ECONOMIC DESIGN METHODS FOR AUTOMATED MINIYARDS

Changing traffic patterns and operating methods will continue to reduce the number of cars to be classified in yards. This trend promotes a need for economically designed, built, and operated miniyards. Such small-scale yards can be designed in ladder track or balloon formation, both with minihumps and suitable for 1,000 to 2,000 cars per day throughput. To attain low-cost, efficient operation of these yards they will need to be automated in an economical manner with automatic route setting and simple car speed control. The system described in this paper could control the humping procedure to give continuous, discontinuous, and manual modes of car throughput as appropriate to the measured rollability category and track address for each car.