Western Railroad Discussion > Another Long Day at the Roseville Yard

Roseville is home to the Union Pacific J.R. Davis Yard. Encompassing 915 acres, with 55 bowl tracks and 247 switches, this yard serves as the heart of rail traffic in Northern California. The yard can hold approximately 6,500 rail cars and has the ability to classify (sort) 1,800-2,300 rail cars per day. The yard never sleeps. At any moment in time, you can look out and see multiple trains moving throughout the vast industrial abyss.

But even with a combination of seemingly large capacity and the latest in railroad technology, the Roseville Yard is struggling to keep up with demand. The yard is routinely running at near capacity, creating issues for inbound trains. January 26th was no exception. With two local trains headed for the yard, the dispatcher had to make a decision. There was not enough room for both. Would the Rocklin Rocket or the Redding Turn get the first chance to enter the yard and tie up after a long days work?

After talking with the Redding Turn, Dispatcher 57 outlined her plan. She would have the Redding Turn sit at Sunset Whitney, waiting for a track to open up in the yard. A hopeful crew asked dispatch if they could just tie down the train for the night. Unfortunately, with a constant parade of trains headed for the yard, Dispatcher 57 could not leave a train blocking the siding all night. Therefore, the crew would have to wait on the train until there was an opening in the yard.

Luckily for the crew of the Rocklin Rocket, there was a track open for their train. After a full day of serving industries in Rocklin, Lincoln and Oroville, the crew was able to set their train in the yard and head home for some well deserved rest.

Union Pacific 1004, one of only seven GP60s left in SSW paint, slowly rolls past the crowded Roseville Yard on a cool winter evening. Soon, the locomotives will be tucked away for the night, clear of the continuous hustle and bustle of the largest rail yard in Northern California.

UP 1004 --- LRR62 --- Roseville, California

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Interesting perspective. Directly above the 1004 is the hump office and a hump set apparently either pulling a cut out to the pullbacks, or coming back to grab another rail out of the receiving yard. Way off in the distance probably around 3 miles away is the Antelope Rd overpass.

As for those numbers of cars per day, I would say that's more a text book number than reality. If Roseville ran as efficiently as the UP press releases would have you think, there wouldn't be all these trains parked all over the place with nowhere to go. You know, fantasy land versus reality.

ble692 Wrote:
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> Interesting perspective.
>
> As for those numbers of cars per day, I would say
> that's more a text book number than reality. If
> Roseville ran as efficiently as the UP press
> releases would have you think, there wouldn't be
> all these trains parked all over the place with
> nowhere to go. You know, fantasy land versus
> reality.

Is BLE 692 ever right!!!! 1800 to 2300 cars per day is 600 to 766 cars per shift! On all three shifts, without a hiccup. A fantasy!

It wasn't easy to hump 800 cars per shift in LA, some extra board yardmasters would lay off when called to work the hump because of the pressure. The hump was a chess game, but there were some defenses that didn't work, if that makes any sense. LA had to clear the hump lead at end of shift to let all of the car department employees in and out, and the incoming engine and yard crews also. If a yardmaster got a reputation of giving 'photo finishes,' the crews wouldn't throw their feet out for him. Also to be remembered was that one engine started at 730, 330, 1130, while the other started at 759, 359, and 1159. If you were still humping after about 715 etc, you were blocking the next shift's incoming crew. Humping 800 cars required the early engine to be on the move up an empty track by about 740 or so, and getting a stretch on the track and having the handbrakes off ready to shove to the hump by about 810. It took about 10 minutes to read the first hump list to the towers, and by 815, you HAD to be humping. The late engine was always sent around a short track also, so he would be ready as soon as the early engine finished.

The difference between LA and Roseville? The LA hump speed was twice Roseville's. Roseville's hump leads don't interfere with access, and working with a foreman only job, the hump only stops for 3 or 4 minutes to hand off the belt pack. After the South lead is humped, there is a delay while the other job pulls out onto the North lead. The he can hump, and the other job can get a track pulled out on the South lead. Nobody gets a quit, every job is a photo finish, and all the 'new' guys and gals don't know any better. There is no incentive to hurry, you will just get into trouble. Colton is faster still, because of tangent point retarders. The cars pick up more speed and get away from each other, so the switches can throw between them. The last retarder is in the track, so it can slow the cars down without causing a collision.

Roseville will NEVER be able to improve their hump count until they redesign the hump. Most of the Dowtys will need to be removed from the leads, and a whole bunch more purchased to be installed at the tangent point in all the bowl tracks. The bowl needs to be made into a bowl, to get the cars away from the crest, and stop them from getting to the East end too fast. Then as Rollin said, the trim operation must be improved. The trim herder's position needs to be established, along with power switches on all the departure tracks, and some more of the leads. All of the rigid hand throw switches left need to be replaced with variable switches that can be run through.

Then they need to rationalize the budget. Right now the pool freight budget and the yard ops budget don't affect each other. Locomotive availability isn't charged to yard delay. Fuel cost isn't figured in anywhere either. Everybody has their own goal, and they will do anything to meet it, regardless of what it does to the rest of the railroad.
G

Thank you both for providing your railroading professional perspectives.

Do I remember correctly that shortly after the renovated hump opened a car was stopped (and reversed direction?) due to winds???

I guess this is why I saw 3 trains parked southbound between Fresno and Turlock today. And why 7 southbounds came through Fresno between 630pm-10pm last night.

I feel bad for the crews working 12 hours to go 50 miles.

I always wondered why UP felt they had to re-do the yard?  As if SP didn't know anything??  

As other posters said, now we're seeing block swaps in Klamath Falls, trains tied down, etc.  I wonder if Roseville's troubles have pushed any work into the Stockton, or Fresno yards?  

Finally, I wonder if UP wishes they still had the old SP Taylor yards?  Was it a mistake to lose that yard, or given today's traffic, it wouldn't be needed?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/18 08:02 by coach.

UP built it. They can live with it. I just like watching the trains from the Pacific Street Cafe. Much, too much yellow.

coach Wrote:
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> I always wondered why UP felt they had to re-do
> the yard?  As if SP didn't know anything??  
>
> As other posters said, now we're seeing block
> swaps in Klamath Falls, trains tied down, etc.  I
> wonder if Roseville's troubles have pushed any
> work into the Stockton, or Fresno yards?  
>
> Finally, I wonder if UP wishes they still had the
> old SP Taylor yards?  Was it a mistake to lose
> that yard, or given today's traffic, it wouldn't
> be needed?

Or kept Eugene intact and open... Could do like SP and build Roseville bypass trains for Southern California and the Bay Area.

Class one railroads are obsessed with how much car classification they can push through hump yards and to make sure they are always operating a maximum capacity (ie no room for problems, and like any yard, when you start getting close to maximum capacity, efficiency drops off quickly). I remember hearing how BNSF would shove an empty grain train over the Pasco hump just to get the hump numbers up (seems ridiculous, but from reliable sources). Late Hunter Harrison of CSX (and CP, CN, IC, BN, etc) was extremely obsessed over this, closing down most hump yards at railroads that he controlled (terrorized).