Classifying Techniques

I thought that it might be worthwhile to talk about this again, now that we have more people playing and more yards than ever.Lets hear your opinions on classifying, but they will most likely differ from the yards that we all classify in. Clearly, Selkirk and Debutts will have a different plan than smaller yards such as Allentown.I'll go into how I handle things at Allentown. Allentown is a pretty good size classification yard, 28 tracks(30 in real life) and it an important eastern class point which handles trains coming from the North, East and West which allows for a good mix of cars going every which direction. When Classifying in YD, I pretty much assigned 1 track in the Allentown class yard to a certain destination, ie, 1 for Taylor, 1 for Calumet. Clearly I have made some exceptions, I put all CA's plus OR and WA on one track and I also put the GA's together, 1 track for each destination isn't possible in Allentown, might be in a place like Selkirk. Everytime I went to make up a train, for example ALNS(15T) which runs from Allentown to Debutts I would pull the GA/TN track, the Avondale track, the Des Monies track and the WY track. If I didn't think it was long enough I would add some CA cars and usually create a pretty large size train.That is the way I'm doing it right now, but I'm thinking to the future with more yards coming on-line and it would be easier to change right now. My new thinking would be classifying per train, this would cut each train down to two tracks. Using the example of ALNS, I would create a track for all the cars heading towards Debutts, then on an adjacent track I would put all the cars in no particular order. This would entail putting the MO's, GA's, WY's and IA's on one track. It would probably take 3 tracks as 2 tracks, 1 for Debutts and 1 for the other cars on this train wouldn't suffice.Imput welcome, how do you handle classifying cars?Chris Lee
Train Artisan

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RE: Classifying Techniques, Davecr0, Jun-15-03, 04:37 PM, (1) RE: Classifying Techniques, KingJPW, Jun-15-03, 07:06 PM, (2) RE: Classifying Techniques, DaveHonan, Jun-15-03, 08:12 PM, (3) RE: Classifying Techniques, jwr123, Jun-15-03, 10:23 PM, (4) RE: Classifying Techniques, KingJPW, Jun-15-03, 11:43 PM, (5) RE: Classifying Techniques, DaveHonan, Jun-16-03, 01:04 AM, (6) RE: Classifying Techniques, KingJPW, Jun-16-03, 01:31 AM, (7) RE: Classifying Techniques, NSSpike98, Jun-16-03, 02:15 AM, (8) RE: Classifying Techniques, LongHoodForward, Jun-17-03, 08:39 PM, (9) RE: Classifying Techniques, KingJPW, Jun-17-03, 09:01 PM, (10) RE: Classifying Techniques, NSSpike98, Jun-17-03, 10:01 PM, (11) RE: Classifying Techniques, jwr123, Jun-18-03, 02:27 PM, (12)

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At Avondale I basically classify by area. Trains are split into 1 of 4 geographical areas NE,SE,NW,SW. Each area is allocated 2/3 tracks as required.NE traffic is then sent onwards to Corwith/Calumet, SE to Debutts & SW to Barstow for further classification. NW traffic I further classify into yards, using one of Avondales smaller yards.I also use 2 tracks for Avondale local traffic & 1 track for Des Moines

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Chris,Sounds like you guys are doing it about the same way that I do. I take a 'California' perspective. I have a broken the nation down into regions, like Midwest, NorthEast and the South. I give the states in each region a similar color, for example states in the South are each a different shade of greeen. So at West Colton, CA I make blocks for each region of the country. I really only use a few tracks for the east coast. For incoming trains, I sort according to California yard, which requires more track, having 2 or 3 yards per track, depending on what part of the state they are bound for.KingJPW

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

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At Selkirk, I class things differently based on where the cars are destined:- Each northeast yard is assigned an individual track. When assembling trains, I pull the blocks in order, so that the first yard the train enters will have a setout on the head end, and so forth. MA/ME traffic goes east on SENE, Albany/Bingo/Taylor traffic goes north on CP 259, and NJ traffic goes south on SEOI. This train can also run as SEAL if I have a block for Allentown, with the Jersey traffic being set out en route.- Traffic for Acca Yard and Florida is blocked by yard, and sent south on SECS, being turned over to Team CSX at Perryville. This traffic may eventually be lumped together and forwarded to Waycross for reclassification.- Traffic for the mid-south (GA, TN, NC) is all lumped together, and sent to DeButts as SENS for reclassification. This train will eventually be rerouted to Linwood.- Traffic for the midwest is blocked by yard. Indiana traffic goes to Terre Haute on SEIN, while Chicago traffic goes to Calumet Yard on SEBR.- Traffic for the Great Plains is blocked by yard. The Avondale block is added to SENS, while cars for Des Moines and the Wyoming yards ride on SEBR.- Traffic for the west is grouped together and sent west on SEBR for forwarding to Barstow or West Colton for reclassification.My guiding principle is to keep the yard efficient and do the work necessary to get the cars to where they need to go. If there's another class yard en route, then I'll make use of that resource and not bother to class 'em at Selkirk.However, if any of the other yardmasters would like me to block by yard, please let me know and I'll happily accomodate you. It isn't too much of a big deal, but I'm horribly lazy!-Dave
Conrail Albany Division
...striving for "Continuous Quality Improvement"
http://gcdranet.homelinux.com/davehonan/Yard Duty Superintendent of Maps
http://members.trainorders.com/dwhonan/yd/projects.html

