What is a HUMP Yard?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Hump yards are amazing pieces of engineering that allow railroads to use gravity to sort cars and build trains. Of course, not all railroad equipment can be humped.
Follow me on social media!
Instagram: www.instagram....
Twitter: v1...
Flickr: www.flickr.com...
#trains #technology #documentary 
Авто/Мото
Excellent coverage. I will say that these days “Do Not Hump” means nothing to a Hump yard if it’s only stenciled on the side of a car. The yardmaster and hump computer goes off of the information on the cars RFID tag and if there isn’t an instruction that prohibits humping even if the equipment shouldn’t get humped it might get humped anyways. For example those orange switch panel cars got humped a few times at NS Conway Terminal when they probably shouldn’t have, but there was nothing in the cars information prohibiting it from being humped. M&W was not pleased but, I simply told them they need to bill their cars correctly haha. We’ve humped all kinds of equipment that probably shouldn’t have been…
Very interesting. Thanks for watching! I should have mentioned something about the RFID tags in this. I have plenty of footage of them and the readers.
I will definitely say doing your job properly, would be seeing something that should be humped and to not hump it. sad you cant make ur own decisions
@@RoscoeDaMule its not doing the job improperly it’s the person that billed the car incorrectly leading to improper handling at the yard. It’s simply the pace of the operation. If the computer doesn’t flag the car by the time it’s on the hill it’s generally too late. There’s not a someone examining every car that comes up the hill. The mechanical department quickly inspects the cars as they bleed the air out of them, but it’s not their job to let the yardmaster know “this car says do not hump” it’s up to the person that bills the car to add that info to the RFID tag. Hump Yards are fast paced (in the railroad world) production facilities. There are rules in places against humping certain cars regardless of their tagging like the scale car for example but like I said every car can’t be inspected for do not hump placards. It has to be in the RFID tag for the Hump computer to pick up. In fact the decisions were all mine to make, and the through out of the yard is priority.
@@Stoker58 " We’ve humped all kinds of equipment that probably shouldn’t have been…" ?
@@BTW... for example the switch panel cars featured here at @3:52
3:08 My dad hated Hunter with a passion. I hear PSR was really just mass layoffs and throwing safety out the window.
True
I appreciate your explanation of the peculiar things in the railroad industry no one else has bothered to explain before. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Genius idea. Old tech, but as they say about "if it isn't broke....." Automated sorting is a good idea: Nothing against improving on what isn't broke. Nice to have a detailed definition on the name and workings. Good video.
Thanks!
When I was a kid growing up in a Los Angeles suburb I used to ride my bike to Taylor Yard to watch trains being assembled. Learned a lot then and now! Thanks for the vid!
I used to be the Switchman at a coal dumper on midnight shift. Conductor would uncouple a hopper, stop and close the knuckle. The uncoupled car would roll down the hill and bump into the car that was in the coal dumper, pushing it out. I would be in a shack (a little bit bigger than a phone booth, with the only window in the door, facing away from the dumper). The erie sound of a rail car, coming right at you, at night, took a while to get used to. As the hopper came near, I would pull up the cutting lever. Then near the end of the shift, I’d take a metal bar and walk down the track. If the cars didn’t couple, I’d put the bar between the knuckles, pry enough to open the coupler. 🎃
We used to have these in the UK, and I worked at one. It used peculiar retarders made by Dowty that were little pistons that the car wheels pressed down the resistance slowing the car. There were hundreds of these all along the tracks from the hump. Each piston also had a high pressure oil supply, and if a car wasn't moving well, would give a boost to the wagon as it passed. A clever valve in the unit worked out the speed of the car.
However, in the 80s, British Rail gave up wagonload freight and it all became trainload. There are intermodal services but almost all are to and from a few ports in England.
Great video as always. The Hump Yard that is Brosnan Yard in Macon was shut down years ago only to be reactivated recently.
Thanks dude!
I grew up walking distance from the New York Central R.R. Lonyo St. hump yard in Detroit. It’s long gone now, all the tracks have been pulled up and buildings demolished, only the mound of earth making the hump remains. As a kid I spent hours sitting alongside the hump, watching the cars roll by!
