Hey all. I'm drawing up track plans for a small town passenger station in the 1940s. My question is, in those days, were stations designed such that passengers had to cross tracks?
I would've thought no, but this photo of my local passenger station suggests yes. The station is in the top right corner of the photo. There appears to be an island platform between tracks, and the only way to get there is by crossing two tracks. Then, on the other side of all the tracks, there's a stairway for people to walk between town and station.
Am I misinterpreting this photo, or is it that really how it worked, in the days when there were fewer idiots who don't look both ways before crossing in front of large fast vehicles?
You are correct that many intermediate stations had pedestrian crossings for access to platforms across the tracks. Baggage carts would sometimes use these or have other dedicated crossings toward the ends of the platforms.
NYC-4041_Hudson-NY by Edmund, on Flickr
Some larger or higheer-traffic stations would have subways (simple staairways to tunnels under the tracks) or, less common, overhead walkways.
I know in later years, into Amtrak, sometimes the train would be crossed over to the track adjoining the station IF railroad traffic was light enough to allow that.
Trains passing through stations while other trains were boarding were supposed to slow down if possible, sometimes even held and, as per rulebook, ring the bell.
Good Luck, Ed
Thank you!
Even today. The Rockville MD station (last eastbound stop before Washington DC) has walkway across the tracks. Debarking eastbound, and I have to cross the tracks to get to the elevator or ramp.
In Toledo Union, they usually route the Capitol on the near track, but sometimes we have to cross tracks there.
I worked on the Hudson line and have stopped at Hudson station (in Ed's pic above).
Where passengers must cross one main track to get to the other track is called a "cutout" and there were rules governing such locations.
Generally, a train operating on a track which had the potential to "cut out" a passenger train stopped at a station (see Ed's pic above) had to be knowledgeable about when passenger trains were scheduled to stop at the station, and then could not enter the station area if the passenger train was stopped there. This applied to both freight and passenger trains.
There were numerous cutouts on both the Harlem and New Haven to Springfield lines, as well. So one had to consult the timetable and be aware of opposing traffic at such stations.
At some locations where signal protection was available, the train dispatcher or operator was responsible for providing protection against cutouts so the engine crew didn't have to worry about it (but only at those locations so specified in the timetable special instructions).
In the years I worked there, this was the case at Hudson station (Ed's pic above). CP Hud (aka CP 114) was just south of there (which could provide protection against northbound trains), and about 2/3 of a mile north (beyond the S curve north of the station) there were "509" signals (absolute stop signals controlled by the dispatcher) to protect against southbound trains.
But CP Hud only was put into service around 1981. Not sure what the situation was at Hudson station before that...
From what I've seen here in southern Ontario, I think that it was common practice...(click on the photos for the complete images)
Wayne
Alexandria, Virginia has always had both a tunnel and a crossing for passengers to get to the opposite side of the tracks. They try to thread the trains so that they stop on the station side, but this doesn't always work, especially during the busy times of the day.
For example, I was once on a very late northbound Palmetto. A southbound Northeast Regional was stopped on the station side. We stopped on the platform side, rather than hold and get more behind than we already were.
Elkhart Indiana has a walkway with the platforms on the outside of the two tracks. Pity the poor person who has to run to catch his train only to be blocked by the train from getting to the platform
Hello All,
When I rode the California Coast Liner (Amtrak) in the mid-80s the station at Oakland required that you cross the tracks to reach the station.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
speedybee I'm drawing up track plans for a small town passenger station in the 1940s. My question is, in those days, were stations designed such that passengers had to cross tracks?
Yes. Most of them. Ped tunnels under track and ped bridges over tracks are expensive to build and maintain and also less passenger friendly since they would have to walk longer distances and use stairways.
Even on busy lines conflicts would be rare.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
True story. The CNW has always ran backwards or left handed. Story goes that the stations out of Chicago were built on the north side of the single track due to the direction of the winter weather. When double tracked it went left handed figuring people getting off would not be waiting like people waiting to catch a train. Hence the CNW ran left handed.
Back in the early Conrail days there was a flap when local shop forces started painting "victory markings" (human silhouettes) on one loco that had acquired a "killer" reputation.
Now if you were modeling Santa Apolonia Station in Lisbon, Portugal I could answer it for you. Passengers climb down off the platform. Walk across the tracks and climb up the other pllatform. It is a very busy station. MAD!!!
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
jjdamnit Hello All, When I rode the California Coast Liner (Amtrak) in the mid-80s the station at Oakland required that you cross the tracks to reach the station. Hope this helps.
Well, you're required to if your train stops on the "outer" track. There's two platform tracks, with the first next to the station. Then the other one. Yup, you'll be walking across the tracks on a sidewalk.
What's kinda weird is that the track you have to cross to get to the station has to be empty to do so. So then why didn't YOUR train park on THAT track?
If you go a couple of blocks west, you'll find street running, and people cross those tracks all the time, as cars and as pedestrian. Sometimes they don't make it. Years ago, someone went around the end of a stopped train, and walked in front of an oncoming train on the next track. Doesn't happen too often, though.
There DOES seem to be a lot of passenger trains through Oakland. It seems you can't go 10 minutes without the Sacramento-San Jose trains coming through.
Ed
I recall several places in the Northeast, specifically around Philadelphia, where trains on an inside main would stop yo discharge and take on passengers walking across an outside main. Sometimes on curves with superelevation.
What you seldom if ever saw was a walkway across the full four tracks; that was reserved for a bridge or subway and there would usually be a continuous fence between the center mains the length of the station to enforce that.
What I think I see in the original picture is one end of a passing siding, with what seems a decidedly unsafe location for the switchpoints right at a bridge. There are several tracks between the siding and active main, including a slip switch for some purpose; I think I actually see a multiple-sector roundhouse in the foreground, perhaps for helpers.
So you have several tracks to traverse from the station in the first place; I am not surprised they 'remoted' the platform. With that steep a drop, you eould need elevated-railroad-grade platform and railing capability, whereas the island just sits in there.