quiz #3- Yard ops

Mon Dec 29 12:44:54 EST 2014

Thanks to Jeff and Jimmy and anyone else for their professional input. This
is good reading.
Charlie Long
On Dec 28, 2014 7:34 AM, "NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List" <
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> 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
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20141229/8320905f/attachment-0001.html>