Thanks for this video, I’ve been curious how this work. Ive seen trains switching from car to car. I’ve seen cars with “Do not hump” and and I was curious what they are use for. Thanks for the explanation, V12!
I always just assumed that cars with the "Do not hump" sign just indicated that that car has traveled through areas with particularly passionate railfans.
I live in Nashville, and hearing the hump yard for the first time was super eerie. Great video!
Thanks!
heard that Maschen RBF, the biggest switching yard in Europe, also does this kind of switching. But we do not have knuckle couplers. We put everything together by hand with our Chain couplings. I think It just tourned out to be more efficient that way since (to my understanding) they have thousands of containers a day from the port going out to other European countries (maybe Austria) or to many places in Germany.
Videos about the hump yard are few and far between. This one was well done although I wish there was a way to see all of the operations and retarders up close. The explanation was well done too but only for those that know a little bit about what trains do there. Thanks for showing this piece.
Thanks!
Try this one. It is about a UK version but, if my memory is correct, it does ho a little deeper into the operating of the yard.
I used to live about two miles away from Radnor Yard in Crieve Hall. Those railroad boys are indeed some noisy humpers, you could hear them squeal anytime I went outside to my deck.
Great video we had some large(by UK standards ) automated hump yards in 1960's , this was seen as the way forward for rail . But it all seemed to die off ,hump shunting totally stopped and these big yards ended up as housing estates . I suspect its was governments bias towards road haulage in UK , rail had to pay to maintain its infrastructure were as road haulage paid bit road/fuel tax then given full road network to use/wreck at the expense of tax payers . We still have waggons with do not hump shunt on them even though its been well over 40 years since we had hump yards , got to say your passenger side needs improving but your rail freight really shows rest of the world how it should be done ,well done
Beautiful overhead shots!!!! And I never knew what DO NOT HUMP meant to now. TY fer that man!!!!
Thanks for watching!
Welcome to our fair city of Nashville. Next time you come up from Atlanta, you should visit Radnor Lake. It is a nearby state park featuring local wildlife and wonderful wooded hiking trails...a favorite for local residents. But for the context of this video, it is a man-made lake created by the Louisville & Nashville railroad at the turn of the 20th century. The railroad bought the property in what was rural southern Davidson county and dammed Otter Creek, creating the lake. Then a pipe was constructed to bring water to nearby Radnor Yards to service the steam engines. Railroad executives would also use the property to relax, hunt and fish, sometimes with clients. In 1960, all the steam locomotives were retired and the railroad had no need for the lake. The original idea was the sub-divide the property and sell it to developers to build homes, but a group of local residents convinced the state of Tennessee to buy it and turn it into a state park. One of the original railroad buildings is still on the property for tourists to visit, as well as the dam that creates the lake.
I'm definitely adding that to my places to see!
Excellent video! I just started working for bnsf up in the Seattle area while ago, the interbay yard still uses a hump hill and it cool to watch from time to time
Thanks! It's pretty fascinating stuff.
Another Seattlite! I love hanging out by Interbay and seeing what locals they're making up in the hump yard.
@@v12productions Yeah the CSX yard in Richmond, VA (Acca Yard) is technically a "flat yard" too, but the class tracks are built in a bowl, so you don't actually have to kick. You just give it a little slack and they'll roll into whatever track you've got it lined for. No retarders though of course so the cars can get going a BIT fast, haha.
I really do hope that next year, with this new job I have, that I can visit America to travel by rail a bit and do some rail fanning. Love your videos, keep them coming :D
More are on the way! Thanks!
Awesome video. Was it filmed on HUMPDAY! lol i would have filmed it on Wednesday.hump yard filmed on humpday. Lol
Several years ago, the Blue Ridge Scenic RR bought a car from the SRM, and it obviously needed to travel from Duluth to the other side of North Atlanta.
After it had been inspected, and certified for travel, it was stenciled with a fresh DO NOT HUMP and sent South into Atlanta on NS.
NS didn't even bother to classify it - they took one look, and wanted this passenger car out of their yard, and shipped it to CSX ... who, you guessed it, wanted this thing out of their yard as fast as possible and it went North on the first train heading past Marietta.
