Hump Yard Operations - Trains Magazine

At our yard, the list was held by the conductor (as well as the three Car Retarder Operators), who instructed the pin-puller where to make the next cut, when to stop, etc.  By the time I retired the pin-puller was an RCO, which actually made eveyone's jobs easier (I'll get a lot of flak for that, but it's true).

From my perch in Tower A, I was--in addition to my regular duties of controlling the speed and pointing the cars in the right direction--checking the cars against the list.  The number of times I found discrepancies was pretty high.  I felt good when I could spot them in time to get the word to everyone.  It seemed that the railroad had AEI readers but used them only as a backup to their own computer system.  I'll never forget the shove they gave us that started in the center and worked out both ways!