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How common is a wye?

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 9:14 AM

rob plum

I think the point was that there are wye tracks whose main purpose is to accomodate the movement of traffic from one segment to another where three lines come together.  That is not to proclude them from turning equipment like locomotives and snow removal equipment. The other specifically exists to turn equipment whether it be coal cars with rotating couplers, snow removal equipment or the most common, turning locomotives.

I believe the "official" name on CSX for the first example (moving traffic from one line to the other) is a "transfer," although many, if not most, still call them "wyes."

I could be wrong.

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Posted by steve24944 on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 9:28 AM

MidlandMike

Also on the Moffat: wye at East Portal was the former split between the original route over the pass and the tunnel;  at Tabernash where the line splits for a short distance, there is a wye at one end of the split that also forms a loop, this was a helper base in steam days;  wye at Bond to turn engines where D&RGW met original "Moffat Road", as there was no room for a wye at the junction.  There are also the remains of a wye at Glenwood Springs where the Aspen branch took off.

 

 

That WYE in Glenwood is now all gone.  A few years ago most of the WYE was in place except for the East switch, then the West switch was removed, and now most of the track that made the WYE is gone.  A new road was cut through the south portion of the WYE.  Some portions of track remain, and there is still about a 1/2 mile of track going south until it reaches where the Aspen Branch was made into a bike trail.

Steve

 
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Posted by mudchicken on Monday, July 13, 2020 11:47 AM

steve24944

 

 

 
MidlandMike

Also on the Moffat: wye at East Portal was the former split between the original route over the pass and the tunnel;  at Tabernash where the line splits for a short distance, there is a wye at one end of the split that also forms a loop, this was a helper base in steam days;  wye at Bond to turn engines where D&RGW met original "Moffat Road", as there was no room for a wye at the junction.  There are also the remains of a wye at Glenwood Springs where the Aspen branch took off.

 

 

 

 

That WYE in Glenwood is now all gone.  A few years ago most of the WYE was in place except for the East switch, then the West switch was removed, and now most of the track that made the WYE is gone.  A new road was cut through the south portion of the WYE.  Some portions of track remain, and there is still about a 1/2 mile of track going south until it reaches where the Aspen Branch was made into a bike trail.

Steve

 
 

West leg of the wye (built 1969-72) still exists. The switch was removed in UPRR's PTC switch purge, but will be re-installed when RFTA (successor to DRGW Aspen branch) calls for it. The east leg of the wye is stupidly gone. (Glenwood Springs made a huge mistake IMHO, but developers money under the table was far too attractive.) The east leg of the wye also was a maintenance headache in CTC with the turnout having been located in a curve...

The wye was the third and last wye in Glenwood. (Previous wye and Funston yard were buried under I-70 in the 1970's and the Rio Grande moved onto the Colorado Midland Grade from Glenwood west to Chacra)

Eighth Street (new road) has now gotten Glenwood Springs in trouble with the Colorado PUC because the city can't abide by the agreement that created it. It may be removed.

The trail is only temporary, RFTA's long term goal is to place commuter rail in service if they can ever fund it (Glenwood-Carbondale-Aspen). Preserving future rail service is what drove the local entities to purchase the freight rail corridor in 1997-1998 under the NITU/CITU statutes. Almost immediately, Glenwood decided it could do as it pleased, ignoring the STB and Colorado PUC. Corridor manager RFTA has had a fight on its hands ever since. The corridor is held under federal statute as a FREIGHT rail corridor.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Paddy M on Monday, July 13, 2020 3:56 PM

"Siamese" together ?   Really ?   A prejorative term the last 82 years.  We now use the term Conjoined Twins in a civilized society.

Overmod

Two kinds of 'wye' here.  The kind epitomized by Keddie is where two main lines siamese together -- Harper's Ferry and a couple of places on the Reading come to mind as examples.

The other kind of wye is the full triangle type that is used to reverse engines or consists where a turntable will not serve.   This can be put many places, including where a diverging line or branch is involved.  

