Hump Yards

[Maas124]

Hi,
I was wondering how the cars get drifted down the hump without getting stopped by their air brakes.
Maas124

 

[cascaderailroad]

Once a consist is readied for shoving it up over the hump, it has all it's air angle cocks opened up, and all the cars have their air released from their resiviors by hump carmen, there are NO air brakes ... they are free rolling, runaway radio flyer wagons.

Most hump speeds are slow, @ 2mph, as fast as a car cut man can safely walk ... and a consist commonly stops just after the crest of the hump, and a car cut man, cuts cars ... they roll @ 10-15mph down the hump, and are slowed by retarders to less than 10 mph, so they don't bust couplers, yokes, and car draft gear when crashing into stopped railcars.

 

[Maas124]

Ok.
Thanks.
Maas124

 

[cascaderailroad]

In Altoona they once had no air retarders, nor electro pneumatic switchs, teams of dozens of car riders rode the drafts of railcars down the hump, and into the classification yard bowl, and hand braked the railcars, and hardly anybody got very seriously kilt' doing that !

In the UK they once employed teams of running car braemen, who ran at the pace of 10 mph runaway railcars, shoving hickory bats into the brake running gear, to stop the free rolling railcar wagons. Allot of men got very seriously kilt' doing that job !