"A hump yard, since it's automated, is a little more efficient." Little did Mark Davis know in 2012 that a decade later, his employer would be closing hump yards or converting them into flat switched block transfer yards.

Great to see this in operation

Baily is really 3 huge yards adjacent to eachother, including TWO large hump yards, unheard otherwise in the rail industry.

@geomodelrailroader

6 жыл бұрын

yup two humps one intermodel. trains bound for the Hump are bled of all air and then sent over one at a time. each car is given a number by the tag reader and once the car passes the reader the switch is thrown and retraders send the car onto the departure track where it becomes the outbound train going to its final destination. The Intermodal Yard is in the center of Bailey Yard on the main track in 45 minutes the train pulls in, each locomotive and reefer is refueled, the trash is taken out, the locomotive is cleaned, the windows are washed, oil change is done, sand is refilled, and out it goes to Chicago or to Green River where it is refueled again until it reaches it's final destination. If a train is bad order the cars are removed by a switcher and sent to the car shop in the center of the yard or placed on a jack pad on the siding they are on. The locomotive is sent across the yard to North Platte Diesel Shop where everything is replaced and a new locomotive is assigned to the train.

Good description

One of the reasons why the hump yard is efficient is because, in order to sort the cars, the train does not have to be shoved back and forth, so each car can be placed where it needs to go. Not only does it take more time to shove a train back and forth, but it also consumes more diesel fuel. The hump yards are automated and it makes use of gravity do the work, while the computer control system sets the track switches automatically, and as they said, it also controls the speed of the rail cars using the retarders. In the old days, hump yards had manually lined track switches, or switches hooked up to a system of chains and/or ropes so they could be changed from a central control point/room/tower. There were brakemen that rode the cars down the hill. Their job was to turn the handbrake at the correct time to bring the car to a stop just as it couples to the other cars. If they misjudged, the traincars would hit each other hard, causing damage and even a derailment, not to mention that the brakeman could fall off the traincars and get seriously injured. If they braked too early, the train locomotive would have to come down the hill and push the cars together. Railroads have come such a long way with computer controlled technology...!!!

I wonder if they could convert that kinetic energy to power generation when slowing cars. Is it economically viable?

@whiteknightcat

3 жыл бұрын

No. Such a system would require a consistent input of kinetic energy, rather than an intermittent one such as with individual cars rolling down a slope. As it is, one of the Bailey Yard humps was idled for several months due to insufficient traffic, and others are being converted to flat switched yards as part of the PSR philosophy that the Class I's are adopting.

Interesting

How do railcars roll when disconnected from their air supply? I thought a break in the air hose stopped the car!

@25mfd

Жыл бұрын

the brakes can be bled off

Gravity is not free. One has to lift the cars in the first place, which takes energy input from the locomotive.

why don't they look?

10/16/19. Hello. All With this Big Talk, Kinitic power, Energy, Where did you get this stuff. A Dictionary? It's Flat Called ~~~Gravity~~~ Doesn't take Energy for those cars coming off the Hump's. Only Energy it takes are the Diesel Engine's pushing the cars up to the Hump~

Then somebody has to go hook all those cars air hoses up again. Big job.

@geomodelrailroader

7 жыл бұрын

Norman Mcgill and an RCL powered yard goat has to hook onto the train and take it to the departure yard before the power is sent from the diesel shop over to the departure yard to take the train to its final destination.

The Largest Yard in the World itself Bailey Yard every day 10 billion trains come through here and they are broken apart and routed to the out going tracks to head to their final destination. Name a commodity and I will tell you some time in its life it came though Bailey Yard headed to its final destination.

@whiteknightcat

3 жыл бұрын

10 billion trains? LOL