What is the purpose of this.?
If i am reading Wiki correctly, you can only run one train, in one direction, at one time.
If that IS correct…what is the advantage of a Gauntlet Track.?
Thank You
One advantage is doing away with switch points to gain access to the gauntlet area of the track - just frogs are needed on simplest of gauntlet situations.
In the case of the B&O’s Howard Street tunnel in the passenger AND freight days. The tunnel was double tracked for passenger trains. A gauntlet track was installed down the center of the tunnel for freight trains to take advantage of the height of the arch at the center of the tunnel. Access to the tunnel was controlled by interlockings on either end of the tunnel and switches were involved.
The railroad wants to double track a line, but there’s a single track bridge. While two trains can’t occupy the bridge at the same time, a gantlet track allows traffic to move without switches, as Balt says.
A gauntlet arrangement can greatly reduced the maintenance costs associated with switches, and the delays required to stop and line them if they are hand operated.
Space may be a concern, as in Balt’s tunnel example, and other uses have a freight track a bit farther away from station platforms to avoid clearance issues with larger freight cars. The ION light rail line in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario has a station like this, they share track with a CN spur and there was not enough room to build a second track.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Waterloo_ION_gauntlet_track.jpg
Sometimes two systems share space and have no need to connect, so a gauntlet becomes ideal. Edmonton used to have a single lane bridge which was shared by a streetcar line and a freight railway in the manner shown in Larry’s picture.
I’ve seen gauntlet tracks through stations that have high level platforms. One that immediately comes to mind is New Carrollton, MD on the northeast corridor between DC and Baltimore. The gauntlet provides extra clearance for any freight trains passing through the station.
CW
The Erie had one in Warren, Ohio until, IIRC, the early '60s. (1966)
Erie_Warren_Gauntlet by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Tree gets extra credit for calling it correctly, gantlet.
Don’t worry, everyone including myself use gauntlet in casual conversation.
Jeff
I’ve seen and used it spelled both ways. Even the Wikipedia article uses and accepts both.
Maybe this is another British/American spelling difference?
The ‘gantlet’ and ‘loading gage’ conventions are from the age of simplified-spelling craze that gave us ‘Pittsburg’ for a few years in its era.
Note that this is the same spirit that tried to get us to use ‘Walschaert’ when referring to a certain valve gear… a thing I find as reprehensible as pronouncing Boxpok as if it were a disease. [:)]
Two railroads, one bridge… this keeps their lines separated without switching or towers!
Some great replies…they all are actually…and now i know why.! 
Thanks Again
My understanding of this is that a “gauntlet” is the type of glove worn in a suit of armor whereas a “gantlet” is a group of soldiers standing in a line to batter a hapless fellow soldier as a form of punishment for doing something wrong or perhaps as part of a hazing ritual.
“Throw down the gauntlet” means to issue a formal challenge as when a knight would drop an armored glove on the ground to signal another knight to resolve a dispute with a “single combat” between the two knights. Steam locomotive crew members would wear gauntlets, that is, heavy leather gloves as protection against touching a hot pipe or surface in a steam locomotive cab positioned at the boiler backhead.
“Run the gantlet” means to traverse a path presenting serious danger as in the soldier being punished by being required to pass by his fellow soldiers who would strike or batter the poor guy.
I would say that the section of trackwork where a pair of tracks are merged into four rails to pass an area of restricted width clearance is properly a “gantlet.” If two trains by accident tried to negotiate that track section at the same time, both of them would be pretty heavily damaged by sideswiping each other.
As to “you say gannt-let, I say gawnt-let, let’s call the whole thing off”, the two spellings have lapsed into interchangable use to refer to the armored glove and the line of soldier
I take it, you’ve never been to SE Kansas?
How to use a bridge without creating an interchange permit docket from the ICC/STB after 1887.
Here’s one from Roselle Park NJ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VHb1t9p0d8
Here’s some amateur video of it in action with some “truth in advertising” in the title. [;)]
My memory may be faulty on this, but I seem to recall seeing a picture in Trains magazine of a bridge (I think on the IAIS) where the double tracks “squeezed” together to three rails, the traffic on both lines “sharing” a common center rail. I wondered at the time why the railroad would build a bridge just wide enough for that arrangement instead of a double track bridge.
My guess is that RR A built the bridge for itself - RR B came along and negotiated a agreement with RR a for B to be able to use the bridge for valuable considerations by using the gauntlet arrangement.
Cars and locomotives got wider, taller and heavier over the years. Maybe that bridge was initially double tracked, but the two tracks were moved inward to get more clearance.
As an example, CP’s Connaught Tunnel was originally double track, but was changed to a single track running down the centre of the tunnel in order to accommodate taller cars.
Or perhaps the railroad just cheaped out when they were building the bridge, sometimes it’s that simple.
I also wondered if that shared rail in the center would wear down twice as fast and require accelerated replacement.