Hump Yards

[Anonymous]

I have several questions concerning Hump Yards.

1) Has anyone ever built a Hump Yard on there layout?

2) Can Fastrack be used to make a Hump Yard?

Thank you for your help!

Allan

[fifedog]

You may want to use ROSS, GARGRAVES, or similar style track for the hump hill, so as to ease the transition from incline to yard.  FASTRACK just doesn't have that give you'll need at the bottom of the ramp.  Also, these companies produce the Y turnouts you'll need for switching.

[alexweiihman]

If you are building a hump, be carefull not to make the incline to steep or cars may uncouple and engines may have there pilots catch the track.

[Anonymous]

Can you give me an example of what you mean by "to steep and catch the track"

Allan

[Anonymous]

What does a "hump yard" do?  Is that where the yard engine backs the cars up and then releases them at the top of the hill and the switches are set so that the car takes itself to the consist where it needs to be?

[tomikawaTT]

What does a "hump yard" do?  Is that where the yard engine backs the cars up and then releases them at the top of the hill and the switches are set so that the car takes itself to the consist where it needs to be?

All the hump yards I've ever seen (including Ed Ravenscroft's HO scale version with operating retarders) have the switcher (sometimes a Mallet!) take an entire train from the arrival yard and slowly push it upgrade.  As the cars go over the crest of the hill (the "Hump") they are uncoupled, roll downgrade, are slowed as necessary by the retarders and switched into the classification tracks.  Trimmer engines work the far end of the classification 'bowl,' pushing loose cars together and pulling cuts for assembly into trains in the departure yard.  The whole thing is a straight-line movement, and the entire yard complex can easily exceed five full-scale miles in length.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with 'real' tin-plate rolling stock)

[RR Redneck]

Can you give me an example of what you mean by "to steep and catch the track"

Allan

When the cow catcher (on some steam locomotives) or the pilot (the very front surface behind the coupler) hits the rails and either shorts out or stops and derails the train.

[Anonymous]

A hump yard in "O" would have to have a pretty steep incline in order to keep the rollingstock moving down the yard right?  How would it be built? Would you put a decoupler at the crest and then send them down that way?  Just by watching how my passenger cars free roll that grade would have to be pretty steep to keep them rolling on their own.

[RR Redneck]

I would imagine that you would have an uncoupler section at the crest of the hill and have maybe a 3.5-4 percent goin down hill and and maybe a long sustained 1.5-2 percent grade. Another thing that you have to keep in mind though is that your passenger cars have interior illumination. Lionel puts contact wipers that apply constant pressure on the axle of the cars to pick up current. That intern acts somewhat like a brake and prevents it from being free rolling. Just take a regular boxcar and push it down the tracks then do the samething with your passenger cars and you will see what I am talkin about.

[Anonymous]

That intern acts somewhat like a brake and prevents it from being free rolling. Just take a regular boxcar and push it down the tracks then do the samething with your passenger cars and you will see what I am talkin about.

Does that contact roller cause that much friction on the track to slow them down that much?  Rollingstock must roll more freely then.

[lionelsoni]

On the other hand, passenger cars are not humped.

[Anonymous]

On the other hand, passenger cars are not humped.

Yeah, I get that, was just using them as a reference for how rollingstock might freeroll.  But, if the contact rollers make that big of a difference then I guess its no comparison.

Would be pretty funny to let a fully loaded passenger car free roll through a yard.

[lionelsoni]

I doubt that it is still done; but I recall reading years ago about the practice of dropping cars off the tail of a passenger train and letting them coast into a siding while the train kept moving past the station.

[alexweiihman]

I doubt that it is still done; but I recall reading years ago about the practice of dropping cars off the tail of a passenger train and letting them coast into a siding while the train kept moving past the station.

 

I read that also about London Midland & South Railway doing that in the London area.

[RR Redneck]

That intern acts somewhat like a brake and prevents it from being free rolling. Just take a regular boxcar and push it down the tracks then do the samething with your passenger cars and you will see what I am talkin about.

Does that contact roller cause that much friction on the track to slow them down that much?  Rollingstock must roll more freely then.

No the contact WIPERS (the brass strips that RUB AGAINST THE AXLE) are the source of the friction not the contact ROLLERS that ROLL AGAINST THE RAIL.

[chuck]

You can model a hump yard but I wouldn't expect it to be completely "functional".   Toy train rolling stock doesn't have physical properties like real railcars so they won't behave like them.  Real hump yards also had devices to adjust the speed of cars so they would roll where they need to, these were called "retarders".  The devices would "squeze" the wheel flanges to adjust the speed of the cars, speed was determined on the weight of the car and the distance the car needed to travel to reach it's rough "spot".  Here is a link to a "Trains" article re hump yards:

http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=537

[Anonymous]

On the other hand, passenger cars are not humped.

And who ever said talking trains wasn't dirty!?!?

[wjstix]

A local (Mpls/St.Paul) O 2-rail club has/had a portable layout that included a humpyard, basically just the hump and a couple of yard tracks. So it can be done, but the cars need to have very free rolling trucks...also I believe the heavier the car, the better it works (more momentum).