Western Railroad Discussion > Hump Yard near Richmond, California

My brother lives in Richmond, California and would like to watch a hump yard in operation.  I see the J.R. Davis Yard in Roseville is huge but I was hoping there was something closer.  Is there anything?  Also is the Roseville yard visitor friendly?

Thank you!

There used to be one in Richmond, but I don't think it's used anymore... I'm sure someone here can verify. Otherwise, Roseville is the closest.

Rosevile is not a hump yard (at least not anymore). The closest may be in Barstow or up in Oregon.  I am not up on which other yards still have humps.

Gary 

SN711 Wrote:
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> Rosevile is not a hump yard (at least not
> anymore). The closest may be in Barstow or up
> in Oregon.  I am not up on which other yards
> still have humps.
>
> Gary 

Um, what? It most certainly is a hump yard.

Many Rail Fans gather over behind the Post Office in Roseville  to watch trains

SN711 Wrote:
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> Rosevile is not a hump yard (at least not
> anymore). The closest may be in Barstow or up
> in Oregon.  I am not up on which other yards
> still have humps.
>
> Gary 

Union Pacific  seems to disagree:

https://www.up.com/aboutup/facilities/davis/index.htm
 

Gary

55 Bowl tracks and a hump house! I would say they have a hump. By the way when they use the hump the Remotes work from the west and shove east. Watched them many times in the past few years.

Valleyman
 

meixel Wrote:
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> My brother lives in Richmond, California and would
> like to watch a hump yard in operation.  I see
> the J.R. Davis Yard in Roseville is huge but I was
> hoping there was something closer.  Is there
> anything?  Also is the Roseville yard visitor
> friendly?
>
> Thank you!

Please define what you mean by "visitor friendly".  ALL railroad
property is completely off-limits to everyone except employees
of the railroad -- and then only when they are on duty.  No others
are allowed onto railroad property without specific written
authorization -- which is very hard to get.

And, yes, Roseville has a hump yard, but there is no way to
watch the action on that hump without sticking out like a sore
thumb, even from public property.

Best advice -- do your best to "blend in with the scenery" when
hanging around railroad property -- yes, even when on public
property.  Remember -- "there is strength in numbers".  If you are
alone when watching railroad action, even from public property, you
may be called in by employees, who have been ordered to call in everyone.

AFAIK -- There is really no good way to see any action on any
hump without trespassing on railroad property.  Yes, a hump is
a hill, and as scuch a hump itself may be visible from a distance,
but, for sure, no one will be able to see much from any public areas.

The only exception I know of is the famous Gold Spike Tower in
North Platte, Nebraske.

And -- PLEASE! -- do NOT fly ANY drones over ANY railroad property.
The railroads quite understandably do NOT allow that.

I read, on another site, that one of the highway overpasses, over the yard, has a pedestrian walkway.  Does anyone know if they hump operations can be view from here?  It is Foothills Blvd..

Roseville is the closest hump yard to Richmond. But SP built a mini hump in Richmond a long time ago. No longer used but the hump is easily seen from Castro St. Maybe MDO recalls that one.

Posted from Android

meixel Wrote:

> I read, on another site, that one of the highway
> overpasses, over the yard, has a pedestrian
> walkway.  Does anyone know if they hump
> operations can be view from here?  It is
> Foothills Blvd..

The sidewalk on the Foothills overpass is on the east side, with chain link fencing:

https://goo.gl/maps/D3WiG2zQY8J2

The west side only has a bike lane:

https://goo.gl/maps/s8W4cPcpf2J2

The hump is a good distance west of the overpass, and since the hump is worked from the west end, you wouldn't see cuts being pushed over the hump from Foothills.  The crest of the hump, which is a lot lower than most following the rebuild of the yard in 1997-99, is here, and not easily viewed from the outside:

https://goo.gl/maps/Bz5YuSipXgE2

Long cuts being pushed over the hump are often pulled far enough west to be observed from Old North Antelope Road:

https://goo.gl/maps/Goc8d8Ev6DE2

Or from Antelope North Road:

https://goo.gl/maps/iArwiMCvgg32

If you do visit, please, pretty please stay on public property.  Among other things, trespassing is a leading cause of fences, and that makes it that much harder for the next guy.

As info, Richmond used to have a small hump yard along Castro St. for the refinery.  The yard is still there, but is flat-switched.  The hump isn't used for classifying cars anymore, and in any case it's not easily viewable.  The hump tower is at the center of this view:

https://goo.gl/maps/PWcSPWDrK6E2

Thank you!

not a conventional hump tho ... it has one master retarder but no satellite retarders on the spider leads ...

https://goo.gl/maps/npMeP2ytXfk



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/16 23:21 by Out_Of_Service.

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> not a conventional hump tho ... it has one master
> retarder but no sattelite retarders on the spider
> leads ...
>
> https://goo.gl/maps/npMeP2ytXfk

It has retarders all the way down both leads and in every rail...

I should add that they're all dowty type retarders.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/16 16:47 by portlander.

I think it would almost be more correctly called the "Roseville Bump" rather than "Hump" - it's more of a mini-hump, not a real hump like used to be in Roseville.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> I think it would almost be more correctly called
> the "Roseville Bump" rather than "Hump" - it's
> more of a mini-hump, not a real hump like used to
> be in Roseville.


Seems to get the job done no matter what you call it.

In my defense of not being in the "Hump" know about Roseville, it's because there is no easy view of it anywhere. Hanging out behind the post office is a great place to watch trains, but it is no where near the hump.

TheRichmond Pacific RR still runs over the hump at Richmond, but there is no humping going on.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

If you want to see a hump yard in operation, go to Barstow.  From West Main street, go North on H Street one block to a left turn, then drive in about one more block
to the visitirs viewpoint.  From there, you can see the hump in action and also get a good view of the cars rolling into the bowl tracks.  Go farther West on Main street about 2 miles to just West of the 58 freeway overpass.  On the right is an excellent viewpoint on public property for the main line action to and from Cajon Pass.  Go North on 58 and you will parallel the North main line to Lenwood Road, then turn North (right) to the stop sign, then left to follow the main line for about 5 miles.  Barstow is really quite accessible for railfans as long as you do not enter the yards.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

And -- PLEASE! -- do NOT fly ANY drones over ANY railroad property. 
The railroads quite understandably do NOT allow that.

AFAIK, UP doesn't control the airspace above their property.  In any case, I'm sure if you flew adjacent to the property at a high enough altitude you could see operations.