Method and apparatus of monitoring a railroad hump yard

#The present invention relates generally to railroad hump yards and, more specifically, to the monitoring and management of a railroad hump yard.

#Railroads use hump yards to marshal trains. The hump yard basically provides a switch point where a car can be attached to one of many trains. A string of cars is pushed up an incline by a switcher locomotive. When the car reaches the crest of the incline or hump, the car is released from the string and rolls down the hump to pick up speed. Part way down the hill or hump, the car will encounter a retarding device that will slow the car to the proper speed. The ideal speed represents just enough energy to cause the couplers of the mating cars to engage, but no more. The car will also encounter a series of switches to direct the car to the appropriate train. Any excess speed or energy as the car couples to the train will be transferred to the car and lading. The retarding devices and the switches are generally controlled remotely from a hump yard tower.

#Also, in the hump or other yards, the locomotive may be controlled from a remote location by an operator on the ground. The remote control locomotive (RCL) systems usually include an RCL device carried by the operator. In the industry, these are known as “belt packs.” The location of the RCL operator is important to the management of the yard, as well as the control signals that are sent to the locomotive. From the ground perspective, the RCL operator does not always have an appropriate perspective of the total layout of the yard, much less the total train. Also, since he is not on the train, he cannot sense the forces in the train by the seat of his pants, as most well-trained over the road operators can.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a hump yard, including the management system incorporating the principles of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a hump yard, including an RCL device incorporating the principles of the present invention.

#With the proper radio communication and sensor capabilities, LEADER technology, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,901 and available from New York Air Brake Corporation, can be applied to a railroad hump or other yards and centralized in the control tower. The telemetry (speed, acceleration, location, etc.) of the car can be determined by the locomotive pushing the car, a sensor set on the car itself, and/or a GPS device located on the car. The telemetry of the car can be sent to a Display/Processor in the control tower of the hump yard. The Display/Processor will have the track profile of the hump yard and inputs from the control tower to determine the command sent to the switches and retarding device. The same basic LEADER algorithms will be used to perform dynamic calculations and both display and record the data collected. The same type of LEADER exception or variance reporting is described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/247,370, filed Sep. 20, 2002 and available from New York Air Brake Corporation, wherein a standard freight application can be used to identify dynamic events that are of interest to the railroads. The benefits offered by a standard LEADER System will be offered by a Tower LEADER System.

#The advantage of using LEADER technology in this application is the ability to gain an understanding of the events that may have led to a dynamic event. On-board car technology can detect the event occurred, where it occurred, and the magnitude of the event, but may not be able to pinpoint the cause. LEADER processing will quickly identify the cause and provide the ability to model the operation via simulation to make operational changes to prevent the problem from recurring.

#The LEADER concept of data capture, recording and reporting can be extended to include use of an RCL device in a switching yard of the railroad. Rather than using the input controls of a locomotive as a data source, the LEADER models can use the input of an RCL device. With sufficient information about the cars being switched, LEADER could offer a display to the RCL operator similar to that offered to the locomotive engineer over the road. A map of the switch yard would be displayed with a live representation of other vehicles in the vicinity and their movements.