Introduction

Introduction JAMES A. WETZEL Classification yard design and freight car perfor quirements, but based on my 30 years of experience, mance were the featured topics at the third railroad I believe that they can serve as guidelines. They classification yard workshop, October 19-21, 1983, are as follows: in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The proqram included presentations at three working sessions and a key l. A hump yard should never be built unless it note address by William J. Harris, vice president of is needed, and two hump yards should not be built at research and testing at the Association of American the same location. The site for a yard requires a Railroads. The workshop closed with an inspection sufficient number of originating and terminating tour of the Canadian Pacific (CP) Agincourt Yard. cars to justify its cost. If there are more cars Deregulation and the impact of large railroad than can be handled through one yard, a site at an system mergers are the new challenges for the rail other terminal should be located to construct the road industry, Harris told the workshop audience. second yard. The number of times cars are switched Deregulation has also affected traffic by car type should be minimized. as well as railroad classification yards according 2. Construction of a receiving yard in line or to J .A. Hagen, senior vice president of marketing parallel to the classification yard is dependent on and sales, Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), the terrain and the size of inbound trains. If the who addressed the workshop's luncheon following the site for a yard has sufficient width and the major second session. ity of trains are short (less than 80 cars), I rec A session reviewing knowledge of freight car ommend use of the parallel receiving yard. A yard rollabili ty and prediction of car performance was primarily to be used for long road trains is nor led by John F. McGinley. It included a panel dis mally suited for an in-line design. cussion by the authors of written presentations and 3. The classification yard should be a teardrop discussion of the causes and results of the princi design with the long track in the center and short pal character is tics of rolling resistance by Alex tracks on either side. This provides minimum curve ander Wilson of Union Switch and Signal Division, resistance for the majority of the cars. If the Charles N. Morse of General Railway Signal Company, yard is a high-volume yard with two parallel depar and Earl E. Frank of Abex Corporation. ture yards, the teardrop design also provides The second session covered yard-control systems; greater operating flexibility in classifying cars to Alain L. Kornhauser of Princeton University pre tracks. sided. The third session covered yard design tools 4. The departure yard should be parallel to the and practice; Carl M. Martland of Massachusetts In classification yard. A parallel departure yard will stitute of Technology presided. minimize interference in assembling trains and pro Agincourt Yard, recently converted from its orig vide gr_eater use of the classification tracks. inal analog system tb digital computer control, was 5. The receiving yard and departure yard should the site of the workshop's final session. Hosts for be constructed with wide track centers to provide this tour were CP general manager G.A. Swanson and access to the cars for bleeding of air brakes and B.F. Dixon, assistant superintendent of Agincourt car inspection. Yard. 6. The distance between the receiving yard and As chairman of this workshop, I emphasize, in the hump crest and between the hump crest and the sununary, that the rollability of cars remains one of clearance point in the classification yard should be our greatest unknowns and that equating the measured kept to a minimum. It is desirable to minimize the rolling characteristics of cars with their true per time to shove a cut up the hump from the receiving formance remains an open field for further re yard, and it is critical to maintain a short dis search. I believe that even the future need for tance between the crest and the body of the yard be yards is in doubt. With boxcar traffic moving in cause this is the region of potential catchup; this Trailvans and other traffic moving in unit trains, distance governs the humping speed. industries are changing their transportation re 7. The lead between the receiving yard and the quirements, which significantly affects the need for hump should be constructed with No. 10 turnouts; 75 and the design of classification yards. If the rail ft of tangent track should be the minimum distance industry is to continue to grow, the role of the between reverse curves to prevent long lightweight railroads for best serving the nation must be deter cars from lifting off the track while they are being mined. shoved up the hump. Below are listed 16 yard design suggestions, pre 8. The vertical curve at the hump crest should viously outlined at the first classification yard be at least 80 ft (approximately 12 ft per degree of design workshop, held in Chicago in 1979 (1). These change). The flat vertical curve will reduce prob yard design features may or may not suit all re- lems that result from the uncoupling of long cars. v vi 9. I recommend constructing 10 track groups DINGLE, A. Don, ADD Systems, Suite 56, 355 California with a maximum curve of 12 degrees 30 min. The Drive, Burlingame, Calif. 