SEMIAUTOMATIC OPERATION FOR UPGRADING INTERMEDIATE-SIZED HUMP YARDS

A simplified control-system concept is described that may be applied to older manual hump yards to improve operating efficiencies, car handling, and volume and allow semiautomatic operation with one operator where two or three may have been needed for manual operation. The system provides automatic routing of cars based on manual handling of the entry of cars onto tracks during humping or on use of a switch list received in advance directly from a host computer. It offers speed control with a closed-loop radar system and manual inputs that allow the operator to specify a group-retarder exit speed for each individual classification track. These exit speeds are modified automatically according to car weight as determined by a conventional weight rail. No rolling-resistance calculations are made. The effect of track fullness is compensated for manually by the operator, but another option offers automatic fullness compensation based on cars counted into each classification track. Corrections for the effects of misroutes or stalls need manual intervention. Although this approach is not fully automatic, it is much more cost effective for lower-volume yards than a fully automatic system. This has been proven in two yards handling volumes of 1,000 to 1,500 cars per 24-hr day.