Going away shot of train no. CC-3 approaching yard

NG503031

Going away shot of train no. CC-3 approaching yard

Steam Locomotive

This view of the 3127 on CC-3 was taken from the opposite side of Sherman Drive, immediately after the preceding one. Ahead of the engine is the hump, and beyond it in the upper-left background is West Hill yard, usually known as the "Big Hump". The latter, with 22 tracks, is the westbound classification yard at the Hill. Cars are switched into it from the hump leads and over the hump, which is manually-operated and employs riders (who are returned to the hump after each ride by a gasoline-powered track-speeder). This method of switching is slow and costly, after the fashion of almost all such layouts - the hump engine shoves in fits and starts, rather than steadily in the ideal manner, and the number of riders is never large enough for the operation or small enough for the budget. The efficiency of West Hill is reduced further by the shortness of its tracks, the longest of which holds about 70 cars. This necessitates doubling in the case of many trains, and such a procedure, always time-wasting, is especially so here since the longer doubles must be made around a curve and over tracks of the Belt Railway. Getting back to the 3127 - after she is cut off, she will move up on the hump, then back down through the crossover and under the bridge again.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Apr-56

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4/8/2002

391

L-4b

#3127

Lima

Middle Hill, Indianapolis, IN

See NG503031a