 

 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, July 13, 2020 4:26 PM

Paddy M
"Siamese" together ?   Really ?   A prejorative term the last 82 years.  We now use the term Conjoined Twins in a civilized society.

Unless you're in the fire department.  Last I knew, this was still called a Siamese:

(Click on the little square.)

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, July 13, 2020 4:52 PM

Paddy M
"Siamese" together ?   Really ?

It's a piping term.  

Of course, so is the old term for a steam takeoff on top of a boiler... the term that begins with "n" and ends in "head" ... and I won't use that one for certain now.  Can it be long before 'fudging the numbers' becomes a slur?

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Posted by MidlandMike on Monday, July 13, 2020 10:47 PM

mudchicken
The trail is only temporary, RFTA's long term goal is to place commuter rail in service if they can ever fund it (Glenwood-Carbondale-Aspen). Preserving future rail service is what drove the local entities to purchase the freight rail corridor in 1997-1998 under the NITU/CITU statutes. Almost immediately, Glenwood decided it could do as it pleased, ignoring the STB and Colorado PUC. Corridor manager RFTA has had a fight on its hands ever since. The corridor is held under federal statute as a FREIGHT rail corridor.

I followed this story in 2005 when RFTA was dithering on what to do with the corridor.  They were looking at rail with trail, but when they compaired the cost of that with just using the rail bed for a trail, they ripped up the rails.  I looked at the present "Destination 2040" plan, and I don't see any schedule for putting the rails back in within the next 20 years.

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Friday, July 17, 2020 10:11 PM

SD70Dude

 

 
54light15

I had a wye on an N scale layout about 40 years ago. It was a pain to wire and to operate, probably the main reason I scrapped that layout. The hell with reversing loops too. 

 

 

Insulated joints are your friend!

 

Before I get scolded "take this discussion to the (MR) Forum", a wye or a reverse loop on a 2-rail model railroad is a lot more than insulating rail joiners.

The trick is having a way to reverse the polarity of the whole-rest-of-the-layout when on the wye or the reverse loop track.  Otherwise, you need to bring the train to a stop and both reverse the polarity of the wye/reverse loop along with reversing the polarity of your power pack.  DCC, however, can handle this double reversal automatically with a special accessory module feeding power to the wye or reverse loop track.

Back to the subject of wyes, the discussion seems to indicate they are going the way of turntables.  I understand that most freight cars do not need to be turned, but most diesel locomotives in the U.S. are not double cabbed and have an "F" end.  Even if you pair diesel units back-to-back, there still must be circumstances where you need to turn a locomotive?

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, July 17, 2020 10:19 PM

Paul Milenkovic
Back to the subject of wyes, the discussion seems to indicate they are going the way of turntables.  I understand that most freight cars do not need to be turned, but most diesel locomotives in the U.S. are not double cabbed and have an "F" end.  Even if you pair diesel units back-to-back, there still must be circumstances where you need to turn a locomotive?

The essentially brand new CSX IM facility at North Baltimore has a wye.

Watchers at Deshler have seen the transfers there used to turn locomotives and entire trains (as in rail trains).

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Posted by SD70Dude on Friday, July 17, 2020 10:25 PM

Overmod
Paddy M
"Siamese" together ?   Really ?

It's a piping term. 

Of course, so is the old term for a steam takeoff on top of a boiler... the term that begins with "n" and ends in "head" ... and I won't use that one for certain now.  Can it be long before 'fudging the numbers' becomes a slur?

To make you feel a bit better, that old term for the turret was also used up in the Great White North, not just in the deep south. 

At this point I'm reminded of a bit South Park did years ago, where Tom Cruise was working at the end of the production line in a fudge factory, placing the finished product into boxes......

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, July 18, 2020 8:08 AM

Guess we probably whouldn't use the term "dutchman" anymore.   That's if you can find anyone that knows what a dutchman is anymore....

