TH - Canada Southern Railway

96
Toggle lever, connection*, and method of obtaining equalized shoe pressure.
New York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928
New York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928 97
top of the shoes onto the rail at the
end of the retarder.
The retarder requires but one adjustment
to compensate for shoe wear.
This adjustment is made on the toggle
lever and consists of the lengthening
out on a rod as shoe wear increases.
Shoe beams, made of alloy steel, furnish
ample protection to the retarder
from low hanging column bolts or
dragging equipment. All parts are
heavier so as to withstand the shock
of continued service and with an individual
pressure oiling system the
proper lubrication and long life of
operating parts is insured.
Operation and Performance
Switch-lists of all inbound trains
are written on a Morkrum "Teletype"
machine in the yard master's office and
reproduced simultaneously in the
hump office and the two retarder control
towers. Loudspeaker telephones
connect the hump with both towers
for instant communications between
the conductors and operators. Pneumatic
tubes are being installed to facilitate
the sending of bills and train
lists from the receiving yard to the
yard office and from there to the outward
yard clerk. The yard is lighted
throughout its length by flood lights
on towers so located as to throw the
light lengthwise of the tracks.
The regular humping crew consists
of one engine on the first trick, two
engines on the second trick, and one
engine on the third trick. There is a
conductor and a helper with each engine,
who do their own cutting of cars
at the top of the hump and their own
trimming. The humping engine in
addition to the humping of cars, "cabooses
and doubles" the outgoing
trains, "switches" the transfer and
repair tracks and makes the deliveries
to the Delaware & Hudson.
The entire operation of the switches
and car retarders is controlled from
two towers, so arranged that one man
in a tower can normally handle the
work, or two men can operate in each
tower, dividing the work as peak
periods require. All trains depart
direct from the classification yard, as
there was no opportunity to provide a
departure yard. However, four leads
are provided for doubling trains together,
as the majority of trains go
out with more than one classification.
During the short time in which the
car retarder system has been in service,
freight traffic has been light;
therefore, the record of performance
does not reflect the true capacity of
the yard. Operation so far, however,
indicates a humping speed of 125 cars
per hour with one operator in each
tower, and 200 cars per hour with an
additional operator in each tower.
On Monday, January 9, Mechanicville
Yard, operating at less than 50
per cent of its capacity, handled 1,227
cars. Picking an item from the January
9 record; a seventy-two-car train
arrived at 11:33 A.M., was listed for
switching at 12:21 P.M., was "high"
at 12:40 P.M., and complete at 1:01
P.M. This performance shows an
average humping speed of 18 seconds
per car.
The operation to date has shown a
decrease in yard costs of about 40 per
cent; a decrease of 50 per cent in the
time cars are held in the receiving
yard and a material reduction in damage
to cars in humping; and it is believed
that the combined net annual
savings will be in excess of 50 per
cent of the cost of the entire work of
providing the added facilities.