hump yard brakemen

[mikebonellisr]

I was jest watching a video about nyc hump yard operations where they showed brakemen rideing on the top of cars being sorted.I would imagine that the hunp yard is pretty large and busy,each car ,or string had a brakeman.How many brakemen were employed in a hump yard? About how many trips did they average in a busy day?How did they get back from the classification yard to where the cars are started on thier down hill trip?

[howmus]

mikebonellisr, If you really want THE information on this get the book, Freight Terminals and Trains by John A. Droege (Introduction by John Armstrong). The book was written in 1912 and updated in 1925. It is now published by the NMRA (another good reason to join and support them!) and can be purchased at their website. To give you a simple answer to at least some of your questions. Early Hump yards were very labor intensive and required one brakeman for each car or group of cars being classified. The number needed was in direct proportion to the size of the yard and the number of cars being classified in a given period of time. After they were finished with a car, the brakemen either walked back for the next car, or got a ride on a speeder or trolley used for the service. Some lines used a seperate engine and coach for the job. One of the NYC yards of the early 20th century used 15 switch tenders and 60 hump brakemen to classify 1800 cars a day. A small excerpt from the book is below p71.

".....but there is a record of tests made by the Pennsylvania road in its yard at Honey Pot, PA. on the sunbury division. On Nov. 2, 1899, they handled 176 cars in six drafts, one car to each cut, each car being weighed as it passed over the scale, and the work was done in 63 min., almost 3 cars a minute - a remarkable performance."

[dehusman]

Normally the hump yards had motor cars that had bench seats on both sides of the car that were used to carry the brakemen back up to the crest. When a load of brakemen got to the bowl they run the motor car back up the hump and unload the brakemen so they could make another trip.

Dave H.

[mikebonellisr]

Thank you...I'm also going to get the book.