Humpyard Dogs

CN 7530 and set work the Symington hump yard in Winnipeg, Manitoba

The engines that work the hump yards never get the respect they deserve. These are engines that work hard, constantly shoving long strings of cars up a steep hill, only to go back down the hill and do it again with another string. I thought I would take a few pictures of these unsung heroes.

On May 29, 2010 there were three sets of engines working the hump at Symington Yard in Winnipeg. The pictured units, CN 7530, slugs 500 and 523, and CN 7513 were shoving their cars up the hill. The two end units are GP38s modified for humpyard service. CN 500 and 523 are slugs, aka "daughters" or "calfs" that have electric traction motors but no diesel engines. They get their power from the "mothers" aka the humpyard GP38s. Slugs are used in low speed operations like shunting because the diesels and their generators produce more power than one locomotive's traction motors can use.

Humpyard units are generally remote controlled. That allows the operator to stand at the uncoupling end and have the units shove the cars at his/her beck and call.

One thing I did not know is that the two GP38s in the sets are not identical. One is the "lead" and the other is the "trail" unit. The remote control receiver is in the lead but the "trail" is likely just MU'ed to the lead so they work together.

Some of the humpyard dogs are pretty beat up. Look at CN 7530 up close... or is it 7534?

CN 7530 turning back into CN 4734

The paint is so bad on CN 7530 that you can see its former number, 4734, showing through. 20 years after being renumbered, hard living is renumbering the engine back.

Note the light above the bell. This flashes, indicating the unit is remotely controlled.

The second set at work was on the back track on the hump, and I didn't catch any numbers except for CN 7521.

The third set was resting beside the hump.

Hump yard set at rest in Symington yard

CN 7528, CN 504, CN 501, and CN 7509 were having a rest.

Clearly CN 7509 was recently repainted!

CN 7509 in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Note the operator on the top of the hump above 7509. He has his beltpack to remotely control the dogs.

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to the "humpyard dogs" at Symington Yard. These dogs don't get any petting, but they work hard anyway!

See also More Humpyard Dogs

Winnipeg Railfanning, Part 1

Head on view of CP 1597

I hope everyone had a good holiday! For those who celebrate Christmas, I hope Santa was generous. I found a model train car under the tree to help build my fleet.

On Boxing Day I set out to do a few hours of railfanning around the Winnipeg area. I took my mother and sister to the airport then went to the CP yards downtown to see what power was around. At the CP Weston shops at 08:50 I saw the following units: 5707, 3117, 9153, 5998, 5940, 8778, 8815, 5988, 3119, 6055, 9760, 8521 and CEFX 117. There was a container train shunting in front of the yard so I couldn't get any decent pictures.

I went to the Arlington Street bridge and took some shots from there. CP 1597, 1506 were shunting, as were CP 6065 and 1622.


At the fuel stands I saw CP 1562, 1532, 6616, 6609 and several other units. It was a little cold standing on that bridge!

I went to the east end of the yard and found CEFX 1041 and CP 9511 shut down at the end of a train at 09:35. CP 8726 was heading up another train there.

CEFX 1041 and CP 9511

From there I took a quick look at the Greater Winnipeg Water District (GWWD) railway yard and saw GWWD 201 shut down, with the hulks of CP 8016 and 8018 nearby.

On to CN's Symington hump yard, where I found hump set CN 7511, 501, 504, 7528 (two GP38s with two slugs in the middle) and another set working the hump at 10:15.

Two Geeps, two slugs

There were two sets of power at the intermodal terminal, one led by CN 2531 and 5360, and the other by weathered CN 5367.

I noticed a few odd cars at the foot of the hump. One was GO Transit car 2647, and the other was a Loram unit LMIX 601. There were also a few pressure vessels on flatcars behind the Loram unit. I guess they were on the "do not hump" line.

GO Transit 2647 in Winnipeg

LMIX 601 in Winnipeg

I heard CN train 840 get permission to leave the yard, and I quickly deduced they were heading east toward the Perimeter Highway, so I went down by CN Navin and parked by the Tinkertown amusement park. Great place to take the kids, by the way. As is typical on the Prairies, I saw the train long before it was close enough to take pictures.

CN 840 arriving in Winnipeg

CN 2531 and 5360 rolled by at 10:39 with a long grain train.



From there, I moved to the CN main line along Wilkes Avenue, but that will wait until my next post.

UPDATE: Someone asked on the CanPassRail mailing list why GO 2647 was in Winnipeg. The answer: "A friend of mine from the CN has come up w/ the answer, & even more. Go Transit is receiving new Bi Levels from Bombardier in Thunder Bay. They are being taken to Winnipeg Symington Yard. 2647, & 2648 are going out on Train #302 tonight (Symington-MacMillian Yard). 2646 Is Currently at Mac yard, 2645 Arr. Mac Yard Dec 23, 2644 arr. Mac Yard Dec 14, Arr Mimico Dec 17, 2642, 2643 Not on the CN System as of yet. I'm sure in the next few weeks prob more GO Coaches will be arriving at Symington Yard."

Read next post in series