (Not to say it's a cushy job -- it's a very important one: to never trust computers!)The guy with the tough job is the pin puller. While the line is continually pushed up the hill (at about 1 mph, not 4-6 mph as in YD), he walks between the moving cars and pulls the knuckle pins. There's a digital display board showing the last 3 digits of the next 4 or 5 cars in line, and if a number's followed by a 'P', that car's pin is pulled. Dangerous work, but always done safely at BRC.

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Yeah, never trust computers, even when running YD. haha. Anyway, I started this thread just so people don't get frustrated with humping cars. I guess it would be cool if I automated the hump switching, but it would present a programming challenge that I'm not perpared to embark on. It boggles my mind to think how I would implement that in YD.Jim

Yard Duty, The National Freight Yard Simulation - http://groups.msn.com/YardDuty

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LAST EDITED ON Feb-06-03 AT 00:45 AM (EDT)

NS's De Butts Yard is a exception to the rule. The Hump Conductor located in a small shack at the crest of the hump lines the cars into the 60 classification by electrical connections. The pin puller has a list that comes out of the printer in the Hump Conductor's shack. The pin puller reads a list while on the lead and cuts the cars according to numerous factors such as: type of car, weight, class track destination, and other factors. Computers are only used for clerical purposes in the Main Tower by the yardmaster. When a train enters the receiving yard the train pops up in the yardmaster's inbound box, and the yardmaster moves the trains consist to the receiving yard list by clicking and dragging with his mouse. Then he sends the list for any giving track being humped to the hump conductor's shack before the operation begins. Also the master and group retarders are controlled by the retarder operator by electrical connection in a tower at the throat of the class yard. The classification process at De Butts has changed little since the yard was first built in the 50's by Southern Railway.

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Glad to see your descriptions of hump shunting. I started my railway career based at a hump yard (unfortunately long gone). Watching all the wagons rattling past used to fascinate me, little things & small minds as they say. In those days the switches were thrown by a computer & the shunting/switching locos were radio controlled. The guy doing the uncoupling had a long pole to unhook the wagons, no modern technology for him.

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I think the ability to have hump yards in this game is great. I classified a 50 car cut last night at De butts.

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Spike,I saw your posts last night and wasn't sure if you were playing the game or just poking your head in to make some generic railroad remarks. Glad to see that you are playing and enjoying the game! Jim

Yard Duty, The National Freight Yard Simulation - http://groups.msn.com/YardDuty

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Hump shunt is way cool, I am a driver for Tranzrail (New Zealand) when i started in 1981 we still had hump shunts here.. mind you they were probably only 1/3 the size of barstow our switches were also computer controlled but the operator still had to input what roads for each cut. We still operate with hooks here so all the cuts were done before we started to move the rake up the hump..Sadly now flat switching is now the norm as both humps were decomissioned ..
Smiley

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It certainly is a shame, but it's also the case here in the US. CSX is in the planning stage for reconstructing one of its hump yards into a flat-switching facility (a possibility that would have been inconceivable if you'd seen the place 5 years ago). Conrail closed the under-utilized hump at DeWitt Yard in Syracuse, NY, a number of years ago, but in doing was able to close small intermodal facilities at Selkirk and Buffalo and consolidate those operations at DeWitt, which is now a bustling intermodal facility.On the other hand, NS recently reopened the hump at Enola Yard (Harrisburg, PA), although a series of derailments, run-throughs, and a couple injuries finally convinced them of the necessity to install retarders.But regardless, fear not, hump facilities will abound here! Kevin is trying to work out a way to make the Belt Railway of Chicago's huge Clearing Yard functional within YD's limits. I'm working on laying track at CSX's Selkirk Yard (near Albany, NY), and I intend to also do hump yard in Indianapolis, IN, Newark, NJ, and Russell, KY. And, I'm sure that some of the other yards shown on Jim's Projects page and in the yahoo database are also hump facilities.-Dave
Floating in limbo...
http://www.davehonan.gcdranet.com/

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