I am not sure how to put this. Is yard switching (not hump yards) done with car air brakes "working"? I grew up in the 50's along side the Katy tracks, yard had 12-15 tracks, father was a switchman on the yard job (5 man crew) and my memories of moving cars was that he would sometimes bleed a standing car before coupling up. Also they would shove cars and they they would coast into the proper track; sometimes a switchman would ride the car to work the hand brake. Other times it would just coast into a row of sitting cars unattended. Then the whole row might move a little. I watch switching now and they move a lot slower a sometimes wait before moving after a couple up, are they waiting on air build up in the car. If my questions seem elementery, I am not a detail "foamer", just grew up in an extended railroad family and its in my blood.
Northtowne
In most places it will be done without air. But there will be exceptions where the local situation makes it advisable to keep air on the cars at least some of the time. That really slows down the whole process. But if the locomotive brakes alone will have trouble stopping a heavy cut before a fouling point that is what you need to do.
The pause after they couple up may be the yardman releasing hand brakes on the additional cars, or going further back to pull the pin if only some of the cars are being pulled from that track. Also, new safety rules may prohibit some of the old practices and shortcuts, slowing things down. Safety generally trumps efficiency these days, and less lives are lost as a result.
John
Quick basic 101 on flat switching.
Most of the time done without air brakes charged.
Inbound trains on receiving tracks are inspected by car department for bad orders, (damaged cars in need of repairs) and the air brakes are bled off.
Road locomotive is removed, switcher locomotive put in place.
Switch crew will couple into cars, and depending on the yard geography, either make a cut on a switchable number of cars based on the locomotives used, or on the availability of certain tracks, or bring the entire train around into the yard proper, shove cuts of cars into holding tracks designated for just such purpose, and begin switching on a suitable cut of cars.
If the cut has excessive loads, you are allowed to air up or charge the air brakes on a few of the head cars close to the locomotive to provide braking force.
The pause you see may be the switchman stretching the cut to make sure all the couplings have made before they shove the cars farther down the track…this is a rule in both GCOR and Norac rule books.
It may also be as CX500 states, someone may be releasing hand brakes preparing to shove or move the track…per GCOR and most railroads operating rules, hand brakes are allowed to be left on and in place when moving cars in switching operations if they are deemed needed to control the movement, as long as the brakes are not so tight as to lock the wheels and slide the wheels, again, depending on the yard, the crews work habits and local rules.
Bumper cars or “bumpers” are cars that are shoved into clear track and have hand brakes set to give the crew something to kick (allow to free roll) cars against, your “row of sitting cars unattended” is just such a thing, odds are there were one or two handbrakes in there somewhere.
Depending on the yard geometry, if it is a deeply bowled yard,( deeper in the middle than at the end), bumpers may not be used, cars are simply allowed to stack up against each other, gravity always bringing the cut back to the center of the yard bowl, but that is the exception today.
The “shove cars and they coast” maneuvers you saw is the kick…using the mass and inertia once the locomotive gets the cars to speed to uncouple them and propel them to the proper place, the speed at which this is done depends on the grade of the lead and tracks, whether the cars is loaded or empty, the distance it needs to travel.
A fast hard acceleration followed by a brake application on the locomotive creates a whip crack reaction that “kicks” or snap propels the uncoupled cars to the desired place.
If the yard or switching lead is downhill, all that may be needed is simply to get the cars moving, then let gravity take over, a smaller version of a hump yard if you will…the north end of the yard I work in is like that, it’s all downhill from the lead, so you just gently get them rolling, pull the pin on the desired car(s) and stop, gravity does all the work for you.
Now days, “riding a brake” into a clear track is prohibited by most railroads safety rules, but it is one way of accomplishing several things at once, setting a good bumper car the required distance in a track quickly, and placing the switchman in position for another move.
These are just the basics, you will see variations of this stuff every place, and each yard has its own quirks, its own oddities and traditions.
To answer your original question about air brakes working during switching, under normal circumstances there is no charge in the brake system, the cars are switched “airless”, but, in some private industrial yards, like inside refineries or chemical plants, due to the small spaces, limited track distance and the possibility of cars running off the end of the track and striking say, refinery piping or a building, maybe some natural geographic feature, switching is often done with air.
My railroad’s safety rules require all movements inside any industry we serve to be done with air brakes fully charged and tested.
23 17 46 11
Does “riding a brake” mean some one is riding a car to set the brake?
Correct. As a crew is kicking cars into tracks a brakeman, or switchman as the case may be, will ride a car to rest and tie it down to be used as a bumper for cars being kicked against it.
V
SLOCONDR
Much thanks, edblysard, I have really been brought up to date on yard switching. Interesting that you move cars with the hand brake on. A very well written treatise on the subject. I "lived" in the Katy yard till I was practically grown and saw switching with steam give way to diesel. I look back and wonder how hard work it must have been to switch with steam, as I recall the power was usually a 2-6-0. Being in a petroleum producing state (OK) they were oil fired. Thanks to all for your info.
They yard where I work was built in 1924 and the power back then was 0 4 0 and 2 6 0…the old heads said the little tank engines and camel backs could pull amazing number of cars…of course we are talking about the standard car being a 40 footer then, but still….
If you have any more questions or need additional detail just e-mail me…..
Renaissance-man@sbcglobal.net
Ed, thank you for another one of your excellent, concise summaries of RR operations. Your reports from "on the ballast" are always appreciated.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.