Hi there
This may seem like a weird question, but which side of the turnout should I mount my swtchstand ?
Is there a “right” side or it doesn’t really matter ??
I can see in tight situations you may only have one option, but I was just curious in a general sense.
cheers
Checking out some mid-20th-century SP common standards and yard maps, I’ve
surmised/presumed the following.
Placement. The stand is placed on the side of the branching track
unless that places it between close parallel tracks. If there are
parallel tracks on both sides, the stand goes on the side of the less
important track, such as the house track rather than the (passing)
siding. Derail stands are placed on the same side of the track as the
desired derailing direction.
When there are turnouts in a series such as on the ladder of a yard, the stands are placed on the straight side so switchman don’t have to continue crossing tracks to turn the switches.
Targets. For single-plane targets, they are parallel to the track for the normal position of
the switch (turnout) and perpendicular for the “open” position.
Targets are red on both sides at mainline tracks, sidings directly
connected to the mainline, siding and yard track stands which
activate mainline signals or connect to CTC sidings, and derail
stands. All others are yellow on both sides. Targets are
relectorized where required unless there there is sufficient
switching done at night to warrant lamps.
Mark
Hi Mark
Thank you so much for that info.
Greatly appreciated
cheers
There’s a good article in the May 08 MR Page 24 that talks about prototype switch stand installations.
If you type headblock location into the forum search block, you will get a series of discussions on the subject, including situation-specific and prototype-specific references.
As a bonus, you might also get my unpatented, copyright-free formula for hand-laying bulletproof specialwork. It came up about 2/3 of the way down the first page.
Chuck (modeing Central Japan in September, 1964)