Cumberland Hump apparently Hunt(er)ed down and killed.

[wm3798]

Photo credit to my friend Paul Hutter who lives in Cumberland.


Apparently the yard is being converted to flat switching for local traffic only.  Not sure where the major classification will be taking place now.   I suppose this has been coming ever since the late 80s when the Parkersburg line was cut, and Cumberland no longer served as a major hub.  But this is a gut punch to an area that has already lost thousands of jobs over the years.  Without the classification yard, how much longer will the car shops and engine terminal be viable?  (Those are stored diesels there in the background.)

Another example of trickle up economics.  I'm sure Mr. Harrison will benefit greatly from the expansion of the unemployment rolls in Appalachia.  We can all sleep well knowing that he can make his boat payment now.

Lee

[mu26aeh]

Per a friend of mine who is engineer on CSX, many trains are now bypassing Cumberland and going straight to Willard.  But yesterday, Willard was log jammed due to two inbound trains that outlawed due to new mandate that there will be " no more overtime ", so trains sat on main until they could be recrewed.     

[wm3798]

So what you're saying is that a railroad that is basically a spiderweb draped over the mountains surrounded by heavy industry and ports doesn't work the same way a single line through Alberta does?  Curious...

Lee

[Mark5]

That yard photo ... 

[Missaberoad]

Not sure where the major classification will be taking place now.

Its scary how familiar this all looks...

Classification will be done "over the road" and at smaller intermediate terminals. (had a train the other day where it took the conductor 3 hours to lift a single cut of 60 cars because he had to get them in block, and this was done at a station with two little storage tracks)
Hunter will bring back kicking cars in a big way or as he says "we're gonna be real railroaders again"

Terminal dwell time will be the new gold standard so yard OM's will only care about getting the train past the switch.
Causing delays and issues down the road but making their dwell time reports look good.

So what you're saying is that a railroad that is basically a spiderweb draped over the mountains surrounded by heavy industry and ports doesn't work the same way a single line through Alberta does?  Curious...
Lee

Actually It works about the same up here, hours of service violations are through the roof and we are chronically short of crews because of all the recrews/violated trains... but it looked good on the balance sheet for 5 years so that's what matters...

....and point of order, We have three lines across Alberta 

[mu26aeh]

He replied back later this morning that a lot of switching is being done in Hagerstown now putting blocks of cars together for Cumberland and Willard. Train gets to Cumberland, drops those cars and continues to Willard.  Job is now done in few hours instead of a full day.  Q416 and Q415 now only stop at Cumberland for recrewing.

[wm3798]

Well, I guess that's good news for Hagerstown...  or at least the little bit that Chessie the Knife left behind...

Lee

[John]

I was thru there last week .. and it was full of cars ..

[mu26aeh]

Well, I guess that's good news for Hagerstown...  or at least the little bit that Chessie the Knife left behind...

Lee

Yeah, that's what he said.  Good for job security, until HH decides to sell off. 

[choochin3]

Selkirk hump is being shut also.

[central.vermont]

I guess there will be a new slogan for the railroad now.

Jon   

[Blazeman]

Speculation back in March that either Cumberland or Brunswick would see functions reduced.

[mu26aeh]

Given that Cumberland had the hump, would have lead to direction being taken

[lock4244]

He closed CP's hump in Toronto. Initially there were tons of problems but once sorted out things 'appear' to be operating well enough. From people on the inside, it seems that the folks in Toronto were humping cars, then pulling them back over the hump, and humping them again. This was being done to skew the numbers and make Toronto seem busier than it actually was.