Thanks Gerald for the opportunity to seque into something I've often thought
about writing about...Thanks also Bud for bring up the subject..I had marked
your post to "keep as new" for when my "round tuit" came in...well Gerald
brought it along so here's my little tale re "remotely located derails".
Summer 1956 I caught a week's assignment off the Lincoln extra board on the
Sargent (NE) local. This job originated at Hastings (NE) on a tri weekly
assignment to Sargent, via Aurora (between Lincoln and Grand Island).
We were usually called for about 7:30am at Hastings. Traveled over what is now
known as the "Giltner Sub)....to Aurora where we woould spend a couple of hours
switching our own train and a couple of grain elevators we would get out of
Aurora, meet our opposing counterpart at Marquette and arrive at Central City
around noon. After a healthy repast at a local restaurant we would pull up to
the home signal at the manually interlocked crossing of the Union Pacific's
double track main line between Omaha and Cheyenne.
The home signal was located at least one hundred yards south of the actual
crossing and was, of course, always set against the CB&Q. Just a few yards
north of the home signal was a pipe connected derail whose connecting rods ran
the entire distance, mostly underground, across the UP and to a small metal
building located in the northwest quadrant of the crossing in which was located
the levers to operate the actual "plant". A similar pipe connected derail was
located an equally extended distance north of the crossing. It was a "fur
piece" from the control levers located north of the UP to the derail on the
north side of the crossing. Near the actual crossing were, what I would call,
train detector boxes. These were metal cases (4 of them IIRC). One for each
direction on each track. You would unlock the "lid" on the case and inside was
a "semaphore" arrangement whose position would indicate whether a train was
occupying the circuit on either side of the crossing.
Just as an aside during my "tenure" on this job I did see some UP steam
engines in active service on freight trains...This was about the last year
steam was active on this part of the UP.
Assuming that, after consulting the boxes and with no UP trains approaching you
would unlock the levers and pull or push said levers which transmitted their
motion to the connecting rods and removed the derails both north and south of
the plant. When this was done the home signal on the south side would go to
clear...the engineer would whistle off and pull our train across the
interlocking.
On my first trip the "old head" rear brakeman...or maybe it was the conductor
walked up to the levers with me and showed me how to operate the mechanisms.
As our train was pulling across he said...Now whatever you do stay away from
the levers..don't touch anything till our waycar gets beyond the north
derail...It was quite a distance so you had to really watch carefully and not
get "over anxious" or you could put the waycar and perhaps more cars "on the
ground".
After getting proper instructions and walking up to the waycar whatever
trainman had shown me how the thing worked he told a tale of another conductor
who had walked up with a new brakeman..shown him how to operate the plant and
cautioned him about being sure the waycar was over the north derail and then
himself....promptly moved too quickly to restore the plant and threw the derail
under his own waycar....He was probably a long time living that one down.
There was a similar type manual interlocking just east of Auburn (NE) where the
Tecumseh-Nebraska City branch crossed the MOP. My railfan buddy Jim Christen
and I rode the next to last train over this line in August 1953. When we
stopped at this crossing the conductor asked me if I wanted to "go up there and
watch him (the head brakeman) operate the plant"...Of course I did and I did,
but I don't remember whether there were derails there or not, but whatever the
arrangment the signals had to be manually operated by a trainman on the ground.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Edgar <vje68@hotmail.com>
To: cbq <cbq@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Mar 1, 2011 9:29 am
Subject: RE: [CBQ] Peoria Interchange Question
xcellent point as to location of the derail Bud. I have CB&Q standards for
erails as to the minimum distance from the fouling point but no mention of a
aximum distance. I assume there were special situations (whether cars would
oll to or from the turnout, adjacent structures & tracks, etc) that would case
derail to be installed 5 car lengths from a fouling post as the TP&W did. Any
houghts on this? Of the derail on former Q tracks I can visualize, all were
elatively close to turnouts. I imagine too the standard changed over the
ecades as cars got longer with more overhang.
erald
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
rom: wcman8@yahoo.com
ate: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:16:41 -0800
ubject: Re: [CBQ] Peoria Interchange Question
Hello Bob I worked Peoria Yard for about 1 year in the early 1980's and I was
he Union Local Chairman for Peoria Yard from 1979-1989. The BN crews (and Q
rews before them) had agreements with the TP&W. P&PU and Rock Island that each
oad would deliver their own cars to the other road. The designated set out for
he TP&W was at their yard in East Peoria. We would take the P&PU cars with us
nd set them out on the wye yard on the North side of the River bridge they
alled it the "90" yard. We then went across the river and delivered to the
P&W at their yard at East Peoria.
I remember the TP&W Yard because you had to line the switch back for the Main
fter pulling your cut in but when you threw the switch it put a derail back on
bout 5 car lengths further in on the track. Many a new Peoria switchman had a
ar on the ground when they were not paying attention on where the derail was.
hope this helps
R. W. "Bud" Linroth
________________________________
rom: herrick01 <herrick@krausonline.com>
o: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
ent: Mon, February 28, 2011 8:12:30 PM
ubject: [CBQ] Peoria Interchange Question
I understand that the Q interchanged directly with the TP&W at Peoria,
specially perishable traffic to be expedited eastward. Since the TP&W had
rackage rights on the Q to get through Peoria, and operated through the Q's
eoria yard daily, would the TP&W have picked up the perishables at the Q yard
n its way to and from or would the labor agreements require the Q to deliver
he cars to the TP&W (at East Peoria)?
Bob Herrick
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