CSX possibly closing 3 of 4 Atlanta yards (Madison, Reynolds: store, bus, land)

[MattCW]

Sure, I'll try to make one this evening.

[MattCW]

Here we go: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lj...1A&usp=sharing
To give a brief overview of a hump yard and how it operates. Trains would first pull into the receiving yard where the locomotives are cut off and taken over to their servicing area. The remaining cut of cars has their brakes bled off, and "hump power" attached to the SW (geographic) end of the cut. These are high power, low speed locomotives specially fitted for shoving long cuts of cars up and over the hump. Then, the cut of cars is shoved over the hump (a literal artificial hill) where they're uncoupled, and they coast down into the bowl tracks. A series of automatic switches routes them onto a track appropriate for their next destination, and devices called retarders (sorry, that's just what they're called) regulate the speed by pinching the sides of the wheels (the main reason for the squealing coming from a hump yard). There might be one track for Chicago loads, one track for Chicago empties three tracks for all Atlanta traffic, two tracks for Charlotte, etc. Once the cars are in the bowl, the "trim job," a set of locomotives working the [geographic] NW end of the yard will pull cuts of cars from the bowl and shove them on the appropriate track in the departure yard. The brake hoses are connected, locomotives are brought over from the locomotive ready tracks and a new train is born.


There are some variations on the operation, sometimes a through train would only leave a block of its cars to be humped, sometimes a through train would pick up a block of cars that have been humped. Only carload freight gets humped, unit trains (coal, ethanol, ore, oil, etc.) don't go through the classification procedure, intermodal trains have their own yards for container operations, though some trains do carry both intermodal and carload freight, same for unit autoracks trains, their own facilities for the autorack component.

[arjay57]

Thank you, Matt! That is terrific information!

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Here we go: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lj...1A&usp=sharing
To give a brief overview of a hump yard and how it operates. Trains would first pull into the receiving yard where the locomotives are cut off and taken over to their servicing area. The remaining cut of cars has their brakes bled off, and "hump power" attached to the SW (geographic) end of the cut. These are high power, low speed locomotives specially fitted for shoving long cuts of cars up and over the hump. Then, the cut of cars is shoved over the hump (a literal artificial hill) where they're uncoupled, and they coast down into the bowl tracks. A series of automatic switches routes them onto a track appropriate for their next destination, and devices called retarders (sorry, that's just what they're called) regulate the speed by pinching the sides of the wheels (the main reason for the squealing coming from a hump yard). There might be one track for Chicago loads, one track for Chicago empties three tracks for all Atlanta traffic, two tracks for Charlotte, etc. Once the cars are in the bowl, the "trim job," a set of locomotives working the [geographic] NW end of the yard will pull cuts of cars from the bowl and shove them on the appropriate track in the departure yard. The brake hoses are connected, locomotives are brought over from the locomotive ready tracks and a new train is born.


There are some variations on the operation, sometimes a through train would only leave a block of its cars to be humped, sometimes a through train would pick up a block of cars that have been humped. Only carload freight gets humped, unit trains (coal, ethanol, ore, oil, etc.) don't go through the classification procedure, intermodal trains have their own yards for container operations, though some trains do carry both intermodal and carload freight, same for unit autoracks trains, their own facilities for the autorack component.

Can't rep you, but cool info.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Here we go: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lj...1A&usp=sharing
To give a brief overview of a hump yard and how it operates. Trains would first pull into the receiving yard where the locomotives are cut off and taken over to their servicing area. The remaining cut of cars has their brakes bled off, and "hump power" attached to the SW (geographic) end of the cut. These are high power, low speed locomotives specially fitted for shoving long cuts of cars up and over the hump. Then, the cut of cars is shoved over the hump (a literal artificial hill) where they're uncoupled, and they coast down into the bowl tracks. A series of automatic switches routes them onto a track appropriate for their next destination, and devices called retarders (sorry, that's just what they're called) regulate the speed by pinching the sides of the wheels (the main reason for the squealing coming from a hump yard). There might be one track for Chicago loads, one track for Chicago empties three tracks for all Atlanta traffic, two tracks for Charlotte, etc. Once the cars are in the bowl, the "trim job," a set of locomotives working the [geographic] NW end of the yard will pull cuts of cars from the bowl and shove them on the appropriate track in the departure yard. The brake hoses are connected, locomotives are brought over from the locomotive ready tracks and a new train is born.


There are some variations on the operation, sometimes a through train would only leave a block of its cars to be humped, sometimes a through train would pick up a block of cars that have been humped. Only carload freight gets humped, unit trains (coal, ethanol, ore, oil, etc.) don't go through the classification procedure, intermodal trains have their own yards for container operations, though some trains do carry both intermodal and carload freight, same for unit autoracks trains, their own facilities for the autorack component.

Thank you and great explanation of the operation.

[MattCW]

I meant to say this in my explanatory post, but any re-addition of a yard at Tilford would not need to use all three sub-yards. At a guess they'd just use the old receiving yard up till about the Marietta rd Bridge, but that's just a wild guess on my part. Regardless, there would still be plenty of room left over for development and transit and trails and such since.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Here we go: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lj...1A&usp=sharing

This map is sweet. Thanks!

[atlHawks]

Has there ever been any talk around NS finding an alternate route, as in creating a new one, to West Marietta St? That street is crumbling and very narrow. The trucks take up both lanes and with the park and new developments going around it’s going be a mess.

[citydwelling]

I can't believe it, but it's happening: Hulsey Yard is being emptied out.

Video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BxCl-UNALwS/


Credit: @abode_christopher on Instagram

[citydwelling]

When the Hulsey Yard Master Plan initiative was covered on Curbed, so many people commented that it was premature, that Hulsey wasn't closing anytime soon. It's looking like it didn't come a second too early to me.

https://hulseymasterplan.com