Light hump yard including retarder towers

NG501060

Light hump yard including retarder towers

Facilities

The second floor of the main yard office at Sharon was also the vantage point for this picture. Looking in the opposite direction (west, or south), the view is of the 30-track westbound classification yard, known as the "light hump yard". (The westbound hump is called the “light hump", since a large percentage of the cars switched over it are empty hoppers; conversely, the eastbound hump is called the "heavy hump” because it switches mostly cuts of coal.) The hump lead in the foreground is paralleled by a running track from Gano yard. Diesels 1686-2443-1685 are moving west on this track, enroute to the roundhouse off train BF-5. The *light hump" tracks are numbered 1 through 30 from north to south, or right to left above. There are fifteen retarders, the first three of which (along with the first three switches) are controlled by the operator in the nearest tower. The rest of the plant - six retarders and thirteen switches on each - side - is divided between the two operators in the lower tower. The basic classifications made here are for the L&N and the C&O across the river (two groups apiece), the Southern at its Gest street yard in downtown Cincinnati, the B&O and N&W at Ivorydale, the NYC yards at Ivorydale, Mill Creek, and Riverside, Indiana Division trains CC-1 and CC-3 to Indianapolis, industrial areas between Ivorydale and Sharon, and the usual intra-yard purposes such as rips, holds, cleanouts, washouts, and so forth. The roundhouse, main tracks, and eastbound yards, in that order, lie beyond the scope of this picture on the left.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Dec-53

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Hump tower

346

#1686, #2443, #1685

Sharon, OH

See NG501060a