End of the year quiz #3

Sun Dec 28 00:20:15 EST 2014

Jim,

You are essentially correct. After a train arrives, either a yard brakeman or a car inspector walks the train and bleeds the air off the cars, so they will roll free when humped. Generally, the entire track is humped at the same time. When the yardmaster is ready, he instructs the hump conductor to line up track ## and bring it to the hump. After the track is lined up, (using the hump signals), the engineer will shove to the hump. When the conductor has the computer set up for hump operation, he will set the hump signal to "yellow", which means to shove at hump speed (usually about 1.5 to 1.8 mph).  In the days of "car retarder operators" , they controlled the lining up of switches and the retarders ( which controlled the speed of the cars). As the cars are cut off by the hump brakeman, they roll free, speed controlled by the retarders, into the designated track. A hump list is generated from the inbound train's consist. This list is entered into the hump computer. As each car approaches the hump, it is automatically routed to the correct class track.
When the humping is complete, if there are cars to take west(in Roanoke, you hump eastward), the conductor puts the computer into "trim" mode. This allows the condr.  to line up switches to the tracks he needs to pull west of the hump. Once this has been done, he gives the proper signal for the engineer to shove over the hump and pick up the cars that needs to go west. (in my experience,  even though you had to have the proper signals displayed, the actual move was controlled by the brakeman, who was on the head end of the movement by radio. Actually, radios eventually did away with the signals all together in the yard, though you still had the signals on the hump apex. 
As best as I can remember, the hump signals in the receiving yard looked the same as the signal on the hump apex. Of course, when you are trimming cars or doubling cars to take west, you couldn't hump at the same time.
I mentioned earlier how inbound trains had the air bleed off the cars in preparation for humping. When cars that had been humped (classified by their destination) were taken west to makeup an outbound train, they were doubled according to their classification (i.e.; Bellevue on the rear, Columbus next, Portsmouth next, etc.). They would be taken to the west end of  the receiving yard, where hand brakes and a small amount of air was applied. The track would be turned over to the Car Dept. They walk the train, inspecting the cars for defects, and coupling all the air hoses. When that is done, they will test the air brakes, either ground air, or by  using engines that could have been coupled to the train. Once released by the Car Dept. it is ready to go.
Basically, you couldn't hump and have another engine working in the class yard at the same time. I don't think the signals were interlocked, as they didn't afford protection against switches improperly lined, even though you had to have the proper signal to make your move.
There were situations where other engines could be in the class yard while humping, they just had to have proper protection, such as being locked up in the track, or group of tracks, they were occupying.
I've tried to make this as simple as possible, so I hope I haven't confused you more than before!
If you need any more details, feel free to contact me off list at nsyardconductor at yahoo.com .
Jeff

From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
 To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
 Sent: Friday, December 26, 2014 10:13 AM
 Subject: Re: End of the year quiz #3

Thanks Ed and Jeff, the magnitude of what I don't know never ceases to amaze me.  Let me run a basic hump yard operations scenario by you and if you would, correct my mistakes and fill in additional details.  A freight arrives at the recieveing yard and its consist is broken up into cuts.  A hump engine grabs a cut and under the control of the hump signal, pushes it to the top of the hump where a man on the ground uncouples the lead car to allow it to roll over the crest and start down the other side.  Concurrently, a man in the hump tower sets the switches and retarders to take the free rolling car into the proper track (based on subsequent destination) and slow it to coupling speed.  After a number of cuts have been humped, the hump signal is set to red (was this a stoplight type signal, red over yellow over green?) and a trimmer engine went into the sorting tracks at the bottom of the hump to pull out cuts and take them to an assembly yard to be incorporated into larger cuts that would be made up into trains.  Did the trimmer signals have the same appearance as the hump signals?  So the humping and trimming would be interlocked by signals.  How about the initial breakup of incoming trains and the final assembly of outgoing movements?  How were these actions coordinated with the humping and trimming, or did this switching never go on at the same time as humping and trimming was happening?Jim Cochran
On Wed, Dec 24, 2014 at 3:05 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

Jimmy,
Thanks for your confidence. The signal in the photo was so different from Roanoke's that I didn't want to confuse things. I have also found that different locations may have different nomenclature for similar things.
Roanoke had what we called "Hump/Trim signals" in the receiving yard. These were used to signal engines that were ready to hump a track. If I remember correctly, there was Green for "Shove" (to the hump), Yellow for "Hump" (speed), Red for "Stop" and Blinking Red for "Back-up". With the newer hump system, some of the engines could be "hooked-up" to the computer control machine which was operated by the Conductor. Once hook-up was established, the Conductor could stop the movement by touching "Stop" on the touch screen. After the Conductor reset the computer and went to Green, the Engineer had to open the throttle and reset the "Hump Control" on the engine.
There were two, or three, signals for cuts being humped out of tracks 1-10, which signals were on the south side of track #1. Cuts being humped out of tracks 11-20 were controlled by signals located between tracks 10 & 11.
Before any "Trimming" could be done (shoving over into the class yard), the Hump Signals had to be set at Red. The computer had to be placed in "Trim" mode. All switches were lined by the Conductor, after which the Engineer was told he was lined up for #(whatever) track, retarders were open (or down). At this point the Brakeman on the crew would direct the movement, by radio, until the movement was complete. The Conductor would then reset the computer and prepare to hump again.
Several other places in the Terminal had "Switching Signals" where the engineer couldn't see hand signals. As best as I remember, the signals operated somewhat similarly to the hump signals, as far as their aspects were concerned (i.e.; Green-shove fast; Blinking Green-Shove slow; Blinking Red Back-up; Red-stop). I don't remember there being a Yellow on the Switching Signals, but I could be wrong about that. There were signals on the West End of the yard, on both the Empty Side Yard and the Pull-in tracks. There was also signals on the east end of the Empty Side Yard (24th Street and East), and on both ends of South Yard. The controls were operated by the Conductor.
These were still in use when I went to the yard in '81. But, as radios became more prevalent, they slowly stopped using the Switching Signals. Don't know about the Switching Signals, but the Hump Signals (on the hump apex) were physically removed in October 2008.
Hope this helps a little.
Jeff Sanders

     From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
 To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
 Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 8:29 AM
 Subject: Re: End of the year quiz #3

I was hoping that Jeff Sanders would chime in on this one. I know that 
he could explain their use. There were trimmer signals here in Roanoke 
in several places. I know that they were on the hump and east end of the 
empty side yard.

Jimmy Lisle
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