The GNRR was quite surprised to see the car show up a week ahead of schedule, and promptly sent it up the line eventually to Blue Ridge.
That stenciled DO NOT HUMP marking is a popular photo spot for passengers on the train.
Never heard that story! I'll have to look out for that if I ever ride the Blue Ridge Scenic RR again.
@@v12productions it's on the concession car in the center of the train, which is a former SRM, ex-New Georgia RR car.
@V12Productions love the opening sequence! It gives your video a real professional look!
Thanks!
I worked in a company that made RR tank cars. Every so often we would get a tank back that was so buckled that we would have to cut it in half, replace a couple of rings, heat treat it, and then put on the all the fittings, trucks, etc. to get back into service.
I agree it is an amazing feat of engineering and ingenuity
1:56 I do remember when I was with my mom at her friends house who dosent live that far from a CN hump yard. I was outside getting some fresh air and the only thing I could hear is squealing
When deisel price goes up rapidly every drop matters.
More humping = less fuel
that being said thats a lot of area solar pannels could be shading and charging electric short haul sorters.
My first job at the RR many years ago was “ working the hump”. Great memories
Love the new intro!
I stayed at a hotel that's directly adjacent to a hump yard.
When the cars connect it sounds like someone threw a dumpster off the top of the hotel.
After hearing the sound several times (in the middle of the night) I got up to peer out the curtains and figured out where the sound was coming from.
It's loud.
You can thank RUclips for peaking my curiosity when I saw the "DO NOT HUMP" thumbnail. Information I never knew I would enjoy ...
Well done collecting and assembling all the video for this! Really interesting to learn about. The vintage B&W photos were great! Thank you!
Thanks!
My dad worked the hump at Norris Yard, Irondale, Alabama.
I've wondered that myself. Thanks for posting. I used to live close to the NS Vardo yard. There isn't much of a grade there, so they use locomotives to the switching. More often than not, they loudly toss those cars together at all hours of the day or night! I'm sure they've weakened many knuckles there.
That aside, thanks for posting.
Same here, I'd take minor constant squealing over loud rolling slams every dozen minutes everytime.
When i was at UP North Plate I got to watch this unique type of switching. It was very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
This is cool AF!!! Trains FTW...
Woulda been neat to get Jaw Tooth to do a color commentary alongside your description...
lol used to go past one in pennsylvania. always got a kick out of the signs that said no humping.
Great video. I lived in a town in the 60s that had a double hump classification. R F &P RR. Next to wash dc.
My Highschool was right next to a small hump yard (my seat was circa 10 meters from the hill, I could have shot a paper airplane at the guys working in the yard) and the noise was so extremely loud. But it was great for me cause I could watch the trains all day :)
nice recap and presentation of the Radnor Yard, thanks
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the great video . Great way to start the day by learning something new.
Thanks for watching!
Ehh tried shutting down a major hump yard in Canada. Even went as far to remove the switches. It nearly brought CN to its knees.
which yard was that? the CP Agincourt yard in Toronto shut down its hump & removed all the tracks in their slow shifting of most of their operations to the humpless Vaughan yard north of Toronto but i confess that i see no advantage whatsoever to the tedium of flatyard sorting (all that back & forth & back & forth & extra fuel cost; it just seems less sensible in all ways): why DO they seem to be phasing the hump yards out here in Canada? izzit that they can process more than one train at a time?
@@jwc3o2 they are phasing them out because it’s still Eugene’s playbook at CP. The one I was referring to was Symington in Winnipeg.
@@kansascityshuffle8526 but what's the supposed logic behind eliminating the humps in favour of flatyard sorting?
