Bill Barber commented in part:
<<Of course, this isn't the only corporate mistake made by
the Hill Lines. There was a hump yard built at Minot, ND, I believe,
that was never used for it's intended purpose.>>
Bill,
Can you provide any additional information and/or sources for this
conclusion? Which Hill road are you referring to?
As far as I know, the only Hill line through Minot was the GN. They built
Gavin yard, dedicating it in 1956. Every thing I have read in the Great
Northern literature suggests the yard accomplished everything it was
intended to do:
1) Gavin reduced the switching burden on GN facilities at both ends of
the system. Traffic originating on the east end of the road needed only to
be classified into blocks for locations east of Minot (Wilmar, etc), and
Minot and beyond. This greatly reduced the burden on Union Yard in the twin
cities and improved service levels dramatically across the line. Trains
arriving from the east in Minot could quickly be classed and blocked for the
various locations west of Minot, again increasing the service level.
2) Conversely, traffic originating on the west end of the system and
bound for Minot and points east didn't need to be classed and blocked on the
west end. Again the traffic could be blocked for intermediate points and
the Minot and beyond traffic that could be quickly and efficiently classed
at Minot on its way east.
3) As a result of these efficiencies, GN was able to advertise and market
reduced delivery times from one end of the system to the other.
As I said above, in 30 years of interest in the GN I've never heard a single
comment that Gavin yard performed less than expected. Can you provide
information to the contrary? I'd be curious to learn if such information
exists, as it would definitely paint a different picture.
Best regards,
Steve Haas
Snoqualmie, WA
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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