superbe Here are two examples of how I used 3 ways. Bob
Here are two examples of how I used 3 ways.
Bob
Those 2 autos look real.
Who makes those?
Don't Ever Give Up
If the main passes through tht center of your yard, east and west bound trains use opposite sides. Also, passenger station off one side, freight yard off the other.
I have a couple I hope to use when I get the next layout underway. Not just sure of the use yet.
Good luck,
Richard
I don't know what it is about my old hometown of Butler, Pennsylvania, but it seems to be one of those locations chock full of railroad and manages to have (or had) an example of ever single uncommon* on the prototype things.
One three way turnout: http://binged.it/1m5t94r
And another: http://binged.it/1zxnLRS
Both on opposite ends of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh locomotive shop.
* It even had the "ultimate" prototype minimum radius curve. The junction between the PRR and B&LE was extremely tight and when Pullman-Standard was building the prototype for its 89' flat for Trailer Train, it used that curve as its absolute minimum. They'd take the prototype out there, derail it, and then go back to the drawing board to tweak and modify until it worked. Almost every outbound P-S order had to make it around that curve, so....
Not a common place, but I used a three way going into staging, to save space. Its not part of the layout, so who cares.
Dave M
" target=""> Maybe not per any prototype but one proved perfect as a split into my Cornerstone wood coaling tower leads, all of which had to fit within a fairly short length.
Maybe not per any prototype but one proved perfect as a split into my Cornerstone wood coaling tower leads, all of which had to fit within a fairly short length.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
They don't seem to be common prototypically, but they help squeeze more railroad into our smaller spaces. This is another example of selective compression (as per your other thread on that). A three way switch takes up considerably less space allowing for you to fit in more other things.
Visit my layout!
LaSalle Street Station
Here are several at a hump yard...
http://binged.it/1jndvqg
And here are a couple more...
http://binged.it/1jnd5QG
But if you scan around those areas, you'll see dozens, if not hundreds, of switches and only a handful are 3-ways.
Steve S
Screw the prototype. Use them where you need them.
I have three 3-way turnouts lined up end to end. The first and second ones let trains enter and exit the downtown passenger station from a double mainline which, in effect, circles the station. The third one permits switchers to enter and exit the adjacent coach yard, connecting the station to the coach yard.
Rich
Alton Junction
Wherever it makes sense to have one. Yard throats in some cases, hump-yard downramp route splitter, off a lead to a busy three-stall backshop, maybe in a passenger terminal to spread/gather three different loading platforms...?
I bought a Shinohara 3 way turnout years ago, for a layout I never finished. Now I am gathering all my "dithers and druthers" as John Armstrong says, in the few free moments I have, to form a new track plan.
I was thinking of using it to branch out a yard, but most yards I see just ladder regular turnouts in sequence.
Where would a Prototype RR use one? Yard? Mainline? Branch? ????