Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173 Anti...since you are in Ft. Wayne, what are the TC operations like. I assume it is a big HUB operation with trains from all directions converging and then shuffled and then outbound trains built. How many tracks are there at the yard? How do they shuffle the cars (on the rails, or off rail)? ed [/quote] Well, I don't know everything, somedays it's even a stretch to claim I know "anything" and more people would probably agree with the latter, on any given day, but, let me try to share what little I know, based upon first hand observation. If while I blabber you will refer the following, it will make more sense: this track schematic of Ft Wayne in general: http://www.trainweb.org/fwarailfan/fwarailmap.gif And this ariel view of the TC main yard (formerly the PRR's "Piqua" yard: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=11&Z=16&X=1646&Y=11369&W=3 In the ariel view you can see the yard the way it existed in 2002, which it is largely unchanged, except they have now doubled the lead in track at the west (left ) end of the yard, so that there a dual tracks leading from near mike junction to the yard entry. Notice the large paved lot just above the balloon tracks, That is the area where they pluck the trailers off the bogeys and set them out for truck pickup. I'll leave it to you to zoom in and out with the terraserver imagery, but of you zoom in on this asphalt area you will answer a lot of your questions, and will see things like the triangular shapes lot at the far east end where the spare bogeys are kept. Basically, they've got the west end of the old PRR's Piqua yard, from Pontiac street to Anthony Blvd. At one time I counted the tracks inside the yard, but it's been just long enough that I can't recall the exact number, but "17" is the number I seem to recall., each one plenty long to swllow most TC trains in one, if not two bites Now, if you will refer to the track schematic diagram, you will see how the TC yard fits into the bigger picture of Ft Wayne rail activity. Notice in black the dual track NS Huntington district running actoss the page from Hugo junction to NE junction,..and the NS Chicago district from the Hadley cutoff to NE Junction. And the former PRR now C, F& E manline, drawn in blue from the Hadley cutoff on the far left to adams junction and beyond on the right.. Notice the fact that the NS triple crown yard is actually on the CF&E main, totally removed from direct connection with any of the NS mains. Makes for some interesting train watching. There is only one crossover track joining the CF&E with the Huntington district at MIKE junction. And, even though they have doubled the entry throat to the TC yard , both of those tracks choke down to one AND combine with the CF&E before making their single junction with the Huntington district main ar MIKE junction. This configuration can lead to some very interesting chess matches, just watching them service the yard AND managing the main ROW's Particularly when there is a long westbound sitting east of MIKE waiting in the north main, an opposing east bound sitting west of MIKE on the south main, with another behind him occupying the line west of Hugo where the main is single, all waiting for an west bound TC train to arrive from detroit that has to pass the first train mentioned by coming in running left hand on the south main, cross over in front of the second train at Mike to the north main (sitting beside the second train), then shove their cars back through MIKE onto the CF&E main and finally into the TC yard, heh you see a whole lot of payrolled hours slipping by with engineers just sitting and watching, waiting on one train to GTH out of their way. In fact, any incoming west bound TC train on the Huntington district is going to tie up both mains, since they gotta shove their load a back across MIKE whichever main they come in on. The Piqua Wye only seems to help insoning East bounds shove their loads back into the yard in reverse, and expediting outgoing eastbounds headed away from the yard. You'd think that with a mess like that,. such ocassions would only happen every so often, wouldn't you? Well, I buy materials from a metal scrapper located in the c r o t c h of the Piqua Wye., and on 2 consecutive visits a week apart recently, I observed the exact same condition arise, with 2 trains waiting on the 3rd to arrive then get out if their way...so...it's not exactly a rare occurance. It seems to work because CF&E is like a slumber maid at the party. If CF&E volume picked up, they would have a nightmare. Hope this info was helpful
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag