Checking out some Southern Pacific common standards and yard maps, I’ve
surmised/presumed the following regarding switch stand practices (at least applicable to mid-twentieth-century practices.) Has anyone observed similar or different practices (SP or otherwise?
Placement: The stand was placed on the side of the branching (curving) track
unless that placed it between close parallel tracks. (So, on the typical yard lead arrangement, all but the first turnout had its switch stand on the straight side of the turnouts, so the switchman wasn’t constantly crossing tracks or finding himself placed between two parallel tracks.) If there were parallel tracks on both sides, the stand went on the side of the less
important track, such as the house track rather than the passing
siding. Derail stands were placed on the same side of the track as the
desired (safest) derailing direction.
Targets. Targets (they were two-sided) were parallel to the track for the normal position of
the switch (turnout) and perpendicular for the “open” position.
Targets were red on both sides at mainline tracks, sidings directly
connected to the mainline, siding and yard track stands which
activated mainline signals or connected to CTC sidings, and for derail
stands. All others were yellow on both sides. Targets were
relectorized where required unless there there was sufficient
switching done at night to warrant lamps.
I note that chapter 20 of of Kalmbach’s book Trackwork and Lineside Detail has a discussion on switch stands and targets, but it doesn’t discuss stand locations.
I was once told by a rail road man on the old Erie at one time that on sideings that the switch stand was place oposite the sideing. Reason being, work such as loading cars or working on cars did not obstruct the view of the switch stand from the locomotive. That was back when they still had kerosene lanterns on them. Ken
Railroads usually placed the switch stands on the engineers side so he could see the switchman’s signal.Some times the switch stands was on the fireman’s side…This was called a reverse yard because the yard goat would be turn so it would run tender first or cab first on a diesel.This placed the engineer on the switch stand side so he could see the switch men.
After hand signals was replace by radios the need to turn the yard engines was eliminated.
If the switch stand is next to the point for the normal route of the switch (every switch has a normal and a reverse position), pulling the points to normal position then when a derailed car or dragging equipment passes over the switch rods it won’t gap the switch open. If the switch stand is on the other side pushing the points into normal position and the switch rods get bent it can gap the switch derailing everything else that passes over it.
Switch stand/lever location is VERY prototype-specific - and even location-specific after mergers have combined different sets of standards under a single herald. The only way to be sure you’ve got it right is to do the research!
My prototype had manual levers in odd places - frequently right next to (but outside of) the station building, connected to turnouts up to several hundred meters away by the kind of rod-and-bellcrank linkages we in the US associate with manual interlocking plants. They actually were manually interlocked with the cable-driven signals (2-position lower quadrant semaphores,) but not at the levers. The locking bars were located inside little black boxes bolted to the headblock ties of the various point sets. Only very-seldom-used turnouts had the kind of switch stand common in the US.
Unless some special circumstance intervened (close clearance on an adjacent bldg, for instance), switch stands tend to be on the same side as the direction of the diverging route. The exceptions would be crossovers (which would put the stands between the tracks) and yard leads (as noted above)
Actually a right hand ladder would have the stands on the left side while a left hand ladder would have them on the right side.Of course like all things railroad there can be exceptions in the yard area where the stand had to fit the available space to include between two tracks.
