Got yet another one for my Forum friends. Did prototype railroads mark the end of one's rail and the beginning of another? I have a spot on my layout where railroad A's track ends and it becomes a terminal road B's. (A has engine rights to park its engine in an engine house in A territory but the turnout is B's and B does all the interchanging.) As it stands now the only visual difference is the ballast. (B has nice gray gravel and A has pit run gravel - akin to some sections of the old Milwaukee near the end of the PCE.) As usual any assistance that can be provided would be most welcomed.
I've noticed in recent years signs have been added, mostly at industries but at least one connecting track to a foreign railroad, "End of UPRR maintenance."
Jeff
Generally no, other than the timetable and milepost signage. There will be a notation on where authority changes and the boundary will be where the authority changes. The train crews won't care where the exact boundary is, they will care about authority. The MofW will have track charts with the exact footage of where one railroad ends and the other begins.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
The end of the road is as diverse as you can imagine. Usually an interchange track for pickup and delivery of cars, runaround or a wye for turning a locomotive and could offer a stand pipe for topping off a tender. Many years ago I read a story ( maybe a book) where the engineer was able to fill coal on the competing roads property. He claimed the coal was better but the water was dirty. He would leave his engine house with a full tank of water but just enough coal to make the interchange. There he was able to top off the bunker. I guess railroad men on any road were essentially brothers. No signs needed because they know from training and experience what to do and where.
Pete.
I intend to mark the difference by a subtle change in ballast color. Probably light vs. dark grey
Sometimes, especially in the older days when there was more variety, you'd see a different type of signal. For instance, there's a track in Pittsburgh that connects former PRR to former B&O. The west end of the segment had a PRR position light signal and the east end had a B&O color position light. Both ends have modern signals now, although the B&O CPL hung on until 2016.
Read carefully what dhusman said. As a model railroader you're going to be concerned with 'signage that says where one railroad ends and another begins', for example if you have 'invisible interchange' connections to Certain Other Railroads as an excuse to add or remove cars without overt GHA.
All of this would be handled in real life by authority, or in extreme cases pilot arrangements where one railroad's employees could not qualify on another's territory. There would be little or no formal need for physical signage marking these limits -- employees have to know them as part of qualification to operate over a particular territory.
The delineations of other issues will have been worked out by the 'civil side' of the railroad. They might involve ballast color, tie spacing or rail size, the aforementioned signal types or methods of signal operation, and the construction and maintenance would be apportioned to different railroad crews, supplied by different railroad suppliers or purchasing departments, by internal legal arrangement. Which of course on a model railroad means 'your railroad, your invisible justifications'.
As already mentioned, Railroad A has the authority to access its engine house to park the engine via a turnout. Additionally, while B does all the switching, it cannot use the engine house track but can use about 200 feet at the end of A's line for switching inbound cars and the interchange track on the opposite side of the engine house where outbound cars are staged. B builds the outbound train and then A reverses out when completed.
Realizing of course that this is a 100% model railroad made up situation, that wouldn't happen on a real railroad, I am wondering exactly what is the problem you are trying to solve and what track are you trying to mark?
Are you trying to mark the engine house?
Are yout trying to mark the "200 ft" the other railroad uses?
dehusmanRealizing of course that this is a 100% model railroad made up situation, that wouldn't happen on a real railroad
It actually sounds pretty much like the boundary between the PRR and the Bellefonte Central in Bellefonte, PA (and the earlier era when a third player, the Central RR of Pennsylvania, was mixed in). They had very intertwined yard leads, mainlines, and shop tracks with mutual coaling and watering agreements.
Maybe a sign would work?
NS 5322 at Schneider by SE Delmar tower, on Flickr
Regards, Ed