94010 total central angle should be kept to a minimum, ENGELBERG, George P., Canadian National Railways, and, if necessary, depending on the total number of P.O. Box 8100, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3N4, Canada classification tracks, two master retarders may be EULL, John c., Canadian National Railways, 460-123 required. Curve lubricators on both rails should be Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 2P8, Canada installed below the group retarder to reduce curve FRANK, Earl E., Abex Corporation, 65 Ramapo Valley resistance. Road, Mahwah, N.J. 07430 10. The initial hump grade at the end cf the FRENCH , Mark A. , Union Switch and Siqnal Division, crest vertical curve should be 5 to 6 percent. This 1789 South Braddock Avenue, Swissvale, Pa. 15218 will achieve maximum separation between cars. GAMBILL, Joe, General Railway Signal Company, 4747 11. The classification yard body should be Irving Boulevard, No. 230, Dallas, Tex. 75247 graded at 0.08 percent and track centers constructed GRIFFITHS, Andrew C.M., Canadian National Railways, at 14 ft. The minimum track length should be 30 3950 Hickmore Avenue, St. Laurent, Quebec H4T !K~, cars i the maximum (depending on the total number of Canada classification tracks) should be 60 to 80 cars. GROVES, Lee c., Crothers, Ltd., One Crothers Drive, 12. Inert retarders should be located 300 ft Concord, Ontario L4K 1E2, Canada from the end of the clearance point on a +0:3 per GU, Yen, South Western Jiaotong University, Emei, cent grade. Sechuan, People's Republic of China 13. The end of the classification yard should be GUDENRATH, Harold H., Union Switch and Signal Divi built with No. 8 turnouts in a tandem ladder ar sion, 1630 TWO Penn Center Plaza, Philadelphia, rangement at about an lB-degree angle. The number Pa. 19104 of tracks connected to separate ladders is a func GUINS, Thomas s., Association of American Railroads, tion of the yard size and car volume. If two crews 1920 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 are used, the yard should be subdivided into four HAGEN, James A., Consolidated Rail Corporation, Six leads. Penn Center Plaza, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104 14. Two or three stub-end pullout leads (depend HALL, Harry, Consolidated Rail Corporation, Room ing on the size of the classification yard) should 1801, 1528 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102 be used to connect the classification yard with the HALL, Hubert, Santa Fe Railway Company, P.O. Box departure yard. These pullout leads should be con 1738, Topeka, Kans. 66628 structed on a zero grade and about 10 car lengths HARRIS, William J., Association of American Rail longer than the longest classification track. roads, 1920 L Street, N.W., Washinqton, D.C. 20036 Power-operated crossovers should be installed to HARRISON, Dale A., Santa Fe Railway Company, Room permit parallel moves. The distance between the 416, P.O. Box 1738, Topeka, Kans. 66628 pullout· leads and the classification yard and be HATCHER, Donald L., Union Pacific Railroad, Room tween the pullout leads and the departure yard 230, 1416 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebr. 68179 should be kept as short as possible. Pull distance HAUCK, David R., Union Switch and Signal Division, should be sacrificed for shove distance. 1789 South Braddock Avenue, Swissvale, Pa. 15218 15. The car repair tracks should be located be HEGGESTAD, Robert E., SAB Harmon Industries, Inc., tween the classification yard and the departure yard P.O. Box 600, Grain Valley, Mo. 64029 and accessible from both the hump and the pullout. HUNTTING, Huqh c., C&o&dian Pac ific Rail, Room 430, 16. The locomotive service and repair facilities Windsor Station, Montreal, Quebec, Canada should be located between the receiving and the de JOHNSON, Dean H., Southern Pacific Transportation parture yards. Company, One Market Plaza, San Francisco, Calif. 94105 REFERENCE JUSTUS, William H., Southern Pacific Transportation Company, One Market Plaza, San Francisco, Calif. 1. Proceedings of the Workshop for Classification 94105 Yard Technology. Federal Railroad Administra KAROW, Robert M., Union Switch and Signal Division, tion, Rept. FRA-ORD-80-17, Dec, 1980. NTIS: PB 1789 South Braddock Avenue, Swissvale, Pa, 15218 81-143315.

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