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by Captain Chris on Monday, July 20, 2020 10:08 PM

Yes, your photograph shows a wye as used by railways and railroads.  Shapes can vary somewhat, but the essence is that tracks from three directions connect with each other in a manner which allows a train arriving from one direction to leave via either of the other two directions, or the train can be turned around and leave via the direction from which it arrived.

= = = =

 

I know very little about actual railroad terms.

At Gibbon, Nebraska, the UP mainline from Omaha meets the mainline from Kansas City.

Is this considered a 'wye'?

 

York1 John       

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Posted by Captain Chris on Monday, July 20, 2020 10:11 PM

.

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Posted by mudchicken on Monday, July 20, 2020 10:20 PM

Zugs: FRA frowns on that thar practice. Better hope it was head-web separation.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Monday, July 20, 2020 11:18 PM

Captain Chris
Is this considered a 'wye'?

Absolutly, Positively, THAT IS a Y.

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 8:41 AM

mudchicken
Zugs: FRA frowns on that thar practice. Better hope it was head-web separation.

We are not talking about the same dutchman. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by rrnut282 on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 1:29 PM

Zug, Are you referring to a dutch drop or a funny rail joint?

Mike (2-8-2)
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Posted by rrnut282 on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 1:41 PM

NS is down to only two wyes in Fort Wayne. 

One is downtown at MIKE tower (crossing of ex PRR and ex Wabash) where the west side is signaled and has dispatcher controlled switch.  The east leg is unsignalled and has hand-throw switches.  It was used to spin Triple Crown power or trailers that were still coupled.

The second is spread across town using the ex NKP and Wabash Mains as two sides of the triangle and the last is the ex NKP New Castle District.  

Muncie, In also has a wye arrangement downtown.  Two sides of the wye cross the two-track CSX (ex Big4) main.  

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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 9:47 PM

zugmann

 

 
mudchicken
Zugs: FRA frowns on that thar practice. Better hope it was head-web separation.

 

We are not talking about the same dutchman. 

 

Are you talking about the short air hose extensions?  (A short piece of air hose with a glad hand at both ends.)  I had to look it up, we don't use the term for them.  We call them "dummy" hoses.  Probably not PC (not Penn Central) anymore either.

Jeff  

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 11:53 PM

jeffhergert
zugmann
mudchicken
Zugs: FRA frowns on that thar practice. Better hope it was head-web separation.

We are not talking about the same dutchman. 

Are you talking about the short air hose extensions?  (A short piece of air hose with a glad hand at both ends.)  I had to look it up, we don't use the term for them.  We call them "dummy" hoses.  Probably not PC (not Penn Central) anymore either.

Jeff  

I agree, never heard them called that before, and I've actually used them a few times.  We just call them hose extensions.  

All the times I used them involved rotary dumping equipment where at least some of the cars were facing the wrong way.  These cars have their air hoses on the same side at both ends of the car.

My idea of a Dutchman:

"Wooden head, wooden shoes, wouldn't listen."

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, July 23, 2020 6:10 PM

SD70Dude
 
jeffhergert
zugmann
mudchicken
Zugs: FRA frowns on that thar practice. Better hope it was head-web separation.

We are not talking about the same dutchman. 

Are you talking about the short air hose extensions?  (A short piece of air hose with a glad hand at both ends.)  I had to look it up, we don't use the term for them.  We call them "dummy" hoses.  Probably not PC (not Penn Central) anymore either.

Jeff   

I agree, never heard them called that before, and I've actually used them a few times.  We just call them hose extensions.  

All the times I used them involved rotary dumping equipment where at least some of the cars were facing the wrong way.  These cars have their air hoses on the same side at both ends of the car.

My idea of a Dutchman:

"Wooden head, wooden shoes, wouldn't listen."

Zug comes from a area of the country where 'Pennsylvania Dutch' are common and various things in common parlance have 'Dutch' associated with their naming.

On my division the short 'extension' air hoses were referred to as 'shortys'.  YMMV!  My understanding is the use of 'shortys' is not sanctioned by FRA Air Brake Rules.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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