Humping cars and more at the CSX Queensgate Yard 

Awesome footage of the inner working of CSX! Thanks for sharing!

I dispatch for CSX and NS out of their yards.. talk to these RCO’s and Hump tower yard masters on a daily basis. Good railroaders on both ends make my job much easier!

Another awesome video with lots of great footage. Enjoyed watching once again and have a wonderful rest of your day.(Steve)

How many channels are you listening to.. just wondering?

Very nice video 👌👍👍👍. Greetings from Germany🙋‍♂🙂

Because you asked how the Hump Operation works, here is how it works. So a line, section or "cut" of cars is brought out of the receiving yard, where freight cars are received from trains coming into the yard. When the cars are received from the receiving yard, they get pushed up an incline called a "Hump". When the cars reach the top of the Hump, a brakeman uncouples the cars according to the orders from the yard master, who is in charge of controlling the switches in the yard. The cars are uncoupled by the brakeman and roll down the Hump by gravity, and are slowed down by big clamps called "Retarders" on the way down, and are switched to various tracks to make new trains for other destinations. And that is how the "Hump" Operation works.

That's a Awesome video!👍

Congrats on 5k subscribers and interesting video

I like to call the half or cables locomotives, commonly referred to as slugs I call them drones.....

Great vid, I’ve seen them hump the cars in Maxwell Yard in SC, and was did you add a time lapse?

it is possible to reduce wagon collisions with this system after cutting

Have you visited the Norfolk southern training facility in McDonough Georgia , Henry county Georgia.

What type of freight car are the ones at 6:30 ?

how did the cars moving it self? can somebody pls explain

Humping car carriers? Thought that was verboten. 🤔

шпалы деревянные.

Cancer pit yard

why un couple 3 tankcars if they all go to the same track 03:16 - 03:55 ? Autorack at 07:50 going too fast (even if the footage is slowed down) Boing to the previous one is too hard. My dad did this work too but in the Netherlands.

I could be watching this for hours ! For railroad modelers who live outside the U.S. and will never have the chance to see these trains for real videos like this one are pure gold. Thank you very much for sharing.

This is the Best Hump Yard Action I have ever seen and heard on RU-vid. Thank you! 👍🙏

That's not a calf unit,it's a slug. A calf is a complete loco(diesel prime mover and traction motors)minus the cab, much like a B unit. A slug has a lower profile hood (like this)because it lacks the prime mover and has only traction motors. Slugs get their power from another diesel loco. Wich power the traction motors in the trucks. Hope this helps.

Pack is a hip control pack for the hump engines, thus removing the need of manned hump power. The pin-puller also runs the power.

Until I saw people walking around, I thought it was a toy lay out in the beginning.

The pack seen on the crew working the hump is used to remote control the locos.

I grew up very near the Grand trunk yard in Toledo Ohio. We would hear that screeching all the time. And the house would shake when the cars would slam together. Adding to the noise was I-75. Got so used to it the sound would lull me to sleep at night. Thanks for the footage! Never got to see the sorting in action just heard it.

A computer classifies the cars and sends it to the guy you seen walking by them. He pulls the coupler to disassemble that car, and let it go over the hump and then the computer controls the switches and the devices that slow the cars down so that they don't fall off the rail. That guy is also the one controlling the engine. All the engine you see with a slug behind them are remote control. Basically that one guy you saw their runs the whole operation. A computer does the rest.

Guy with the box is a RCO operator. Box on the front of his lanyard is a remote control that operates the locomotive. He has complete control as he humping his cut of cars.

