Is there a detailed drawing for a yard air connection? These where located in major yards to provide air for the long string of cars.
The ones I seen on the Frisco, was a metal box, 10" by about 15" with a glad hand and cutoff. Most had a lid, but rarely was it closed. The location was anywhere they wanted to keep from doing extra air tests. I have just seen them roll up a air compressor, also. Mainly they was used to meet FRA air tests, so the crew didn't have to do them. The Car Toads would do the testing, so the crew can roll out of here. Not much to see, the long tracks had some on the east end. I would need to look at the FRA book, not sure from memory, the requirements. Isn't retirement fun, I forget more of the rules each passing month. If you want to go through the requirements, get a CFR-49 On a more personal note I got a MRI, on my lower back, lumbar. I have two disc's bulging one each way. I use pain med's for my neck fusion, and high doses of Steroids, so didn't notice much pain until it got to this point. I've been talking with doctor's so long about BP, dizziness and balance, fianally I insisted on the MRI, no wonder I've been screwed up. It's frustrating, so if I have offended anyone, in the last few years, it was not intentional. We will see how it goes, but I should improve. Steroids, at the levels I take will make a person irritable and nutzzzzzz.
Generally, the wrong place. Tracks were extended, trains got longer, hoses were laying between the track. Most of those boxes was between the tracks. Items between the rail, eventually wound up tamped under a tie, or destroyed by track equipment. I think it was 75, I ran a track cleaner through the Springfield yard. Gastly job, looked like a tornado, moving down the track. We used a full time switcher to Mty the air dumps. It had wings to smooth inbetween the tracks. It was a air box getter. Then tracks were widened, in the mid 70's I got in on that job. They had a string of drop end gon's and just so happened a Speed Swing would drive right through them. Loaded with ballast, it moved at a slow speed and I would swing a bucket of rock to the side and dump it inbetween the track. So you know what I mean about the boxes being in the wrong place. Seemed anywhere was not a good place. One time those boxes was painted yellow.
You can see there is not much to the one by me John. The pipe just sticks out of the ground and the hose off that. The track is painted to make it easier to spot.
In the yards I have worked in that had them, there was a metal pipe inside the rail towards the end of some yard tracks, many times these rails were painted to indicate where they were located, then there was a 30-40 ft hose at the end along with a sort of ball valve to turn on and off. Thats a neat little detail you don't see modeled very much, to be honest I hadn't thought about it at all. Another place you will find these is at larger industries or customers where entire trains are picked up, or when the contract calls for cars to be picked are to be pre-tested " class 1, or Initial terminal". Just for info, even if cars have been pre-tested, they will have to be re-tested if they are off air for over 4 hrs. I have picked up trains at industries or yards that the H/E power was on 1 track, and the rest of the train on an adjacent track, with a hose connecting the brake pipe on the front of the power connected to that track to keep it all "on air".
The one pictured here is on a pretty good sized siding where the local makes up trains not made up in the yard. It is by Whirlpool appliance which uses rail. Plus UTLX has a large tank car facility here for repairs and rebuilds. So quite a bit of what sits there is home for repair tank cars waiting to get run into their plant. That track changes out once daily but anything tied up there has air on it.
I found this on a Frisco Archive picture. Apparently a vertical pipe as a post (or a surge reservoir) with the air hose connected to it.
Do you leave the yard air connected until the engine ties on? Don't want to get into a "bottling the air" situation.
As Tom say's, the four hour rule is in effect. It really don't take long to just pump them back up. But if you choose to bottle the air, it would only be a few seconds. Which has been done lots of times, they don't run off that quick. You do screw the air down on the engines, to not overcharge the train line. I have done it, but it's been a long time. I was working in Denver one time, it got so cold in the powder river basin, they sent me up to help. We drove along side the trains throwing wet paper towels on the glad hands, it would freeze and make air. It was 35 below and wind chill was way colder. We also had a real time trying to close all the open joints. Their was so much tiny snow and ice in the air that rainbows appeared. We burned those joints with rope, quite the site. Flames and diesel smoke rising in the air. Neat-o
"Bottling air": FWIW... By the time I retired (April 2018) any bottling of the air was a serious offense. Even after busting the air line, closing the angle cock (resulting in the angle cock being closed on both ends of the cut) prior to a run-around could be viewed as "bottling the air" by the particular FRA agent watching. They really got anal about it. Andre
