Robin Chapman, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern in Atlanta, said about 130 people work at the yard. The railroad will announce the move Wednesday to close the yard's humping operation.

The hump yard is where trains come in and individual cars are separated and joined to other trains for further transport.

The rest of the local rail yard will remain open, company officials said.

Chapman said 57 layoffs are train and engine positions, and 27 are mechanical employees.

"The humping operations will be going to Chattanooga or Birmingham," he said. "There will be some switching operations going to Decatur."

Chapman said the nation's economic climate forced the move.

"The reason we're idling humping operations is because of the traffic conditions," he said. "In this economy, traffic is way down and we can't support humping operations at Sheffield."

The rail yard is just east of the overpass on Wilson Dam Road, but is referred to as the Sheffield yard by company officials.

Those being laid off will be sent home immediately when the announcement is made Wednesday, but receive pay for 60 days, under a labor agreement, Chapman said.

Chapman said employees work on a seniority basis, so those affected by layoffs can displace employees with less seniority in other cities within the railroad's seniority district, which includes company operations in Alabama and Tennessee.

"The jobs could come back, theoretically, if we resumed humping operations at Sheffield," Chapman said. "But whether specific employees could come back, that depends where they go and what they do from this point. The ones laid off are on furlough status and would be recalled by seniority."

He said trains will continue to travel through the area and local trains that serve area industries will continue to do so.

"Traffic stays the same, it's just they wouldn't be humped in Sheffield," Chapman said.

(This item appeared in the Times Daily July 14, 2009.)