@@jwc3o2 I am not going to give the best answer but I’ll try. I believe the word they used was dwell. How long these cars lasted in a class yard. The theory is that you get rid of class yards you get rid of dwell. Eugene started to move to his precision railroad model of building trains on the fly supposedly negating the need for class yards. While some facets of the concept do work it still doesn’t beat the overall efficiency of a well run and organized hump operation. Trying to go all out to a no hump model caused and causes greater delays in customer delivery time. To which the railroads mostly can shrug their shoulders at because most of their clients are a captive audience. Even recently, the precision Railroad model came under scrutiny by us congress as major delays mounted in getting ships unloaded at major US ports. There are other desirable aspects such as not having the overhead of maintaining a class yards as you can imagine there is a lot of moving parts. This improves operating ratios on the balance books. Getting rid of land is also a big factor these yards especially like the ones you mentioned in the Canadian province of Ontario are in the heart of huge metropolitan areas that have had developers literally drooling for decades over getting their hands on some of that land. At CP, Hunter and his his former business partner Ackman made huge profits off of these land sales. More so than any operational changes.
I've watched this kind of operation from the bridge (44th Ave SE) over the BNSF tracks of the Northtown yard in Minneapolis. There's also a locomotive repair shop by the bridge. It's a place to kill some time watching the train activity including the through track on the mainline between Chicago and Seattle.
I thought a hump yard was the yard behind the shed behind a double wide somewhere in the middle of Huntsville Alabama
Great video and love the intro!
Thanks!!
I once saw a rail car in a scrapyard with "DO NOT HUMP" on the side of it. I just thought it was funny I had no clue what it actually meant.
Great video 🤘🏻
Your voice audio is so low we have to crank up our volumes. Only to be blasted with an ad or something else on our phones. Just a heads up, great content.
Tip do not hump cars that have a sign say DO NOT HUMP
Whoa, neat. This makes me want to write a train hump yard mod for Factorio.
Hello fellow factorio player, I'm glad there is someone else who thinks that would be cool.
I used to go to Radnor yard all the time to pick up scrap metal. Pictures do it no justice in showing how bug it really is. I've stopped and watch the hump yard in operation. It's not a job for the weak. The one guy is operating the train, reading the info board, and pulling the pins.
Very well done! Great video.......
Thanks!
Hell, I was told it was the back yard at a CAT HOUSE.
The structure they’re passing under, what is it? There’s on in between Waycross and Folkston and I’ve always wondered what it is 😊
"Hump yard", "Retarder", "Do not hump", "Classification ball", gawd, my inner teen is giggling terribly...
Very cool V12! Great channel. Cheers.
Thanks!
Hump yard? That’s what Paul Pelosi called the section of his back yard under the veranda.
Is that a real sign on the thumbnail? My buddy is one of them dudes with a thing for collecting road signs and "DO NOT HUMP" would be a masterpiece.
What’s with the blue fencing alongside it? Are they trying to keep people from seeing? Stuff from flying out and hitting someone?
Tulsa, OK, has a hump yard also.
I'll be damned. I've loaded treelength pulp cars that had stickers that said do not hump... I just assumed I would never ask why they needed stickers .... guess my head was in the gutter.
How many hump yards re-opened after EHH closed them? All he cared about was profits.
Don't bring it to a hump yard if you don't want it humped......
Video is completely incorrect. The sign is actually intended for frisky yard workers
impressive presentation! thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Interesting video always wondered what do not hump meant.
Wouldent a jump yard be better for the environment because the locomotive is being used a bit less?
I am Australian, so I have never seen this before as freight is not that huge here,although it’s till pretty big. I wanna go to a different country or even a different state to rail fan.
Wonderful coverage
Thank you!
Interesting! I originally thought those were there to keep the humping robot away from the trains.
I think Pittsburgh rail yard still use them as well
What are Officer car specials. Think you can do a video on that?
ruclips.net/video/a7KrT26VDHA/видео.html
@@v12productions Oh you already did ok thanks
My back yard is lined up on a hump, can see the sloped rails. When new engineers are on duty we watch the inevitable derailments.
Hope you got your waiver from the FAA to fly that drone over the yard.
No waiver required. I got LAANC approval to fly in this airspace. I also have a Part 107 Certificate from the FAA.
@@v12productions You still have to abide by the rules of part 107. Railroads yards are classified as critical infrastructure. Its a matter of national security. You wouldn't know that though because you haven't worked a day of railroad in your life.
@@henleybear2742 Why the need to be a prick towards him?
