Document ZJjXMO1om2J5Gx7Y2RLKmmoxL
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^ vS*!V5l~`.r*-*, -* ^a<-.voo^ <&+* WtfAS'Vi Hrtil-S'if&t
1965 National Safely Congrets
which themselves.are agiant extension of means of a modern control console an op-
factory production lines all' across, the. con*. , erator literally sorts the freij^t cars arriv-
tinent.'
ing in lengthy" trains so that tliey can. be
1 First comes CTC, Centralized Traffic Con- r<?wMe4.int<> nw trains to continue their
. trol. Modern; railroad operations almost ai- *r!P t0 consignee,
ways include Centralized Traffic Control. - Automation is the heart, of the . Cpnwdy
This is a control system!which provides for: operation. The most modem techniques of
the remote operation of signals apd switches automatic control for classifying freight
from consoles: located at a central .point, cars have been incorporated here. Electronic
directing the movement of trains over great computers, radar, automatic switdiing,coded;'
distances. Conditions of signals; positions of circuits, inductive trainphone, cab signals,
switches and location. of trains are all in- . electronic weighing scales and portable two-'
dicated .on a miniature track model on the way radios are all a part of this huge freight
upper portion of -the control panel. Routing handling facility,
of trains is accomplished by pushing: buttons
We . have installed similar, but much
to operate romotely switches and signals smaller, classification facilities' in large in?
along'the line. It is impossible.to route two . dpstrial plants. In the coal industry, for ex- /
trains into a collision with this system. At ample, movement of railroad cars by gravity
present there are more than 30,000 miles of is a basic method of operation. Train loads
^ railroad tracks' ip the United States and of coal or ore are delivered, to'a facility at
Canada over which traffic is direemtk from an inbound storage yard. Cars are unloaded,
similar control machines. Additional mileage and lading processed! They are then copis being added at the rate of about 2000 -ditioned and sorted as .to capacity. Bad. .
miles each year. And the state of the art. order apd surplus cars are diverted. Subse
i>f- centralized control is such now. that our quently! cars are reloaded, weighed; if _nec- .
latest control machines .arc being designed essary, and classified for delivery.. (Outbound '
to push their own button*- 7 1 .
cars, are "spotted" in an outbound storage
These principles of centralized control. yard. Wf have suRpiie^ par retarders for
have, also been applied in many large Indus- almost two dozen such installations to con- .
trial plants. Typical of these is Jones & ' *rol the movement of the cars tit their prpaT-
Laughliii's Second Avenue plant in Fitts- , ress- through the {utility. The UMOTcar burgh, where an interlocking oTaB5uT22 retarders in the coal mdusti^rhas Been
switches and signals are controlled remotely '
m fr last 30 years, ::;
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from one ^small control panel; Location of One of . the ffi(t ncetiit installations using
trains, positions of switches and aspects of radar automatic speed controlled retarders
wayside signals are automatically displayed . is at the Norfolk & Western's $25 million
on a model track layout, to keep the operator modern coal handling facility at Pier 6,
informed of operating conditions ana moyifr Lambert's; Point, Ntirfblki Va. This. rela- . ..
. ment of trains. A similar. installation of `.lively hew facility was put into sprvice in. ,
approximately .the same size can alsq be September, 1963; In 1964, over 38 million
.; found at the Juries & Lauglilin Plant at tons of coal were dumped in the Hampton
'; Aliquiptfa.
' Roads (area. Of this amount, approximately
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The variety of material# 1 mention^ *
V
tvm'n to
Tilers atTairiberts Point. This is why the '
!j*w MjW .winm.JS mllHw dollar. In
there arrive from all parts of: the country.
At Conway Yard on the Pennsylvania Rail road, 22 miles. west of Pittsburgh, there are two separate yards, one for eastward traffic
Pier 6 arid its'supporting facilities.
Pier 6 is now designed to load yessels at a normal rate of 16,000 tons an hour. It is n dual facility; that is, every piece of appa
ami the other for westward freight, with a ratus is duplicated so that Lambert's Point total of 107. classification tracks ranging in can load two ships simultaneously.
length to.more than a mile. This is as com-
modern facility, Union Switch &
; plex an automatic operation for handling Signal's automatic , speed control retarders freight aS you will find anywhere, From a re u..s.e..d. at scale areas, in tdvartce of, aiuj"
centrally located lower inthcyard,'3ri^>r~insi(/etl.uii--wvin---g------s-1h-c1d. s,albt--a----r--n---c----ypits,and at
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