I always thought the Atlas pier set that elevates one track over another looked ridiculous and Toy Train like.
Then last week as I watched Trains streaming video of big Boy 4014 headen home, I seen that very thing. I think it was somewhere in Utah. The Big Boy was turning at a Wye and there it was, an Atlas pier set lookalike elevated track curving over the yard. I don’t have a photo but I’ll try to find it.
So there it is…howabout you? Any examples you’ve seen that you thought was only in Model RR land?
The expression is dangerous because it can be used to justify some pretty preposterous stuff. However, I always thought the B&O’s balloon track at Benwood, WV looked like something you’d only find on a model RR. Eastbound trains coming across the Ohio River came into West Virginia heading south, but they needed to go north to Wheeling. So they passed the Benwood passenger station, curved around the loop, passed the station again in the other direction on a lower level track, then proceeded to Wheeling. Reverse loops weren’t unknown in passenger terminals (ATSF in Chicago), or even engine terminals (N&W in Winston Salem NC); but they were rarely used as main running tracks.
The New York and Long Branch, now New Jersey Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line, ends at a loop with a yard in the middle of it. It is a model railroader’s dream! The North Jersey Rapid Transit Company (service ended 1930) was a trolley company. The line parallelled the Erie, climbed a very steep grade, swung to the right to cross the Erie tracks via a through truss bridge then a steep grade down the other side back to grade level. The grade was somewhere around 6% (a guess)
I remember seeing a picture in Model Railroader many yearss ago of a switch in the middle of a through truss bridge on the PRR. As I remember it was somewhere areound Phildadelphia.
Southern Pacific has a balloon track in one of their California yards, and one of the Colorado mines on the Craig branch of the D&RGW had a balloon track too, so trains could just drive around under the coal loaders and head back out again.
Go to Photobucket.com, open a free account. You’ll see an icon labeled ‘Upload’. Click it. A screen will appear where you can drag and drop photos from your computer. These will be uploaded. Once they are, go to the top of the screen and click ‘Library’. You’ll see your photos displayed as thumbnails. Click the one you want to post. It’ll appear on a new screen. To the right you’ll see a list of links. Click the one marked ‘IMG’. You’ll see ‘Copied’ displayed briefly. Come back here and right click your mouse. Select ‘Paste’ from the menu that appears. The IMG link will appear in the post you’re preparing. Finish your post and click the ‘Submit’ button. Your post will appear and you’ll see your photo displayed in it.
I can’t think of a mine in the Powder River Basin that DOESN"T have a balloon track under its loadout. And how about the loop around the lower level platform tracks at Grand Central Terminal.
Some Sacramento dweller can chime in with a description of the light rail (Folsom line?) crossing over US50. I remember it as being akin to a roller coaster.
My own favorites:
The McCloud River Ry turntable on a sidehill slope. The uphill side had a cut like an amphitheater, while the ring rail on the downhill side was on a spindly monorail trestle.
The passing arrangement at Higashi-Shiojiri, a somewhat asymmetrical double crossover with a double slip switch at one corner. The main came off a tall bridge, straight through the double slip and the turnout on the opposite corner, which was almost inside a tunnel portal. Anything that stopped had to perform a double reverse, using one or both curved routes through the double slip. Upgrade trains crossed the double slip three times.
And then there’s Tzu-Li Shan, on the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan. Prototype spiral, anyone?
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with, eventually, two of the above)
That’s other forums. Not here. Kalmbach elected not to use valuable server space for the storage of photos. My own forum doesn’t take direct uploads either. My members don’t have a problem with it. I prefer using Photobucket as I only have to upload the photo once. I find that handy when I’m posting a photo on several sites. I only have to supply the link instead of performing multiple uploads.
I do not kno wif this counts, but the NYC subwayhas a multi track loop at the foot of Manhatten where they turn the trains to run north again. It is within a few feet of the upper bay. There are also holding tracks alongside the loops.
And the platform on the loop had sliding ‘interlocked finger’ sections to close the humongous gap between the car side and the fixed platform.
Not sure, but South Ferry may have been rebuilt as a normal stub terminal. Maybe Lion can edify us.
As for tying a knot in a railroad, check out the loop on the Darjeeling-Himalayan. Same configuration as the one above, but only one short bridge across a deep cut - on a 2 foot gauge railway that packs a seven man crew onto a small tank locomotive.