It turns out that the reason for the "DO NOT HUMP" stencils on rail cars is much more boring, but much less perverted, than I imagined.
Very different when it comes to the German-speaking countries in Europe because the employee is inside the locomotive In order to prevent the alerter from Going off which is the Deutsche Bahn Germany ÖBB Austria Sifa Sbb system from going off when using dedicated locomotives Germany Deutsche Bahn Baureihe 290 294 Former East Germany DB Baureihe 298 DR V100 ÖBB Austria Baureihe 2070 1064 Wien Kledering Villach Süd Salzburg Gnigl 1163 SBB Basel Muttenz Eem 923 Zürich Limmattal Aem 940.
Yeah I did notice that and thought it was a bit weird that even giving in Germany and German speaking countries that they have a person in the locomotive can even though it’s under remote control. I guess as you said it’s to prevent the alerter going off? On remote locomotives in the US the remote control operated or RCO has a remote box that has an alerter build into it that they have to acknowledge
I drive the br 294 and 295 regularly. When you drive with the remote control the Sifa is switched off or overwritten by the remote control computer on board the locomotive but there is still a safety feature in the remote. When you tilt the remote over 50 degree (like when you get unconscious and fall over) or the connection gets interrupted the locomotive will automatically stop after some seconds it's also illegal to use the remote without the harness and to sit because of this.
@@aikon4576 The remotes in the US have the same tilt safety feature. There is a feature to allow you to tilt the box for a set amount of time to bend down to get air hoses and such. Our operators must also wear a vest with all 4 corners of the remote box attached so the tilt feature is properly enabled. We can however sit down in the cab of the locomotive or if they’re working the hump sit in the hump shanty as long as they have line of sight.
@@Stoker58 Nice, ours have the same function for the same reason. And the reason that we are not allowed to sit is just to prevent that the locomotive drives out of the yard when you get unconscious in the cab and nobody can stop it.
@@aikon4576 Thank you for telling me about that and does it also work for DB Baureihe 363 since Rangierbahnhof Hamburg Maschen Dresden Friedrichstadt Hagen Vorhalle Köln Kalk Nord München Nord use them with DB Baureihe 294 295
Great video but I would think that a hump yard would be faster then using yard engines and cheaper do to less labor and the cost of running engines also more environmentally friendly
And I thought is was where people got "grassies".
So I live by CP’s Bensenville Yard outside Chicago, and on several occasions have watched the humping process. Sometimes I will see the entire train (engines and all) go over the hump to drop off a car and then go back up the hump, only to repeat the process. Do you know why that would be? Perhaps that is how a ‘Do Not Hump’ car is sorted within the yard?
There’s a few reasons they do this. They can as you said be placing a car that is classed as “Do Not Hump” they can be going down to clear a stalled car that hasn’t made it all the way into the body of a track. They can be going down to “trim” tracks which generally involves setting cars over from a track that’s full or that went to the wrong track. They could also be going down to grab the “re-handle” track which is generally a track that cars get thrown too where there’s no correct place for them at the time of humping.
@@Stoker58 thanks for the info! Next time I’m over there I’ll keep a closer eye on what they’re doing and look for some of what you described
Bensenville doesn’t have a hump anymore. It was torn out years ago when Harrison worked with them. They have a small bump where it use to be iand they flat switch in that yard. I believe it’s D yard. That’s why you see them going back and forth a lot of times. They will “hump” cars but not in a traditional way like in this video.
@@ohboy2592 are you sure? I know it is more of a bump than a hump, but they will still cut individual cars and let them roll into the staging tracks. Is that still considered ‘humping’ or is that something else
@@fevinman7162 yes, I’m sure and you are correct. They utilize it as if it were the old hump and do what you are saying but it’s all flat switching as there are no retarders or humpmaster to control the cars. It’s a remote control operator that does the switching and he controls how fast the cars get kicked into each track. I’ve taken a lot of trains into that yard and I have to talk to him to get into his zone.
I thought they only did switching on Wednesday.
What happens when a 'do not hump' car is in the middle of a train that is approaching the hump? Or are the trains always constructed in some way that they can be removed before reaching that point...
