The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-14
NEW $1,OOO,OOO.
 SWITCHING YARD SPEEDS FREIGHT
BY HENRY D. RENNwALD

BY HENRY D. RENNWALD United Press Staff COrrespOndent)
 Galesburg, H., Dec. 14-(UP)-As another step in aiding the war effort on the home front, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad re- gently opened their moderni2ed hump switching yard here to speed wartime freight traffic.
 Built at 8 cost of ,$1, 900 900, and requiring five months to complete, the new yard enables the road to speed up movement of cars through this important switching terminal from two to 12 hours.
 s. L. Fee, general superintendent of the Burlington, in charge of lines in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minneso- ta, presented the railroads case be- fore the War Production Board Tn ] Washington. Permission finally was granted by the board in June, and Feb Browne, assistant superinten- dent. began immediate construction on the project. Work began June and the yard went into full oper- ation Nov. IS. Very little new ma- terial was required, since rails, ties, switches, and other necessary ap- pliances were brought in from other points on the road, so no critical materials were reQustoned.
 The new yard, called the west bound hump, is divided into three portions receiving, classification and departure. Electro-pneumatic switches. IT car retarders, and new loudspeaker communication system between the hump proper and va- rious yard offices are incorporated in the new Set-up.
 TOwermen Control Cars
 A hump yard is huge saucer, containing scores of classification tracks. Cars are showed over the "hump'' by switch engine, and as they coast by gravity down an in. cline into the saucer, towermen di- rect their courses by electro-pneu- matic switches, and control their speed by retarders, or track brakes. Cars are classified not only accord ing to the train on which they will depart, but according to station order" with through cars on the rear end of the train, and interme- diate cars in their proper order nearer the engine. This reduces the amount of switching required while the train is moving over the road toward its ultimate destination. For example, on train leaving Gales burg for Denver, all cars bound for Denver and west, are at the rear of the train. Next will come the cars billed for western Nebraska points, then Lincoln and Omaha, and next to the engine, cars for Ottumwa and Burlington. Ia, first two stops to be made by this particular train.
 The first hump yard was built in Galesburg in 1882. It handled all traffic, in all directions. Since this town is sometimes called "the heart of the Burlington System" due to the fact that a great portion of all freight-north, south, east and west moved through it, the tremendous wartime traffic soon clogged 1t con- siderably. Therefore, Fee placed his case before the WIPE, showing the necessity for increased facilities. The original hump is. now used only for eastbound traffic, while the new yard handles, north, south and vest bound commerce.
 Big Saving i'm Time
 Under favorable weather condi- tions, train of 125 cars can be put over the hump, and all cars sorted and classified, in 20 to 25 minutes. This is approximately one- third of the time required if the same train were switched out on a flat-switching basis. Shortly after the new yard was put in limited operation, the crew from 4 D. m. to 12 midnight handled 1,60O cars.
 The overall length of the new yard. from the apex of the hump to the departure yard, is three miles. while the saucer of classifications tracks is 3-4 miles in length. There are 35 tracks in use in the saucer, with full capacity of 1,460 cars The longest track will hold 165 cars. Entire trackage in the Galesburg yards is now 106 miles.
 According to Fee. benefits expect ed to accrue from the yard enlarge ment include:
 Saving of 104,025 freight car days annually; saving of 960 car days every A hours during peak periods, and saving of approximately 45,00O tons of coal annually.