I tell you what I know worked 38 years for Penn Central and Conrail as Humpmaster out of Enola Yard Harrisburg PA, the Device is known as a (RCL) - "Radio Controlled Locomotive" as it only takes one to run the hump as years before took 3 Men to run your average Receiving yard. the RCL does have its problems and issues as there Not 100% perfect. When using a RCL and the (Mother) - "mother is the main locomotive power source that the RCL is slaved to" is Active the Humpmaster can't crouch as if the Brakeman was hurt at any time as the RCL has a sensor built in it that can detect movement that will Shut Down into emergency as a safety call standards, plus every time the RCL is throttled up given the set-up can have a warning horn or bell, strobes go off before power is added. The Hip, chest RCL all have the same instruments as what you would find in a full-size cab but as switches or knobs. RCL have a top speed of 15mph and have a Range of more than 4 miles. As for the Hump itself there is a lot going on here as I explain the dynamics of the hump and what is going on that you don't see. The Hump itself has a scale weight near the top of the hump that weighs each car as a hump pc measures and figures out in secs the brake effort to apply to the brake retarders to get that said car safety down into the bowl to the other set of freight cars with today's technology can be done using (ACI) - "Automatic Car Identification", which every car Locomotive that has been built after the CSX 8888 unstoppable incident has to have one on said equipment by (FRA) - "Federal Railroad Administration". The brake retarders press squeezing the flange slowing the car down as it makes its way through the Retarder reasons you hear the high pitch squeak. Gravity takes over as the freight car is uncoupled and slowly rolls down off the hump hitting a series of Retarders and lasers as the lasers will detect when a car passes, and the switch is clear the Hump PC will switch track for next car and so on. Humps are only allowed to hump 4 sets of coupled cars together but some railroads depending on hump type have and can hump 8 sets. Any Freight Cars that have special designed brake system or research cars of any type are Not allowed to be Humped as their brakes could cause massive danger and loss of equipment, and locomotives by FRA aren't supposed to drive over Retarders as well. But railroad companies still do as the city Blackout of 96 in Philly proved the theory being real. At the front of some yard receiving bowl's there are safety retarder threads which are 3 burst mini brakes that stick-up next to the inner rail side to stop cars from rolling out of the yard as they can be controlled by air. Brakeman or Humpmaster is at all times looking at his or her (MFD) - "Multifunction Display screen" located here at this hump on both ends of the hump as you can see Big Black squares that are MFD screens at the ends of the walkway. these screens show the Humpmaster what cars are to be uncoupled from make to model to type, as the screens are in line of sight as the Brakeman walks next to the Freight car, a brakeman may at times have to stop humping as some cars have special coupler knuckles like the F knuckle an anti-slip knuckle mostly used on Tanker cars to prevent tankers from uncoupling so easy when on the move, it is the Brakemans job title to fix the problem at hand any way possible as the Domino effect is the most affected method of a clean release.

Thanks for another great video. That new drone and your filming skills produce outstanding results. Always interesting to see a hump yard in operation, especially at higher speed.

Great video but I would honestly prefer the real time footage that’s not sped up

CSX needs to send majority of the power units to the wash rack filthy dirty they are !! 🤔👍👍👍👍

@NKY Railfan - - - 0:38 He is making sure the knuckle is open , so when it hits the cars , it does not hit and break the knuckle. if the knuckle is closed and it hits another car , it can hit hard enough to possible derail and/or bounce back (Depending on the speed of the coasting car. An open knuckle will simply just slam shut on impact with the resting cars on the siding. Just remember , Open knuckle = Good | Closed knuckle = Bad

Near the beginning, they mentioned whether or not a train they are making up is a "key train". That is related to the FRA rules about Hazmat. When a train has a significant quantity of Hazmat, different "key train" rules apply

yes he remoting and pulling the pins

You have a Great Voice on your videos and the Details and Radio Conversations are greatly Appreciated. Keep up the strong 💪 efforts. Thanks! 👍🙏

Fantastic video of the operation. The poor guy pulling the pins certainly has the hardest job in the yard. After the cars end up on the right track, someone must recouple all the air lines and verify couplers are locked. Must be a dangerous yard to work in. Ever had a derailment in yard?

Very interesting yard, working process is same as in Russian railway. So cool, I was working at such yards. So much memories! Thanks for video!

That's cool you got the turntable in there. Most real videos don't have any up close images of the turntable they use to switch the engine to a new track, or turn it around.

Your new drone does justice to your cinematography skills. Do you use full auto on camera or manually use filters, with flat color profiles? Looks very cinematic and clear without oversharpening digital camera trickery. Yes, I'm a pixel peeper and this is as good as I've seen.

The man uncoupling, the cars is the pin puller. The box he is wearing is an a rco box. Which controls the engine at the other end of the cars. And he does have the ability to stop all action with that box.

I know games like this 1:22 go go go, and this 1:34 sort rollllling train cars without crashing.. Man Ide sign up to work this rail line!!

How does NS reach Gest St.? Is the left most 2 tracks what they use, and where is the separation between the two yards? As the video goes looks in the middle to the south of the Western Hills Viaduct starts Gest St. Yard?

Ummmm this isn't Queensgate. Doesn't it look different than the Queensgate I know?

One of the last trains i hopped. was outta this yard. to elkhart, then chicago. and that worker un coupling the cars at the top of the hump, is in control of the locomotives. that pack is a remote control.

It is actually a slug, the term calf is a cabless engine powered unit mated with a regular cab unit. Yes the pack he is carrying is a remote control that uses either radio or cable tether.

the track layout looks alot like pigs eye or saint Paul yard in saint Paul Mn.

Very good footage of current opps. the two low pro slugs mated either end of the mp15t is rather interesting, newer set they've made. those 10 series slugs were first mate with 4300 series GP39s then 2500 series GP38-2s then 2400 series SD40-2s. most of the MP15Ts have been retired or stored.

The loud squeeling noises are the "retarders" built into the hump tracks. The retarders are surrounded by brake dust that makes giant dark areas of ground. The speed a car goes thru the yard is controlled in order to make sure the car travels as far as needed WITHOUT hitting the other cars without too much speed. Wind, car weight and distance traveled all come into play. The retarders are giant brake pads that press against the side of the wheels to slow the car down.

Really enjoyed the hump action, especially following the locomotives to shove the auto racks over the hump.

Really great video here. It was great to see the humping a pace that is tolerable. Great job. Keep up the great work and thank you again for the great video.

I haven't worked a hump job in years, but the RCO Hump Foreman controls the locomotive and pulls the pins. When I did it, we put the remote in Hump Mode and the hump computer tells the loco what speed to go. But the RCO Foreman can stop and reverse the movement when necessary.

Its a switch yard each tk has different desenation they are doing same thing as flat switching use too. Sending cars to where ever they are suppose to go.

Pretty cool love it how move them train 🚂🚂 car

It appears the Guy Walking Beside the Cars is Manually Decoupling the Cars so they can Hump to their Destinations

Cars will be cars like Thomas the Train 😂

great train video bro

I really hope those Autoracks aren't loaded, Autoracks aren't supposed to go through hump yards ESPECIALLY if loaded, but obviously they do it anyway...

Thanks for the log awaited tour of Queensgate, especially the hump. I have tried watching from the Western Hills Viaduct but the action side is on the side of the Viaduct that has no sidewalks. Not safe and the Police politely asked me to move on.

Didn't think they were allowed to hump autoracks. Unless something's changed or those were empties.

Does (or did) the Queensgate yard have a roundhouse? Who owned the yard before CSX?

I'm retired BNSF railway and I worked the tower and it's a classification yard hump yard and what's the gentleman's doing up on the hump is he's reading the car numbers on a list he carries while operating the pin lifter and the car goes by the camera to verify the car number and then it gets weighed goes over the scales and into a classification track for eastbound westbound southbound or northbound traffic. On the other end an outbound crew come out and they put these trains together for the their destination and then they pull it into outbound track that's how it works

I want to Keep this video called Humping cars and more at the CSX Queensgate yard I don't want to lose this video

I’m in Louisville, can’t wait to see some of these on M575. thank you this is a great video

CSX Slug 1055, ex CO 5890 bulit 4/1953 as EMD GP7, then rebuilt as a Yard Slug.

Absolutely great Video my friend Thumbs Up! 👍

Thats really big, but there are two bigger ones 🙂 The biggest one is Bailey Yard in Nebraska and the 2nd here in germany called "Maschen".

