End of the year quiz #3

[NW Mailing List]

Jimmy,
Of course, you are right. I guess I was trying to cover "normal", day to day operations, without getting too complicated. There were several "modes" in which the hump computer could be set up for multiple operations.
You could hump off the North Hump into class tracks 1-22, and from the South Hump into 23-47, (or 23-57) simultaneously. Also, from the North Hump into 1-47 while from the South Hump into 50-57(50-57 was called the New Yard - built about 1960).
When I say you could hump in the different modes, that also means you could have an engine in these different groups of tracks performing various moves, such as doubling tracks to pull west, starting off tracks (sometimes cars wouldn't roll well and would stop on the west end of the tracks, so you would give them a kick to get them to roll to the east end of the track). If a car is left on the west end of the track, with lots of room east of it, it gives a false indication of how many cars the track can hold, which tells the computer to route cars someplace else. That can mean double switching of some of the cars.
When the Hump was operating, it was the nerve center of the Terminal. Everything revolved around it. Getting cars humped to make important connections from one train to another and getting those trains out on time was paramount to the yard operations. 
The whole hump system was quite complex, but very interesting. Also, it could be a place to get yourself in trouble, if you weren't careful!!
Jeff

       From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
 To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> 
 Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2014 8:48 AM
 Subject: Re: End of the year quiz #3
   
 "Of course, when you are trimming cars or doubling cars to take west, you couldn't hump at the same time."
 
 Jeff,
     The exception to that was when they used to hump coal off of the "South" hump (into the "Fifties"?) and other cars on the "North" hump. It was cool to watch four T-6's with torch-like flames coming from their stacks as they shoved the heavy cuts up the hump to be weighed and classified. Many times they would have an engine & slug on the east end of the track catching the cars. 


 
 Jimmy Lisle
 
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