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I classify pretty much the same as the rest of you guys. By region, NE, SE, MW, NW, SW. As far as classifying shorts on through freights, it kinda depends on the situation. But for the most part everything is lumped together to be reclassified once it reaches its region. Now back to shorts. I tend to base my shorts as in real life. I save the shorts for one particular train to do the setting out and picking up. For instance...my home terminal in real life is Manchester Ga. We have 2 locals based out of the yard here. Two through freights make a daily set off and pick up (Q541 for the set off, Q544 for the pick up). Now Manchester locals receive a lot of cars from Waycross. There may be cars destined for Manchester on Q685 out of Birmingham, but instead of 685 setting out one or two cars, it passes right through Manchester to Waycross and is then reclassified on a northbound to Atlanta, and is THEN reclassified in Atlanta onto 541 to make the actual set off. Kind of a round about way to do it. That example is a somewhat extreme situation but it does happen. For the most part, cars are collected in waycross, pass right through Manchester to Atlanta, and then blocked on the head end of Q541. As for pick ups, Q544 stops on its way to Atlanta, the cars its picking up may be destined for Waycross but they are taken on to Atlanta and reclassified on a southbound back to Waycross. Yet another round about way LOL. I hope all this makes sense? So anyway, the moral...I dont worry too much about shorts...just as in real life they will get there eventually...even if they are mis-routed. I once traced a car destined for an industry in LaGrange Ga, pass through LaGrange 5 times (between Montgomery and Atlanta) before it was finally set out. Not good.Best Regards,
Jim

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"...so that the first yard the train enters will have a setout on the head end, and so forth."Not that it matters in YD, but i think in actual practise I think it would go at the rear. Someone help me out here."...if there's another class yard en route, then I'll make use of that resource and not bother to class 'em at Selkirk."I believe this is common prototypical practise. Just get them close to their destination and do final sorting at the local classification yard.

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

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Allow me:- Q645 (or Q647) often has a 20-to-30 car head-end setout for Baker Yard.- J721's daily drop for Duane Yard (between Haley and Van) is on the head end.- Today's Q518 had a 23-car setout for Greencastle that it picked up at Princeton... on the head end.This is done to avoid having to move the marker. Moving the marker, by rule, requires an initial terminal test to be performed, which would result in an additional delay of at least an hour (depending on train length).-Dave
Conrail Albany Division
...striving for "Continuous Quality Improvement"
http://gcdranet.homelinux.com/davehonan/Yard Duty Superintendent of Maps
http://members.trainorders.com/dwhonan/yd/projects.html

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Well that certainly makes sense. I wonder how I got it in my head that they went at the rear? Maybe in the days of the caboose, before they had FREDs? Jim

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

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I run De Butts very similar to what Dave described. All cars for the east and midwest I receive are blocked by terminal or final destination. Cars for the west are blocked by state. In my opinion trains received at Simpson and Avondale for example should require very little classification considering the nature of the yard (flat).De Butts in real life receives trains with shorts on the rear. The train pulls into the receiving yard and the De Butt's are cut off by a utility man, and then the train pulls across "Hop Skip" Bridge (which is the track that crosses over the fowarding yard) and either heads out the mainline or drops down the local yard lead into the fowarding yard and picks up a fill out. In the case of the train that heads out the mainline the bottom of the train is stopped by the main tower, a carman hangs a EOT on the rear and test it, and then the train is released. The train that is doubled to the fowarding yard must receive a full brake test because of the additon of new cars to the train that must be inspected and have there brakes tried.Once again I think the nature of the terminal should be considered when deciding where a set out should be placed in a train. A major terminal like De Butts or Selkirk which has numerous carmen available it would be prototypical to receive a train with shorts on the rear. Double overs are generally avoided. However in the case of a very small yard where no carmen may be available it would be prototypical for the shorts to be on the head end of the train so the cars could be doubled into the yard.

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Not to mention backing your whole train into a yard to make a set-out on the rear (can we say derailment!)...unless you plan on running the entire train through 5-10 mph yard trackage. Just not good operating procedure, in reality that is. Corey
"LongHoodForward"

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Not sure I understand what 'doubling-over' means.

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

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A train pulls into track 7 in the receiving yard but the train will not completely fit. The conductor calls the main tower and the tower says "double" the over flow to r.t. 8, the train shoves the extra cars into r.t. 8 and takes the engines to shop. The train just completed a double over. When you pull a train into a track and shove a portion or all of your train into a adjacent track, thats a "double-over".

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Very true about how ops vary with different yards and terminals. Here are a few examples.
For Boyles Yard in Birmingham all our shorts are blocked on the headend..i.e. BNSF block for East Thomas Yard on the head end of Q592. They will have us usually pull in 1D departure track, cut off our BNs and pull them into 2 tail, cut our engines off, couple on to 1 tail and shove a cut of Nashville cars onto the head end of the train, then do a brake test and its ready to go.For Tilford Yard in Atlanta, we take Q544 into one of the receiving tracks, usually R8, cut the Cincy cars off the head end from the Atlanta destined cars, pull down the inbound and then double over on top of another Cincy cut in R7 and make them solid.As far as backing trains into a yard, it is common at Rice Yard in Waycross (largest yard on CSX). The receiving tracks are soo long, 12,000' plus, that its not uncommon at all to have the first train pull in the R yard regular, then have a second train pull around the wye to Jacksonville, then back in on top of the first train in order to maximize the space used in the R yard. I have backed an 11,000 ton, 5,600' long Q647 into the yard through numerous switches and crossovers. Something I've never really cared for.Anyway, just a few examples!!

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