HOPEFULLY any "do not humps" are put either on the head end or the hind end for easy removal... if offensive car/s do end up in the middle then i'd expect the trainmaster at the yard where that happened to get a nice ass chewing
This should have been proudly sponsored by the new Wednesday Addams series.
After all, Wednesday _is_ hump day.
Have known Ablaufberg a lot longer than Hump Yard....
Neat, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Ok so he chuckled when he said things that shouldn’t be humped 😂
Hey V12!, So the atlanta yard where you on the bridge well it’s illegal to park your car on that bridge and sit there
Precision Scheduled railroading. Neither Precision nor scheduled nor Railroading
I seen them doing this in the North Portland rail yard from the peninsula it was weird it's like it's running wild what's that about and then another one and another one so it's good to know what this is
I'd like to see a video of a turntable/roundhouse in action 👌
I've got you covered on the turntable part, just need footage of an active roundhouse.
ruclips.net/video/WyFkbz82Vrg/видео.html
@@v12productions Yeah. That would help wouldn't it 👏
Geez. My guess was the cheap room at a knock shop!
"5-8% grade".. i kind of doubt that, probobly more like a 5-8 part per thousand grade, that is typically how rail grades are messuerd
Seems to me hump yards are faster at building trains. I'm not totally sure how PSR works. Maybe that should be the nxt vid Charlie 😁👍
A major shipper has said that reopening 2 hump yards has improved rail service, so I think that something should click in the railroad's heads that hump yards do great at assembling trains.
Fastest way to build a train is to have it already be built at a previous yard. So the big unit trains are preferred as they are easy to sort and handle. At least that's how I understand it.
PSR is all about operating ratio, moving more freight with less equipment, and trimming assets where possible. Hump yards as productive and efficient as they are, are expensive to operate and maintain, they also weren’t built to handle monster sized PSR trains. But the railroads are discovering they can’t get rid of them all
@@Stoker58 Thanks for the info brother 👍
@@satiric_ Thanks for the info brother 👍
I'm not understanding why there's a hump yard in a residential area where I live. I heard the hotel successfully sued them for a million dollars. Chicago rail company. I am still trying to get the town to explain to me when they're going to get new retarders that are quieter. This just doesn't seem fair nor makes sense. They used to be a time I could sleep witj my windows open.
What happens afterwards? How are the humped cars collected into departing trains? Is each classification track long enough for a complete train, or is it more normal for the cars on multiple classification tracks to be combined into one train? Do the cars automatically couple together on the classification tracks, or do they have to be pushed together and hooked up from the bottom end?
the knuckles automatically couple but the air hoses still need to be manually attached by a carman. generally, the tracks in hump yards aren't long enough to accommodate an entire train (well, maybe a shorter local); yard units (switchers) will assemble the individual consists into a full train at the other end, then leave it there for the road units & air hoses to be connected.
The yard where every day is Hump Day
im kinda surprised that at flat yards they are not using electrification and using electric locomotives, just given the cost of diesel.
But how do they automatically sort a rail car is this like some train sized version of the UPS world port? where the package(rail car) is scanned and a computer sorts it where it has to be.
Electrification is extremely costly in a yard. It takes a lot of money to establish and maintain that infrastructure, and if the electrical line is damaged, the entire yard could be shut down for a day, at least. Also, I don't work in a railroad so don't trust me, but I think you'd be correct. All freight cars are equipped with RFID tags, and I would assume those RFID tags contain destination data that interfaces with whatever system is controlling the hump.
@@everettrailfan Correct but in Parts of Europe, the Yard is electrified including the hump section locomotive. Look at Austria Salzburg Gnigl Vienna Kledering and Switzerland Zurich Limmattal Hump Yards where Electric Locomotives are used for Yard Switching in addition to a Diesel locomotive
Millennium force did a video of this
He thought they were runaway train cars
Thanks for the video, but, for my taste, it would be better if it didn't have so many cuts.
Whoa.... I was way off on what I thought it was.
In India they are called Marshalling Yards
hump yards are also generically called marshalling yards but not all marshalling yards have entry humps to differentiate them from flat yards
Neat into!