I think I spelled wye correctly, someone tell me if I spelled it wrong. I would guess that the Keddie wye is one of the more famous wye’s in the US. There once was a wye about 6 miles from where I live.
Two kinds of ‘wye’ here. The kind epitomized by Keddie is where two main lines siamese together – Harper’s Ferry and a couple of places on the Reading come to mind as examples.
The other kind of wye is the full triangle type that is used to reverse engines or consists where a turntable will not serve. This can be put many places, including where a diverging line or branch is involved.
Sometimes one kind ibecomes another. At Brewster, or is it formerly North Brewster, now Southwest, there is a why leading sdxst from the Harlem Div. main line. It was formerly the connection of the Putnam Division main line to the Harlem and regularly saw passenger servce, but today is just used to turn power.
Wyes are quate common. Even some on stretcar aand rapid-transit systems.
Attached a photo at Kennelworth on Capitol Transit, end of the line, with a wye required to turn the single-end PCCs.
According to Microsoft’s map of Keddie, the wye there is a wye that can be used to turn a train. In essence, it is no different from the wye that used to be in Reform, Alabama, that the AT&N used to turn engines. Is the junction at Harper’s Ferry actually called a wye?.
To me a wye, by definition, is a place where a train can be turned. I don’t think Harpers Ferry is a wye, but I really don’t know.
Now I’m not really sure why the term evolved as “wye,” because the “Y” is only part of it; you need the third leg. It seems like they would have come to be known as “triangles.”
WYE is also used in 3 phase power Delta being the other … almost similar to this discussion. Think the spelling of Wye is to reduce confusion. Wye and Tee is also used in plumbing to refer to fittings.
I always took a wye to mean an equilateral switch where each side is the diverging route.
Cameron Illinois, just a few miles west from Galesburg, has an interesting wye creation. The former Santa Fe and CB&Q mainlines crossed each other with a grade separation for more that 100 years.
With the merger that created BNSF it was deemed necessary for efficient operations to be able to interchage trains at this location. A ‘double main line wye’ was created to permit such an operation. A google earth view will show how this was accomplished.
Nevada, Iowa has a double wye configuration on the southwest side of town.
This is where the UP Spine Line crosses the UP Overland Route. It allows for trains going in any direction on one to transfer to any direction on the other.
Here are the coordinates for Google Maps:
(42.0229755, -93.4860162)
There used to be a wye along Lake Shore Boulevard west of Toronto to turn the 501 Queen streetcars around. I guess it was from when they used double-ended cars and where they would short-turn. It’s gone now but I remember where it was.
There is also the wye on the south approach to Chicago Union Station where CB&Q (BN/BNSF) and PRR (PC/CR/NS) join to enter CUS. The third leg is primarilyt the freight connection between BNSF and NS. In the past, the wye was used to turn PRR 6100, the Worlds’ Fair engine.
I am reposting my Kennelworth wye photo. At age 15, I aligned the bottom of the Leica’s viewfinder with the bottom-chord-track of the wye, and the result in the photo already posted is that buildings, poles, and the streetcar have a slight tilt. I’ve repaired that and added some contrast, and tried to rerduce the sprocket-hole effects.
The last two times I came into Chicago on the former CB&Q, the train was turned on that wye before entering the station.
I have noticed the switches on the former Q track; I would not appreciate it if someone erred and I went back to Chicago on the former Santa Fe when I was coming home.[:D]
My hometown of Dickinson ND has an active wye. I’m not exactly sure what it’s used for, though. Presumably turning locomotives for local switching jobs?
I sometimes ask myself wye?
That is a remarkable installation. Thanks for sharing.
I wonder if a long freight could take the “short loop” without string lining? (from Cameron and back to cameron)
Wye’s were very common on the longer branch lines as they were presumably cheaper to build than turntables and presumably much easier to maintain.
There was a turning wye at Spence’s Bridge in south-central British Columbia until about 2009-ish. I drove by there at least twice each year until 2016, and noticed its slow removal from about 2009 until maybe 2011.
Tempus edax rerum.
I know very little about actual railroad terms.
At Gibbon, Nebraska, the UP mainline from Omaha meets the mainline from Kansas City.
Is this considered a ‘wye’?
In Deggesry’s Bristol, Va - Tn there was once 6 wyes in various locations. They are all gone which will make any Amtrak service to Bristol needing to add one back. Deg can you name them all ? Sorry meant if you could locate them ?