Would a yard tower be located inthe "center" of the yard or on either end? Or does it not make any difference as long as there are sight lines to the entire yard.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Photo's I've seen were at the end IIRC, at least for D&RGW in their North Yard in Denver:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1186490
Above link on TrainOrders has a photo taken after UP took over but there it is.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Sounds like end or center are both correct based on prototype practice. For a model RR I'd go with end because there us usually more space at the end of a yard ladder.
Hi bearman
There is no correct place as such for the yard tower in the era yard towers where in use.
What was important was the abilaty of the operator to see most if not all of the yard.
Today like many other places in the world our local yard is controled from 612km away and the yard panel is gone.
So work out where the best view of the yard is and thats where the tower goes.
If thats where the yard masters building is then the tower will be the highest point in the building, and remember there is space under the control room for relay racks etc associated with yard control.
So if its an all in one type building allow for that in the design.
regards John
Hi,
To add, a lot of towers were originally built in "new" yards, at the most convenient place - often at the center or the spot at the "front" with the best overall view. However, many of these yards were expanded later on, with the tower staying where it was.
Of course I'm referring to the yards of the early/mid part of the 1900s.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I think you guys are getting a yardmaster tower confused with an interlocking tower. Two different things. There are no "relays" in a yardmaster tower because there are no signals, 99% of the yards other than a hump yard are entirely manual switches. The only reason you put a tower up is to let the yardmaster see what moves the trains and engines are making. What's in the bottom of a yardmaster's tower are clerks. A big yard will have two or three towers, one for the switch end and one for the trim end.
Another thing you have to consider is the yardmaster needs to communicate with the switch and train crews with paper, switch lists. If you are in a computer era then its done via computer generated lists, if its pre-computer then its done with hand written lists. That means there has to be a pnuematic tube system to get the paper to the place where the crews are or somebody physically has to carry them. If you are pre-computer and don't model a pnuematic tube system then putting the yardmster near one of the switching leads makes the most sense, its easier to get the paperwork between the yardmaster and switch crews (and clerks).
There is no requirement that a yardmaster have a tower, its nice, but he can do his job from the ground floor too.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
All depends.
If you are emulating a BIG YARD, then yeah the yard tower might be in the middle.
If you are in the steam era the towers would be at either end especially if they also served as interlocking towers. Armstrong levers and miles of control pipes kind of dictate this. US&S pnumatics and GRS Model-5s could care less about distances.
In winter time you needed switch tenters to be housed near by , or needed supplies for lighting the switch heaters.
If you do a winter scene, putting some blue LEDs under your moving points to simulate gas fired switch heaters would be a nice touch. I remember riding into Jamaica station on the point of LIRR trains and seeing the switches all lit up with their gas heaters running.
Jamaica Station was an eight track passenger station with towers at both ends. LIRR (part of PRR at that time) followerd the PRR practice of using US&S pnumatic switches. Distance did not daunt the machines but the complications of the station dictated east and west towers. Today these towers are gone, and it is all runned by a central cvomputerized control system.
Just before the change over, lightening, and a poorly insulated cable put 750 vdc into the machines and fried them. They had to rebuild the towers (with special made parts) just months before mothballing them. But LIRR trains MUST MOVE!
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Once again confusing yardmaster tower with interlocking tower. Different things controlling for different purposes. It is possible that the yardmaster and the interlocking operator could be co-located in the same tower, but normally (every single tower of either persuasion I've been in in the last 30 years) they were separate functions.
Rigby Yard, South Portland Maine had 2 towers, one at each end. Rigby was operated by the Portland Terminal Co, which was jointly owned by the Boston and Maine and the Maine Central. Tower 1 (on the southwest end) controlled movements onto/off of the Boston and Maine's Portland Division. Tower 2 (Northeast) controlled movements from the yard into the MEC Portland Division/Portland Terminal Co tracks in and around Portland Me.
Hi dehusman
Really
Well I described the local yardmasters building.
Which also had the local interlocking tower as part of the same building and have been in the relay room many times as part of my employment
The yard master can't let trains in and out of the yard not part of his job
In and out of the yard and acssess to the arrival and departure tracks is controled by signals and also has train detection
Two way radio's have been used by the railroads for many years as well that's not a new inovation, all railroads still use telephones as a back up as well.
Inspite of computors many things on the modern railroads are still done with paper work and other methods if anything the amount of paperwork goes up with every law and regulation change.
Railroads are the slowest businesses to take up new technology because they have other conciderations that must be met as well.
So unlike Microsoft or others the railroads have to test re test scramble wreck etc, any new tech before its allowed anywhere near the railroads hence slower up take, train wrecks don't look good on the resume.
I have got to admit, I thought I asked a simple question with a simple black-and-white answer. You guys never cease to amaze me.
Speaking of towers, would an intermodal / TOFC yard have a tower? I have seen a couple of pictures of intermodal yards but never noticed a tower.
Hi willy6
I don't know none of the pictures I have seen have a tower in them.
It seems a strip of roadway with two or three tracks set in it, and monster container lift trucks and or fork lifts for road railers is about it.
oh and an office and security gate.
bearman Would a yard tower be located inthe "center" of the yard or on either end? Or does it not make any difference as long as there are sight lines to the entire yard.
Rich
Alton Junction
> Well I described the local yardmasters building. Which also had the local interlocking tower as part of the same building and have been in the relay room many times as part of my employment.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And I never said it couldn't be. But in N. American practice its not that common.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The yard master can't let trains in and out of the yard not part of his job>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yardmaster do not authorize trains on the main track normally.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> In and out of the yard and acssess to the arrival and departure tracks is controled by signals and also has train detection>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This a critical element. The trackwork needs to be complex enough that it requires an interlocking or is on a signalled territory. If the line is in CTC then there is really no need for an "interlocking" because the dispatcher or CTC control operator can perform that function.
The vast majority of model railroads do not have signal systems, the vast majority of model railroads are single main track. If there is just one switch or crossover to get from the yard onto the main then there really isn't a need for an interlocking. There is no requirement to have an interlocking at a yard entrance
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Two way radio's have been used by the railroads for many years as well that's not a new inovation, all railroads still use telephones as a back up as well.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
They became common in the late 1960's and 1970's. Railroads were invented in the 1830's. There is 140 years of history where radios weren't that common or didn't exist. Many US modelers model the transition era, the 1940's and 1950's. They would be radioless.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Railroads are the slowest businesses to take up new technology because they have other conciderations that must be met as well.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The largest private computer network in the world in the 1970's was owned by a railroad (the MP). Railroads were the first industries to have daily communications (they had the telegraph lines). Railroads were the first industries to use fiber optics for communications (the cables are buried on railroad right of way in the US). But you are exactly correct the railroads have to do a lot of testing because of the safety concerns, regulatory restrictions, and the extremes of the railroad environment.
willy6 Speaking of towers, would an intermodal / TOFC yard have a tower? I have seen a couple of pictures of intermodal yards but never noticed a tower.
A yard tower was a tower to enable the yardmaster to keep an eye on what was going on. He needed the height to look over cars on nearby tracks. Perhaps the most common location would be near the throat of the switching end of the yard - most smaller yards tended to be switched primarily from one end. That location would usually have space available as the trackage narrowed back to the main line, and often easy road access from a nearby crossing.
Current intermodal yards have closed circuit cameras available, usually at multiple key locations throughout the facility. That obviates the need for a tower and allows all the staff to be kept conveniently on one level without stairs.