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Why Wye?
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Let's think of a train that has left for the branch line with a few cars for that town. The town may be rather limited in resources and space. It may have a water tower etc and not much else. <br /> <br />Instead of building and staffing a roundhouse, turntable, full engine facilities at that town on the branch the railroad may elect to establish a "Wye" which is a triangular formation of track. <br /> <br />Have you ever done a three point turn with your car because you cannot turn around with a simple circle in that tight space? This is exactly what the railroad will do to get the engine turned around so that it may return down the branch line with it's train facing the right direction. <br /> <br />That is one function of a wye. <br /> <br />If you see a junction on a main line that looks like a wye you described, it is simply a way for a railroad to either go to Point A or Point B from that one mainline. Obviously other railroads coming from that "A" and "B" has the decision of going in either direction when they too reach this junction. <br /> <br />In Layouts, some will have a massive wye with very long tracks designed to take a entire train of locomotive, 20 cars or so and turning them around ready to be reused in the next operating session. This saves having to physically lift the engines and or the cars.
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