Jellybean123 asks… “Can anyone tell me exactly what a slip switch is used for? What is the difference between a single and a double”.
Okay there’s two questions here.
I don’t know if this attmpt to explain will work.
But first let’s look at some trackwork… sorry can’t do pics… but it’s still useful to talk through them if you’re interested. (It may help you to draw out the lines as you go).
Diamonds… you know what these are. They’re what you get when two
tracks cross at grade. Except where they are at 90 degrees they have two
frogs pointing at each other. (90 degree could be said to have 4 frogs)
Diamonds come in two forms.
i. fixed diamonds. All the parts are static. There are two Fixed Frogs
pointing at each other. These are set at all angles from 90 to30
degrees (possibly less). Speed is usually lower over a fixed diamond.
ii. moveable/switched diamonds. Some parts, usually the Frogs, move to
close the gap at the frog to give a continuous rail service for the wheel.
Really complicated ones close all the gaps. They are usually only on
low angle (30 degree or less) diamonds AND where high speed is
maintained. they are expensive and require high maintenance in
practice. (You are unlikely to need a working one on a model. you could
simulate it by modelling all the fittings and drive systems).
You use a diamond to get cars on one track from one side of another track
to the other ONLY.
For example:
one railroad crossing another
a mainline crossing another main
a branch line crossing a main
a siding crossing a main
I want to model the trackwork above but don’t know which Bachmann EZ track pieces to purchase. Which ones will work, and I hope I don’t have to cut or modify any! [;)]
DEFINITELY AGREE WITH THAT…but then you have to know how to interpret what you are looking at.
In your pic the track from the bottom right corner heading toward top centreruns staright into a double slip which has no connections at all on one leg…weird. Can you explain why they did that?
The links are great… if you’re not familiar with the beasts you still need to spend some time working out what is going on with the beasts.
I’ve just tried to talk it through and provide some examples.
The slip with no connection is for very short trains of course. I think the real caption read that the tracks had been modified several times over the course of time, and the connections were no longer needed and removed, or never made in the first place. J.R.
Hi scoobster28
I could be wrong but I don’t think it can be done with EZ track they don’t make the slips.
At a quick count there is seven in the picture OUCH!! My wallet hurts just thinking about it.
If you seriously want to do a track arrangements with slips you will have to get Peco
or a suitable reputable US brand that makes them.
regards John
There is a very standard British layout using a single slip. Where there is a goods yard (freight siding) on one side of a double-track line, one side would have a simple point (switch) from the main line to the siding, while the other end would have a point and a crossing to get there. All these would be trailing switches, so that trains could not drive straight ahead into the siding (a major phobia of Briti***rackwork designers). To add a bit of flexibility, a single slip would replace the crossing, arranged so that there was a trailing crossover between the main lines.
One point of further clarification to David’s post: the switchable frogs were in the obtuse crossings but not the acute ones. You can see that in the photo.
David, the answer to that is this was the Jersey City passenger terminal in it’s dying days. Tracks were slowly being dismantled. If you look closely, you can see the removed parts of the double slip sitting next to it.
I’m sorry that the photo can’t be enlarged by clicking on it. The forum doesn’t allow portraits to do that, the way it does with landscapes.
Simply put, the difference between single and double slip is: single only allows one curved route, while double allows both curved routes. Both types allow both straight routes.
Yes, I can see the track parts… and I was just coming to the conclusion that they had used EZ track parts… but John says that they couldn’t be.
That line of thought raised the question of fitting in bog standard full sized track components (see “Serious Tracklaying” thread)… so I looked again and noticed that ALL the routes provide dead straight runs through the angles.
This made me realise that one thing that was done approaching big passenger terminals was to provide this sort of smooth approach… instead of stepping across from one line to the next and then the next… which would create a lot of wiggles. Wiggles are something you don’t want when passengers are getting up to get ready to disembark or while they are still getting settled.
Again, passenger trains are made up of top condition cars (at big smart terminals at least), they have better riding trucks, the trains are relatively short and they would be moving fairly slowly. At the worst, should one end up in the dirt, it is less difficult to help passengers off than to pump out 50+ tons of grain or shovel up a pile of sand or coal. You also don’t leave 50 -100 cars blocking the main track. So freight yards tend to get nice simple ladders of switches to the many roads while big terminals get expensive track like this.
Again, at a passenger terminal empty cars are likely to be hauled out by a switcher whereas in freight yards there are far more propelling (pushing) movements. (Cars are more likely to try to find their own way when pushed than when pulled).
BR60103 says that Britiosh station layouts have a phobia about facing connections.
This might be described as Queen Victoria’s fault. Unfortunately I failed to grab a copy of the published letter I saw…
Thanks, you say that as if I took the photo, which unfortunately is not the case. It is from a long out of print book. I scanned the image in more than a year ago, and only drag it out for illustrative purposes when the subject turns to double slips.
It is about the coolest photo of track work I have ever seen.[8D][;)]
