August 7, 2013
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Hump Yard Day
Its Hump Yard Day!
So what the dickens is a hump yard you might ask? Well, its a place where trains hump! For a more detailed explanation, I will borrow from Hump Yard on Wikipedia:
A classification yard or marshalling yard (including hump yards) is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill. From there the cars are sent through a series of switches called a ladder onto the classification tracks. Larger yards tend to put the lead on an artificially built hill called a hump to use the force of gravity to propel the cars through the ladder.
These [Hump Yards] are the largest and most effective classification yards with the largest shunting capacity — often several thousand cars a day. The heart of these yards is the hump: a lead track on a hill (hump) over which the cars are pushed by the engine. Single cars, or some coupled cars in a block, are uncoupled just before or at the crest of the hump and roll by gravity into their destination tracks in the classification bowl (the tracks where the cars are sorted).
Chicago Hump Yard
Bailey Yard
The World's Largest Railroad Classification Yard
Union Pacific Railroad's Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska, is the largest railroad classification yard in the world. It was named in honor of former Union Pacific President Edd H. Bailey. If the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers were to play here, they'd have enough room for 2,800 football fields.
This massive yard covers 2,850 acres, reaching a total length of eight miles, well beyond the borders of North Platte, a community of 25,000 citizens. Put end-to-end, Bailey Yard's 315 miles of track would reach from North Platte in western Nebraska east past Omaha on the Iowa border along the Missouri River.
Every 24 hours, Bailey Yard handles 10,000 railroad cars. Of those, 3,000 are sorted daily in the yard's eastward and westward yards, nicknamed "hump" yards. Using a mound cresting 34 feet for eastbound trains and 20.1 feet for those heading west, these two hump yards allow four cars a minute to roll gently into any of 114 "bowl" tracks where they become part of trains headed for dozens of destinations. Together, these two yards have 18 receiving and 16 departure tracks.
Some people don't like their railroad cars getting humped - so they put signs on the cars:
I have read around on various railroad sites - apparently these do not hump signs are frequently ignored - and they get humped anyway!
Happy Hump Day!
Donkeys in the grass? Alas!
Dead Turkey Jokes of the Day
- My reality check bounced.
- I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
- Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
What are your hump day plans?
Comments (11)
my plans?...well let's see I won't be going out and about with a friend today...I will go and see her at the hospital...so there will be no "Wednesday's with Smile" today...pfft...now I gotta think I can not get into any erm mischief today...like asking people if they can really see me, or waving at complete id, strangers and they wave back...no going to second hand stores and having fun...no looking for things for Prince Charming...gotta be good or they might keep me at that place...no glitches today either...it is gonna be hard trying to be good...lol
I saw that stencil on some rail cars recently and wondered what the heck that meant! Now I know! Thanks for the eddacation!
I feel informed...and with visuals too! Do they know your hitching a ride on that train? That's also a nice donkey pic at the end. Fluffy! Well groomed.
and those poor cars cannot "hump"...lol
there's one of the few train turntables in the town just north of me, Summerville, Ga., it's pretty cool but I don't think they have a hump hill and I know they don't have any donkeys - maybe a jackass or two but no donkeys....I'm working on this hump day and telling everyone my reality check bounced =)))
Hehe! I love hump day! (and this post!)
Sarcasticwitchmother says "If you can't say anything witty then don't say anything at all." *Crickets chirping*
Happy Hump Yard Day! Oh, wait...
am I missing something - what's wrong with getting your RR car humped?
Wow, Donkey. You got a bunch of comments, a mini, and two recs AFTER the Xangapocalypse? How do you do it?
Well, I am reading this after "hump day" but I found your info insightful, your jokes funny, and the very pretty donkey at the end (on the grass). Oh ... and I love the "Hump Day" insurance commercial on T.V.!