Train Stations

[Anonymous]

Back in the "steam days', when a passenger train reached its FINAL destination, dead ending at the station, was the locomotive dropped off before it went into the station, the train then pushed in?? I rode the SP Daylight from LA to San Francisco, pulled by a steam loco, and before we reached the final destination, we stopped at which time I thought they dropped off the loco and were pushed in. The Milwaukee depot at MPLS was enclosed and I would think the smoke and steam would be an issue. Thanks.[?]

[orsonroy]

It all depends on if the station had through tracks or not. The station in Milwaukee had through tracks, so trains were just run in. After the train was emptied, switchers would take the passenger cars and express traffic to their respective yards, while the engines would run forward to the facilities. In terminal ststions, it depended. Lots of stations had baloon tracks or long wyes that allowed entire trains to back into the station (Chicago and St Louis spring to mind). Otherwise, engines would be cut off and a switcher would push a train into the headhouse.

[dehusman]

It was done all ways. Some places had the engines cut off and a switcher shoved the train in. Some places had the train pull in and unload then a switcher pulled the cars off. Some places were built on a wye and the train pulled by then backed in.

Dave H.