Division Points |
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2001
Last month we discussed various classes of trains which moved revenue freight cars during the steam-diesel transition years of the 1945-59 period. We will continue this theme now with a look at the division point yards, where freight cars were classified and marshalled. As per usual, our example will be the Canadian National operations in Southern Ontario, but your favourite prototype road in Canada or the United States likely followed similar practises to the CNR. As we are describing a scenario which no longer exists and cannot be recreated except in miniature, the information is presented to be of most use to prototype railway modellers.
Let us begin with the lowest assignments on the ladder. Local mixed trains and way freights arrived at a yard with freight cars collected from the network of lines radiating from the terminal. Crews in the cab of the locomotive and on the tail end were assigned to that station. By union agreement, a way freight had to originate before noon. Generally, the trains worked six days per week, sometimes laying over at an outpost on alternate nights. Saturdays were a light day, given the fact that most businesses were on a five or five-and-a-half day work week. Regular hours and staying at home every night (for the most part) were incentives for crew members to bid on these assignments, notwithstanding the fact that they did not pay as handsomely as mainline jobs.
When the mixed train or way freight arrived at the yard, the passenger cars (if any) were left at the station platform area. After leaving the conductor at the yard office (often contained within the station) to complete his paperwork, the caboose was set in its usual location, whether it be "van alley" or another siding. Freight cars were left in a designated track. Day to day, this was often the same track. Same track or otherwise, the location for the cars was decided upon before the train left the yard in the morning, at the direction of the yard foreman. There was a certain degree of regularity to the movement of cars in and out of a yard. If there were any "rush" cars, such as merchandise, perishables or livestock, they may have been switched out to specific tracks by the train crew. When all the cars were set out, the locomotive and crew headed for the shop track.
When short haul freights arrived at a division point yard, they may have been terminating or carrying on. If terminating, the consist was left in a designated track for the yard crew. If carrying on, a set out and lift was made, either by the train crew, the yard engine, or a combination of the two. Day to day, this procedure was carried out at the same location in the yard. Freight train 455, for instance, arrived at Allandale in the middle of the night, entering a long siding at the south end of the yard. While the engine uncoupled and headed for water, the waiting yard engine added a cut of cars to the tail end, and removed the local cars from the head end.
It should be mentioned at this point that short haul freights, with their numerous set outs and lifts, had their cars marshalled top to bottom in order of the stations where work was to be performed. Within these separate blocks of cars, priority cars (merchandise, perishables, livestock) occupied the top of the block. As the train proceeded along its way, these blocks of cars, and the hierarchy within them, had to be maintained by the road crew or yard crew adding cars to the train.
Manifest trains, otherwise known as fast freights, maintained connections at division points, crew swaps, and interchanges with foreign roads. This necessitated them keeping to a schedule, whether it was designated in the employee time table or otherwise. While en route, these trains may have lifted or set out cars, but only at specific locations. Where two or more fast freights worked along the same stretch of track, they often shared the lifts and set outs. For example, First 475 from Mimico to Windsor consisted entirely of Windsor, Walkerville and Detroit traffic, with no pick-up or set-off at London. This train handled all Toronto and Montreal merchandise. Second 475 handled all London and London connection traffic including London merchandise, except Walkerville, Windsor and Detroit traffic (handled by First 475). Second 475 handled Chatham cars blocked together out of Mimico, and did necessary lifting on the line, including London.
Other assignments such as grain extras, ballast extras, livestock extras and special fruit and vegetable trains were accommodated in division point yards as well. A grain extra from Collingwood or Owen Sound, for instance, arriving at Allandale or Palmerston respectively, would terminate at the yard. As the cars had been conveyed from the elevators by light power such as Ten Wheelers, Consolidations ("freight hogs", or "hogs" for short) or Pacifics, it was not often necessary to maintain an extra train beyond the secondary yard. Heavier power such as Mikados and Northerns could generally handle the extra tonnage within their normal train. Ballast extras had a specific place to go on the railroad for unloading, with a designated crew, so these cars generally remained in a string before being despatched. Livestock and perishables were either lifted by fast freights at designated sidings or added to the same trains at division point yards.
Let us backtrack to the train's arrival at a yard, and briefly examine the sequence of events concerning the freight cars. At the completion of a any run, whether it be a mixed train, way freight, short haul, extra or manifest, the conductor turned in his arrival consist and waybills, covering the cars on his train, to the yard office. The arrival consist was in triplicate, with the bottom cardboard copy serving as a switchlist. Under instructions from the yard master, a yard office clerk completed the switch list with instructions for the cars, and handed it to the yard foreman. After learning where the cars were, the yard foreman decided which tracks to use in making up specific trains. Yard switching crews handled this work. Small terminals such as Allandale and Palmerston had a single engine, working one or more shifts. Larger terminals, such as London or Hamilton, had several engines and crews, each taking a piece of the work.
Meanwhile, the Car Department inspected a train upon arrival, and advised the yard office of any bad order cars (with a label being affixed to the car). For inspection, a man walked the length of the train, checking the repack dates and air brake dates. Loaded cars were generally only checked for running gear problems; empties received closer inspection. Minor repairs, such as replacing brakeshoes, were done in the yard. Defective cars were sent to the repair-in-place (rip) track. Except for cars of perishables, livestock or l.c.l., yard crews could not switch a train at a yard until after the Car Department had checked the train. For larger yards such as London and Mimico, information on cars of perishables, livestock and l.c.l. was wired ahead to expedite movement, under an agreement with the Car Department and Yard Office.
To maintain smooth interchange of cars among its yards and with interchanges, any railway needed to know which cars were on its system on a given day, and where they were located. Such an inventory was conducted daily by car checkers, who worked for the Yard Office. The "8 a.m. yard check" involved a man walking the yard, with a flashlight if necessary, noting every car on every siding, in order. In the words of the railway station agent manual of the era, "The yard check is the fundamental record of most car demurrage assessments and its accuracy is of the greatest importance. It should be taken as soon as possible after 7 a.m., as the free time commences and ends at that hour, and should indicate to what extent loading or unloading has been carried out, i.e., whether car contains 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or a full load". The completed sheets were handed in to the yard office, which in turn forward the information to Montreal in a Daily Telegraphic Car Report.
Before any train could leave a yard, a brake test had to be performed. This was the Car Department's responsibility in terminals. The procedure involved coupling the air hoses before the engine was coupled on. After the engine was coupled on, the inspector "followed the air" back to the caboose in the course of the brake test, swinging his arms as a signal to the head end to apply the brakes. If the last car registered the required 70 lbs. of pressure, the brakes were released and the train could leave.
It is hoped that this discussion will assist you in the understanding or re-creation of prototype yard operations during the fascinating transition era on the railways. Please feel free to drop me an e-mail at ian@canadianbranchline.com should you have any comments. At the same time, if you have not already purchased one of our books, allow me to recommend Steam at Allandale, To Stratford Under Steam or Steam Over Palmerston for discussions of yard operations within the context of an overall geographic area on the Canadian National Railways during the 1950s.
Ian Wilson
October 25, 2001
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