Subject:
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Re: Switches vs. Turnouts
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Fri, 12 Feb 1999 23:26:30 GMT
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Reply-To:
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REGULT@antispamAOL.COM
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Viewed:
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1598 times
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Matthew Bates wrote:
> > > I have a new topic...
> > > Is it points, switch tracks, or turn-out...???
>
> In the UK, I always understood them to be called points, because that's what
> they were called in model railway catalogues and is what they were called in
> common usage. However someone recently told me that actually the name is
> different depending on whether the points are on a mainline or not. First I'd
> heard of that.
Most of the times on the railroad that I work for (Norfolk Southern),
if one is referring to the points of a switch, we call them points, as
in to make sure there is nothing fouling the points before throwing a
switch, i.e. something that fell off a car, a dead animal, or snow and
ice might not let the points move freely when you use the ground
throw.
Now we call it a switch as in, go and throw that switch. As others
have pointed out the turnout is the whole assembly. I've never heard
it called a turnout at work, even when calling the maintainers, the
Dispatchers call them switches. There are many switches that are
controlled by the Dispatcher via remote control.
> > > Is it a siding, a passing track, or a spur...???
>
> In the UK a siding runs parallel to the main track but doesn't necessarily
> join it again, if it does it's called a passing siding. A spur, like Larry
> said, runs off in another direction for a short distance.
We have several sidings that parallel to the mainline and are used for
storage of autoracks, and most of those, while still called sidings,
only connect to the mainline via a single switch at one end, cars must
be shoved into the track. All of these type sidings are non-signalled,
while most passing sidings (switches on both ends) are signalled into
and out of the siding. Nearly all sidings on the NS are named .
> What I have trouble with naming is various types of crossovers....
> 1. What do you call a track that allows you to cross from one side of a
> mainline over to the other?
That is a crossover, most of these are named by location, i.e. The
Crossover at the West End of Oak Point. This is what I built for the
Nova Industrial Railroad and is the only type of crossover I know of.
> 2. What do you call it when a track crosses another track, either at right
> angles or some other angle?
A diamond or grade crossing. Not to be confused with highway grade
crossings or road crossings which are places where railroad tracks
cross some type of motor vehicle road at grade. Also sometimes called
an interlocking too.
> 3. What do you call the crossover part when a two track mainline has a two
> track branch off it?
> Matt
This sounds like a plant or a mini-plant. This is a fairly new term
for me and is commonly used around the NS, WLE and CR for
interconnections with numerous switches and/or interlockings and/or
where two divisions or districts of a railroad join, meet, and/or
diverge.
Keep in mind that I'm sure other railroads in the US use different
terms, but these are the ones I use daily at work.
Jeff Christner
Visit Sixby Fire Tech at - http://members.aol.com/regult/
Help support my LEGO habit. Ship by rail.
Visit http://www.nscorp.com/ to find out how.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Switches vs. Turnouts
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| (...) In the UK, I always understood them to be called points, because that's what they were called in model railway catalogues and is what they were called in common usage. However someone recently told me that actually the name is different (...) (25 years ago, 9-Feb-99, to lugnet.trains)
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