Triming and Humping

[BBetty]

Hey guys

New member here.

I’ve been a run8 driver for many years but I have recently started to get into working yards and am really enjoying it.

I am trying to take in as much as possible but the process of trimming onto various tracks at Barstow can be a bit ominous for a newbie. Are there any guides or tutorials available to help understand the process?

Thanks heaps!

[aramer94]

Hello, I am not sure exactly what it is that you are looking for but i will try my best to help you out.

- Step 1. Find the Hump power.
- Step 2. Pick which track you want to hump ( Receiving Yard 1-10, make sure headend power and dpu power has been removed, never hump engines.)
- Step 3. Couple up to track. Close angle cock between the cars and the locomotive, on the coupling end of the locomotive. Remove Hand Brakes and BLEED the air brakes.
- Step 4. Shove the track to the hump.
- Step 5. Press F1, Set your speed controller to 2.3 or 2.4 MPH. Close the F1 Menu.
- Step 6. Activate your speed controller. (it will say something along the lines of speed controller set 2.4MPH)
- Step 7. Press left CTRL F6 Select "pull config from host", always RESET hump controller. Make sure auto pin puller is active (unless you want to make the cuts manually then make sure auto pin puller is not active. And activate the hump controller.
- Step 8. Watch the cars as they hump to ensure they are going to the correct designated tracks.

~ Hope this helped you. Please reply if you have any further questions. Thank you for choosing Highball!!

[BBetty]

Thanks for the response. It's more about getting my head around the multitude of car tags and symbols. I have found various bits of information about the correct tags online and how to interpret them but there is nothing conclusive.

[David]

It is a bit confusing, I will admit. We however have symbol guide for road trains that can be found on the server information page of the website. We are in the process of putting together a guide for the locals.

[BBetty]

Thanks Robert

Look forward to the guide.

[Airdale]

BBetty....

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger when it comes to working the 'Yards'. There are a lot of details and nuances to working the yards in Run 8. Even the experienced users find need for help at times when working the yards.

Here's a brief overview of what you need to know.

When the first time user of Run 8 purchases the software, you will be given Barstow Yard as one of several yards in the simulation. Barstow has receiving yards... Hump... 'the bowl' (receiving yard for the Hump) and then Departure yards.

A train slated for Barstow will have a label of 'Bar' in the tag on the lead engine. Barstow is a BNSF yard and the tag designations of BNSF trains utilize three letters to indicate origin-destination. There are other letters/numbers in the tag that distinguishes the type of train that is running. Ex: H-BARSTO9-13. H indicates a High Priority Manifest Train. BAR is the origin..Barstow. STO is the destination..Stockton. The number 9 indicates that this manifest train is 'Critical Arrival'. The -13 indicates the date of the month..13th day. This tag is unique. If multiple trains from Barstow to Stockton occur, the tag could read H-BARSTO9-13-1. The -1 indicates the first train to Stockton.

Robert, who is the grand wizard of all engineers is currently working on a guide that will help first time users learn the protocols utilized in 'Train/Yard' management. Hopefully, that will be published soon. The guide will show the destination tags and the locations of the yards that destination tag serves. It should be the holy grail for working the 'Trim' in the bowl.

Barstow yard receives trains, runs them over the hump and then sends out trains to other yards for further sorting. These would be referred to as 'Road Trains'. There are trains that are built in the Barstow yard that serves local industry's and these trains are referred to as 'Locals'.

Barstow has two departure yards... North and South. These yards will have 'cars' from the bowl placed in either of the yards depending on the destination tag of the car. ex: BAK is the three letter tag for Bakersfield. Once you get the lay of the land, you will learn that trains slated for Bakersfield will be built in the South Departure yard. Compass direction and Railroad Compass direction are two different animals. That's for a later discussion.

So, in a nut shell... Trains slated to go to West Coulton, yards in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton and points north up the coast will be built in the South Departure Yard. Trains going east of California will be built in the North Departure Yard.

There are several local trains built in Barstow and they are built in the 'Old Yard' of Barstow. You can view these yards by selecting F3 and step through all the areas available. Two of the more common locals are known as the 'Boron' and the 'Cadiz'. These trains are tagged as 'L-Cal0611 and L-Cal1161' respectively.

When trimming the bowl, you will see a car labeled L-Cal1161 NEW. This tag tells you that it is slated for a local train with a destination of 'NEW' (Newberry Ballast Pit). As a trimmer, you would see an entire track in the bowl labeled with local tags like this. When that track is full in the bowl, you would pull that consist to the 'Old Yard for further sorting.

I don't want to steal the thunder of Roberts work, but there are references available that will help you figure out where a car goes and how it should be routed. Talk to us in Teamspeak and you will learn a lot.