Recently i was watching a BNSF coal train and all the cars were stamped, do not hump.
They dot have fragile items in them, so why not hump them?
Loaded coal car over a hump:
(1) Momentum with that weight cannot be handled by the retarders (either a big Kaboom! or it sails out the other end of the bowl.
(2) loaded car into a light frame car and something goes vertical, and usually the wheelsets/trucks are not likely landing back on the right side of the rail.
(3) AND, yes - some center sills and car frames have been known to buckle.
Humpmeister Carl[:D] might be able to enlighten you more, if he isn’t already in transit.
Here I was thinking the retarders could handle anything - are there other cars that can’t be sorted/switched in a hump yard?
Dave
I thought this topic might be a little inappropriate… [}:)]
A friend of mine asked me one time why the gravel hoppers that ran by her house had “Do Not Hump” written on them, she was thinking something dirty… But I explained it to her, and straightened everything out.
She still thinks it’s funny, though… [:o]
Probably because of the rotary couplers (if they are slightly rotated, they might not couple up, and could by pass) Loaded coal cars get humped all the time, so the weight isn’t an issue. 263000 lbs is 263000 lbs. heavy cars go over humps all day long.
Dave H.
I know of type of car that can’t be humped Auto Racks. At least I know they don’t hump them at Proviso Yard in Chicago, Illinois. While we’re on the subject I know of one type of tank car that car retarders complain about, and that is tank cars that are carying soy bean oil or corn surp. Things sometimes get pretty slippery sometimes.[sigh]
I got asked that question when I was doing my senior presentation on railroad safety. Some of the people I expalined it to didn’t really understand why humping was needed nore did they understand fully what it was.
So on the ICG a TTX trailer car gets out of the intermodal system by mistake and into the (shudder) carload system. They take the car over the hump at Markham trailer doors first.
It slams into the cars standing on the yard track. The load breaks loose and flies through the doors. Our freight claims people (jerks) call up the shipper and threaten to sue him.
What part of “Do Not Hump” didn’t they understand. And just try to get that shipper to put another load on the ICG after we’ve damaged his shipment and threatened him. Oh, yes, that was part of our job.
“Humping” is classification by collision. Friends don’t let friends have their valuable freight “Humped”. It will work on things like lumber loads if done properly. But on things that are not intended to hold up a house, “Do Not Hump” is a wonderful concept.
Both Markham humps have been mercifly torn out.
I think “Do not hump” is the most ignored sign around. When I worked at Balmer Yard Seattle everything went over the hump regardless of signs or stencils.
Mac
As mentioned, some cars such as TTX flats and auto racks do not lend themselves to humping for more than one reason. Their length might get them in trouble on tight radius ladder tracks, and their loads are fragile and sometimes not secured properly if handled roughly.
I missed the actual event, but back in the early 70’s, I saw a 71 Caprice sitting on top of a cement hopper in (then) PC’s 59th st hump bowl in Chicago!
The hump tower sent an older style unenclosed tri-level down the center track of the bowl (where it would negotiate the switches OK), but not slow enough! The auto shot off the top level and landed on the hopper like it had been parked up there, and half the top row moved to the right one spot!
Jimmy
Through most of the 1980’s TV6 used to be humped at Selkirk to split the Bostons from the North Bergens. Not a pretty sight, but most days it worked out OK. That was when everything was TOFC and the trailers could take it (even if the lading couldn’t!)
Any shipper could write “do not hump” on any shipment he wanted to, but how would he react if he got the bill for switching out his car? If there’s a valid reason for a load not to be humped, it will receive special attention.
Loaded aluminum gons? Not a problem–if they’re shoved up to the hump, over they go. Bada-bing, bada-<click> (that’s the sound of the pin dropping in a Proviso-style “coach-yard coupling.” Just ask anybody!)!
P.S. MC, I just got back from my trip. Anyone want to guess how Sarah knows so much about Proviso?
And we should all know by now that crews switching a flat yard NEVER, EVER make a hard coupling.
Jay
Of course not!
We carefully adjust the knuckles, and gently float the cars into each other…
Ed[}:)]
In my local area there is a small flat yard. The first time I saw them humping cars I was a little confused as I saw these box cars rolling on their own. Trees were obstructing everything else. The moment the hit, ie coupled it sounded like all the cars had just derailed and exploded. Moments later I heard a very angry person yelling at someone in the cab.
Must have been dry humping, they make less noise when wet.
That is not humping, it is kicking in a flat yard. Not the same operation.
Mac
sry, my ignorace was showing[8D]
Used to spend some time watching the operations at
Montreal CP St.Luc hump yard. All the cabooses
on the siding were marked “do not hump”
Was this only for the wooden cabooses or did
the heavier later cabooses have the same markings ?
Did the weight or structural strenght of the cabooses
have any bearing on this?
The hump yard I’ve been watching humps almost EVERYTHING, including overweight cars, auto racks, cuts of cars together, spine cars,(not fully loaded double stack just empty wells) and lots of cars that say DO NOT HUMP.
They do not hump propane, in theory anyways and older SUGAR car types because supposedly if sugar leaks onto the retarders something goes wrong.
A coal car is not too heavy to hump around here, it must be another reason.