What were the various methods used to turn around observation cars in the coach yards?
Balloon track?
Turntable?
Wye?
Rich
Alton Junction
Rich,A lot of the larger passenger terminals had a passenger locomotive service area nearby..The obs would be taken to the turntable by the terminal switcher and turned..Wyes and balloon tracks takes acres of land that may not been available when the station was built.
Of course in some cases the obs would be taken to the freight yard and turned on the turntable at the roundhouse.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIE Rich,A lot of the larger passenger terminals had a passenger locomotive service area nearby..The obs would be taken to the turntable by the terminal switcher and turned..Wyes and balloon tracks takes acres of land that may not been available when the station was built. Of course in some cases the obs would be taken to the freight yard and turned on the turntable at the roundhouse.
Larry, thanks for that reply. That is good news for me as I contemplate a new layout.
The issue of turning observation cars was raised in another thread that I had posted on this forum.
At the ATSF coach yard at 18th Street in Chicago, there was an engine servicing facility complete with turntable. I had assumed that the observation cars were turned on the turntable. While there was a balloon track in the coach yard on the prototype, I may not have room for the balloon track on my contemplated layout.
Thanks again.
Probably most commonly a wye, then a balloon track and last choice a turntable. The vast majority of trains did not have an observation car (I would be suprised if more than 5% of all passenger trains carried an obs) so the obs would be between major terminals that would be more likely to have wyes or balloon tracks.
If the train had an obs, then there were most likely other directionally oriented cars or the train was built in a specific order. So if you have to turn the obs, you will probably have to turn or reswitch, reqorder some or most of the other cars in the train. That's why they had balloon loops and wyes, they didn't just turn the obs, they turned the whole train.
Other alternative is what the Reading did on the Crusader, they put an Obs on both ends of the train and built farings on the tender to fit around the round Obs end. then they could run from stub terminal to stub terminal without having to turn the train, just the engine.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
In my home town, New Orleans, inbound trains arriving (beginning in 1954) at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal pulled around a wye about a mile and a half out from the station tracks and then backed into the platforms. Thus the obs cars (and everything else) were turned even before arrival.
At Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, the Santa Fe's transcontinental trains pulled into the stub terminal tracks around one leg or the other of the wye at Mission Tower. Switchers would turn the whole consist in the process of pulling it out of the station to the coach yard. But San Diegan trains that made quick turnarounds would pull past the north leg of the wye at Mission Tower and back into the station, to be ready for departure without visiting the coach yard.
In San Diego the practice was to turn the whole San Diegan consist on the wye at the Marine base a couple miles out from the downtown depot. Originally arriving trains pulled up headfirst to the depot, and a switcher led departing trains out to the tail of the wye to protect the passenger cars at the many grade crossings. Later (early 1950s) arriving trains turned at the wye and backed through Old Town to the depot. By the late 1950s the observations were dropped from the consists, and double-ended diesel sets just ran around the trains at the depot.
So long,
Andy
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
dehusman Probably most commonly a wye, then a balloon track and last choice a turntable. The vast majority of trains did not have an observation car (I would be suprised if more than 5% of all passenger trains carried an obs) so the obs would be between major terminals that would be more likely to have wyes or balloon tracks. If the train had an obs, then there were most likely other directionally oriented cars or the train was built in a specific order. So if you have to turn the obs, you will probably have to turn or reswitch, reqorder some or most of the other cars in the train. That's why they had balloon loops and wyes, they didn't just turn the obs, they turned the whole train. Other alternative is what the Reading did on the Crusader, they put an Obs on both ends of the train and built farings on the tender to fit around the round Obs end. then they could run from stub terminal to stub terminal without having to turn the train, just the engine.
Dave,A lot of passenger cars had flop over seats that was flopped over so the chair car didn't need turned,the other cars like Pullmans,dinners,sleepers was switched into place by the terminal switcher.If any car needed turn it would join the observation car to the nearest home turntable...
Since there was several terminal railroads that spent their life time switching passenger terminals I don't understand why some just can't understand passenger trains was switched just like freight cars and while it sounds nice balloon tracks and wyes wasn't very common at larger city terminals.We all know trains backed into the St.Louis Union Terminal still these trains was pulled and switched for servicing,turning etc.Cincinnati Union Terminal was a run through station and every train that terminated and departed there got switched by the CUT RR and even NYC RDC* from Cleveland was turned and service by CUT..PRR/PC used a switcher at the Columbus Union Station right up to Amtrak.
*This replaced a single E8 pulling a baggage and two passenger cars.