Class. Yards & Trainbuilding

[ssmith1627]

Guys, just some more of my basic questions here as I try to understand all this.

Knoxville (Sevier) has a huge class yard -- 48 tracks.  But what trains do they build in these class yards ?   Only trains that originate in Knoxville ? 

Or do they touch other trains that pass through.  Would 15T come into the yard from the Bristol District, have 10 cars cut out, 20 cars added on and then depart down the West End ?   Or is 15T a pass-through and isn't touched ?

I've seen 15T come into the yard and go back out.  Same for an intermodal like 22A.   But I can't follow closely what happens in between to know whether or not they touch it on the yard.   I assume not with an intermodal.  But not sure about the others.

Thanks for any insight you can offer !

Steve

[ssw9662]

I don't have much knowledge of the Knoxville area, but the same operations generally take place in all major classification yards.

Obviously, trains that originate at Knoxville are built entirely from cars in the classification tracks. Also, I'd imagine that most manifests that pass through Knoxville stop to make a setout and/or a pickup. I know that 15T at least makes a drop at Knoxville, and I'd imagine they make a pickup as well. The same probably applies for 16T as well. As far as I know there are no intermodals performing work in Sevier, but they may refuel or perform a crew change.

Keep in mind that most trains are assembled from multiple tracks in the classification bowl rather than just one. This is particularly true for trains bound for flat yards or trains that perform work en route. Thus any given train may require several tracks to be assembled. Also there are probably a lot of local freights and yard jobs that are built from tracks in the class yard. When it all adds up you could find a legitimate use for all 48 of those tracks.