Western Railroad Discussion > Hump day

A few scanned slides of Pocatello, ID's hump:

1:  December 1997, the standard hump power at the time (pair of MP15's bracketing a slug) rest atop the hump while local and road power stand by at ground level.

2:  View looking South from the Benton Street overpass on a dismal day in spring 2002.  There was a lot going on here:  The MP15's have given way to road switchers, a pair of which are working a cut of cars.  The rear end of a manifest has just passed me; its head end is visible in the distance a little to the left.  The yellow blob directly above the tail end of that manifest is the back half of the DD40 on display in Ross Park.  Several sets of yard power are visible between the hump power and tower.  A couple sets of road power are visible to the right of the tower.  The UP shield in the distance marks the car shops.  Cars to the right of the red signals are on the main, they would be on a westbound train stopped at the fuel pumps almost directly beneath the overpass I'm on.

3:  I think this was a short time later the same day as #2 - the power next to the hump looks like the same set, and the tank car and Golden West covered hopper that are now rolling down the hill look like they're from the same cut of cars.  Some things have changed:  I've moved to a residential area on Poky's west bench for a different view, the manifest and the train on the main have both moved out, the sun has broken through, and the hump job is finished for now.

Within a couple months of #2 and #3, the last hump job here finished and 55 years of gravity switching in Poky came to an end.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/15 22:07 by Nomad.

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Great coverage. Thanks

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY