Sounds like a “what the heck was that?” moment if you were near one and not familiar with the operation. You know - you’re out at that neat new spot you found for trainwatching, it’s quiet, and you hear “ka-chunk, hissssssssss.”
Ka-chunk, hisss–yes, I heard that often when I was at the station in Bristol in the evening and cars were being added to #42. Somehow, I identified it immediately. I would be up by the J where it was waiting to be moved over and coupled to the train.
I remember hearing the same sound from the Roosevelt Road overpass when the switches at Dearborn Station were aligned for a move.
I did not think of military tanks but I did think of tank cars, maybe parked someplace where they could leak or catch fire. Good one with the scene from Kelly Heroes.
Is a switch in “normal” position when lined for straight, and “reversed” when lined to curve away?
Or are switches assigned a Normal and a Reverse position based upon usage patterns? If so, are these designations listed and described in the ETT?
It’s generally based on normal usage. It might be listed in the ETT if it’s unusual.
A short line near here has a switch that would normally be thought of as being reversed, and is. But the ETT instructs crews to leave it in the reversed position.
Still not sure I get this.
Normal is the straight-on position?
Usually, that will be the case but it is not absolute. Normal position is the position that lines the track for movement on the “main” track. At the typical double ended siding, that almost always will be straight on. The case Larry refers to is a switch that directs trains in one of two directions (think fork in the road). In that case, the timetable dictates that normal position is the diverging (curved) position. If the switch is lined straight, it is in the reversed position.
On CSX CADS model board displays - Straight is Normal - Bent is Reverse. How the switches are configured in the field may not be as straight forward.
Othere conventions of the model board are also followed - West or North is the top left position of a model board screen, depending on the railroad being defined in the Timebable as being E-W or N-S. Screens where E-W & N-S interact at a specific location for more than just a railroad crossing at grade can be truly mind boggling to decipher.
Actually, I was referring to Lyons Falls siding. But “Snow” does fit the bill for “normal” being the curved direction…
Thanks guys. Now I get it.
I was thinking that at the switch itself there is always a straight part and a curved part. But I guess I was thinking of a switch in model railroading where one route is always straight-on.
But in the real world, can you have a switch where neither route, right at the switch itself is straight? For example a perfecty symmetrical bifurcation, with equal curvature in each direction? (Maybe some switches in wyes are like this?)
"Two railroads diverged in a yellow wood … "
Thanks, zug.
I pasted the link and saw the pix.
High speed switch (200 KPH) - 8 switch machines move the points, 3 switch machines move the movable point frog. I don’t know which side is normal or reverse.
That certainly is a High Speed turnout; I wonder what number it is. It certainly can use a moveable frog.
Thanks for the pic, Balt. That’s one serious switch!
Are the multiple machines used to ensure the points are pressing super-hard to the rail? It doesn’t seem like one would need so many machines to merely move it.
I believe I read somewhere that the points on that switch are in the neighborhood of 160 feet long - that is a lot of steel to move in a reliable fashion. By the same token the movable point frog also has a lot of steel to move.
That, and it has to be kept anchored against considerable shock, and perhaps lightly transition-spiraled, when it has moved.