graphitehemi A yard lead is the most important track in the yard. It basically connects all of the yard tracks to the main line in some way.
A yard lead is the most important track in the yard. It basically connects all of the yard tracks to the main line in some way.
No, you're basically describing the yard ladder there. The yard ladder is the all the switches that join the yard tracks together and back to the mainline. The yard lead is a track that allows the switcher to do its work without blocking the mainline. A small yard may not have one, a larger yard may have one or more leads at each end to allow switchers to perform their work without getting in the way.
The photo below shows the leads at the east end of the yard at my club layout. You can see there are four parallel tracks here. The freight is passing on one of the two mainlines, and the switcher is on one of the two yard leads. The two leads allow one or two switchers to work this end of the yard, or a switcher to keep working while a train makes a setoff or lift, or sometimes the extra lead has been used to drop off or store cars.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Telltales were in common use until roof walks were outlawed - even when they didn't make much sense.
A New Haven Railroad line ran close to my childhood home, and I remember it having numerous telltales for bridges, pipes across the tracks and even low-hanging phone cables. It also had 11KV AC catenary...
Once roof walks were outlawed, most telltales disappeared. Some were simply 'abandoned in place.' The latter are showing the results of four decades without maintenance.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - where roofwalks and telltales were unknown)
I've seen telltales with chains for a railroad bridge! Really! Except it was over the road, constructed out of alluminum pipe and used for trucks! I still don't get how the truck driver knows if I hit it; maybe just as a reminder to check how tall the bridge is...
The name "Team Track" came from when shippers using it would use a team of horses to transport their cargo to/from it. Nowadays they're often called "Bulk Transfer Centers" and are owned by the railroad. They commonly have loading docks, silos for plastic pelle unloading (a common user of BTCs) and other (un)loading mechanisms for the companies using them.
A yard lead is what the yard switcher uses when pulling cuts of cars out of one yard track to shove into another. It's seperate from the mainline so the switcher doesn't foul the main when switching, and it doesn't always connect to the mainline on the end. Many yard leads have a crossover very close to the end of the yard ladder so the switcher doesn't have to get off the yard lead to clear it for a departing freight train. It all depends on how large the yard is. Some have a crossover and are connected at the end as well (in case the cut of cars is longer than the lead - possible with modern radios, but not when the engineer relied on hand signals from the crewmembers on the ground - while other yards had no crossover, so freights had to run on the whole lead.
Some yards don't have yard leads either. The New England Central yard at Palmer, MA, crosses the busy (24+ trains a day including Amtrak) CSX ex-Boston & Albany mainline less than 100 feet past the end of the yard ladder. In this photo (below) you can see the switch lever for the last switch in the northern ladder, then the signals protecting the CSX mainline.
There was one right off of US 30 in New Oxford, PA on the WM Dutch Line, at least as of the mid 1980's. Might still be there! It warned of a low overpass.
As for team tracks, if you're modeling the 1950's, they would still be in pretty general use. They would typically found near the town depot, where a freight agent could keep track of the comings and goings.
Here's the remains of the WM team track in York, PA.
There's a loading dock at boxcar floor level, and the overhead crane for off loading flatcars and gondolas.
There's a team track in Cambridge, MD on the Maryland and Delaware that's still used today. Again a loading dock with a ramp, plus a parking area for trucks. Mostly gets used for unloading agricultural products, transloaded to trucks.
You can see the loading dock in the foreground.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Rob Thanks! I guess by the time I model, mid-late 50s, these would be pretty weathered and unused, etc. Hmm, a curtain of metal chains or a tunnel portal, I guess you're hurting either way just not as dead with the chains... ----Rob
Thanks! I guess by the time I model, mid-late 50s, these would be pretty weathered and unused, etc. Hmm, a curtain of metal chains or a tunnel portal, I guess you're hurting either way just not as dead with the chains... ----Rob
It wasn't normally cahins, in fact I don't recall hearing of their use. It was usually ropes with knots on the end. And you also need to realize that not many trains of that era (pre-air brake) ran that fast.
RobWhat was (or still is) the pole/crossmember device used for in front of tunnels with the chains hanging down?
I believe your refering to a "Tell-tale". They were used in days of steam to alert brakemen on the roofs of cars that a low clearance was up ahead and they better duck
A team track I believe is just a spur where anyone can load/unload a car (and provide a means to do so). That way anyone can send something over the rails even if they don't have a spur at their business.
What was (or still is) the pole/crossmember device used for in front of tunnels with the chains hanging down?
Here are a couple more...what is a team track used for and what is a yard lead track used for. Thanks!