The reason he’s uncoupling the locomotives is to put them in order for the next train to pick them up and leave with them so the next crew doesn’t have to work double

Thanks for using your drone batteries for this! What is the lower blue car, next to the engine, at 14:40? It is obviously unmanned. It doesn't look like a tank. I'm going to guess it is traction motors, but without a diesel engine on board...

It strange to see auto racks say on the side “do not hump” on the side

I am not a railroad worker but it seems to me the yard is following the law of motion.a car will remain in motion until it bumps into the car in front of it.

Great vid, I visited Cajon Pass and got some footage of UP and BNSF, cool to watch them come out of the mountains

Would love to see the master control operations in action. I mean those who know what is where, and what needs to happen next. Gotta be looking at a big bank of monitors, camera feeds, headsets, phones... There's a control tower, right?

Really great filming, I want to ride on the platform, on the front of the engines

Lol you know youre in Cincy listen at all them southern and midwestern accents on the radio😅

Wow. This crew works really fast at humping those cars. LOL.

Tenho Canal no RU-vid Edson carneiro itajai,

2:12 looks like dude in the white SUV was angry, flings the door open, jumps out, and slams the door....I know it's sped up but, I thought it was funny...😂😂

Hopefully those auto racks are empty. I remember something about only empty autos can be humped but not loads. Correct me if I’m wrong use to up rules

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Yes, as others have said, the pack is the remote control for the locomotives. But yes, it's also an automatic emergency stop if the operator falls.

Nice, only a question what is a Slug unit, I don't know I'm watching from Spain Thanks

These yard workers bust their butts 24/7! Wow. The level of activity is utterly amazing! Dang!

Very good video Sir. Very informative which the public needs. We take Rail and Road Transportation for granted. I seen videos of European car drivers like in Germany yield to Emergency vehicles and semi trucks making wide turns. Very courteous.

Would seem that even 2-3 cars in a row are going to the same track they are uncoupled and sent 1 at a time instead of all at once. Can any expand as to why?

I was thrilled to work on construction of UP’s Brazos Yard in Mumford, TX back in 2018. It would have been one the largest and technologically advanced hump yards. But over halfway into the project, UP suddenly stopped all work since it struck them that hump yards and PSR don’t necessarily mix. I had just overseen the installation of the brand new retarders. Now the site is largely abandoned, with the exception of some car storage. A contractor recently told me the yard is also used for spare parts for other hump yards, including the brand-new retarders.

Excelente trabajo ese 👏🏽, mucha seguridad ante todo 👍🏽

When the boxcars 1st enter the yard at the hump it's read by number and weight. The guy uncoupled by a quick switch and it's read again by weight. The dark areas on the track are breaking systems that help slow the boxcars. But also the entrance controls the switches for the tracks

Really interesting to watch but when some of these cars come in the repair shop from this its a nightmare, almost the whole draft system has to be replaced

I think the remote control is for the retarders that slow the cars as they come down the hump so they don't fly into their assigned tracks. It may also operate the classification switches.

What exactly is that CSX 1055, tried doing some searches but it seems so non descript

Always scary when I see railroad tank cars rolling around by themselves

Amazing video! Awesome images with trains and great rail activity! Thumbs Up & Subscribe All the best from Dublin Andrew

Is there a place one can (legally, of course) stand and watch this in person?

I've always been curious about yards and it's magical how someone knows where every engine and every car is located and where it's supposed to go.

A hump is used to take a string of cars over the hump where they split into other train according to its destination. My husband once worked for the RR and worked in a hump yard.

The pack on his front is a remote control as those locomotives are RCO- that’s what slugs are for

The deal he has is a remote control or they call it rco for short

Whenever you hear the guy saying three-step. He's letting the engineer know that he's stepping between cars and that the train has to be at a full halt until he radios him to let him know that he's clear.

super, thx from Poland!!!!

Es un despelote de vagones, más 1500 vagones, más de 100 vías, más de 150 locomotora