OK, there are a lot of people on here saying “duh.” But, remember, I grew up in Illinois and now live in Indiana.
Also, although I have a vague idea how it works, can someone describe the details of the operation. Is there a siding involved?
Are there any switchbacks on any class one railroads or regionals today?
Does anyone have a picture of one?
Thanks,
Gabe
A switchback was used in mountainous territory to gain elevation. Basically, a train could run uphill in one direction through a switch and onto a stub ended track. The switch would be thrown and the train would then back up the next leg of the climb.
Some early Class I railroads such as the Great Northern had switchbacks until tunnels were bored.
If you type ‘rail switchback’ into Google you can find several examples. Here’s one, the Zig-Zag railway in Australia.
Gabe, if you have Google Earth on your computer, enable the overlay to highlight rail lines. Then type in “McCloud, California” in the search window. Look a little way to the west of the town and you will see the switchback on the McCloud Railway. A switchback is used when you need to gain elevation and you have no room to lay out a loop, or other method of extending the distance. They are also sometimes seen inside cities on industrial tracks where buildings inhibit the ability to climb hills. A KCS industrial track in Kansas City, MO comes to mind. They were very common on logging railroads due to the temporary nature of the trackage preventing much spending on ROW improvements.
…The black / white photo of the Australian Switch Back RR section is really a great example of one that at least, was well built. Guessing it probably functioned very well.
Here is a good video of the switchback on Devil’s Nose on the G&Q Railroad in Ecuador. Down there, they call it a zigzag. It gives a pretty good idea of the type of terrain that requires such a track device. In some of the views from the train, you can spot other portions of the zigzag far below. When entering from the top, the first appearance of the track entering the town far below seems like looking at a model railroad layout.
The video starts on the down trip and then takes you back up.
Thanks for the definition. My only experience with switchbacks was on the Cass Scenic Railway (two switchbacks), which is definitely not mainline railroading.
There used to be a coach attendant on Amtrak’s California Zephyr who spoke of the Gillully Loops on the west side of the Wasatch Mountains as “switchbacks.” I remonstrated with him, gently, but I do not think that I convinced him that these are hairpin curves and not switchbacks (there is NO switching). I have always found it interesting to watch our progress going up as we turn and turn back, and we can look straight out the window and see where we had been. The Little Ten and the Big Ten curves on the Front Range also provide quite a view, but, to me, the Gillully Loops are more spectacular.
Johnny
It isn’t a switchback in the strict sense, but you might as well go to http://maps.bing.com or http://maps.google.com and put 36.7064 N 83.28855 W into the search box. That’s the south portal of a tunnel; the track continues south for a mile or so and deadends. Coal trains exit the tunnel and pass the switch, then shove north and west, then pull eastward on the line that passes above the mouth of the tunnel. Still in use, isn’t it?
Kind of figured a flat-lander would be asking that kind of question. [:D]
In addition to the switchbacks already mentioned, there is one on the Mt Hood RR in Oregon.
I think the only switchback still in use on a Class 1 today is on CSX at Hagans, Va.
You should clarify that statement. I work for a class 1 and we use a switchback to access a customer off the mainline. And I’m sure it isn’t the only one.
Perhaps you meant mainline switchback?
Here is one of possibly thousands of examples of switchbacks. This is a track schmematic at Creal where the SP (now UP) serves a cement plant at the end of a branchline west of Mojave… There are several switchbacks here. One is the end of branch serving as the lead to the yard, and there are two serving the coal dump.
In modern times, almost all switchbacks are in industrial settings as opposed to main tracks.
Mark
I have the impression that a mainline switchback is the actual topic. The connection to an industrial or mine spur is, to me, a different animal since the traffic does not go past the industry or mine. And, of course, we find these all over the country.
And a friend of mine continually called the last twenty miles of the AT&N (Aliceville to Reform) a spur line, despite my telling him that there was a wye connection with the GM&O in Reform.
Johnny
Yes I was talking about mainline examples. I thought of another switchbach in Virginia, though it’s neither mainline nor Class 1. The Buckingham Branch Railroad uses a switchback on it’s original line, not to gain altitude but as a connection to the bridge over the James River (space is tight along the banks). This was a Chesapeake & Ohio branch.
Modeling the Cass Double Switchback
NMRA Bulletin, August 1988 page 17
( CASS, SWITCHBACK, “VONDRAK, ED”, BL )
Monarch Branch revisited [I believe that most or all of this line was removed several decades ago - PDN] Trains, March 1977 page 30 using several kinds of brakes ( “BLAINE, DAVID G.”, COLORADO, D&RGW, SWITCHBACK, TRN ) |
|---|
The backwards oil train Trains, April 1983 page 42 A Baltimore & Ohio branch with a switchback* ( B&O, “BEACH, JOHN E.”, OHIO, SWITCHBACK, TRN ) |
| The CC&am |
That switchback was featured on National Geographic’s Love Those Trains back in 1984.
Kevin
See also - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zig_Zag_(railway)
Actually, switchbacks do not have to be in pairs, or a ‘zig-zag’ - one can consist of a single switchback. Think of an uppercase or capital letter ‘Y’. That’s a ‘plan’ or ‘aerial’ view of a switchback.
Now turn that Y onto either side. That’s the ‘profile’ or ‘sideways’ view of a switchback - up one leg onto the ‘tail track’, then reverse and head up the other leg. The tail track is often more level than either leg, but doesn’t have to be - it can be more like a lower-case letter ‘y’ on its side, such that the tail track more closely matches the grade of either the upper or lower legs of the switchback. (Although, if it was up to me and I had a choice, I’d prefer to make the tail track grade more uphill than down, to assist in slowing a moving train, and provide a little momentum to assist it in getting going onto the next uphill leg.)
I can think of two, both outside the US.
The railway from Kumamoto past Mount Aso in Japan has a simple switchback into a station (which happens to be a junction with a private railway) where you reverse. Back maybe a mile then reverse again to continue on your way.
The other is the line from Cuzco in Peru to Macchu Picu which has 4 reverses as it climbs out of Cuzco.
Riding the mules into the Grand Canyon, switchbacks are the official names of the hairpin turns.
Although this is technically not a switchback, it’s as good a depiction of a typical one as I could want:
For proper credit, note that it’s captioned as the “Concentrator Spur Switch, Kimberley Sub. 2001.” from Kootenay Central’s post to the Kimberly Subdivision thread here on 06-23-2009 at 5:52 PM , about 2/3 of the way down Page 1 of 2, at:
Spectacular! I was about to pack my bags but my GF said Ecuador is unsafe/lawless.
Mark