Fwd: [CBQ] Fwd: [BRHSlist] Yard Track Numbering System Question

[qutlx1@aol.com]

Pete,

 

You are absolutely correct(as usual). At Eola there's a track that is in essence a extension of yard 1 and or 2 in the west yard. It's still referred to as the "new track". It's been there for over 40 years that I know of and when I asked,many times, in the 70s when it was put in,no one could recall ! Then there was the old east rip,the old west rip and to keep things simple the new west rip.

 

But it wasn't just yard and side tracks.... I often wondered how many guys understood the history behind saying "we're on the C&I", or "set them out on the CB&N" or "use the IV&N" main.

 

Industry tracks were even more notorius for never changing. I've written a full length article on the "Irish Mail" job for future BRHS useage. No one could tell you how or why the job had that name any longer. One track was called the "cooperage" for a barrel mfg. company that had gone out of business about 80 or 90s years earlier. And then there was the "Aurora Greenhouse track" that went to an mty lot.

 

To really top it off in a more distant article on the "Alley Job" there's the "gas company" track that went to an electric generating plant coal unloading tipple. Or the "Fox River track" that was about a city block from the river with a major street in between. Or the CA&E interchange trk that dead ended in a lumber yard.

 

The new man was somehow expected to know where to put the cars when somebody used one of these names!

 

Leo Phillipp

 

Ps-Unlike some model layouts there were no name tags between the rails and the Q didnt put out a "SPINS" book.

__._,_.___

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

--- Begin Message ---

To:	CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	Re: [CBQ] Fwd: [BRHSlist] Yard Track Numbering System Question
From:	Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com
Date:	Fri, 3 Aug 2012 21:24:05 -0400 (EDT)
Delivered-to:	mailing list CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Dkim-signature:	v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=yahoogroups.com; s=lima; t=1344043452; bh=57d+wTuUHL1XHrh8BZWySMLJ9q0LRaV2yCejzxENkzo=; h=Received:Received:X-Yahoo-Newman-Id:X-Sender:X-Apparently-To:X-Received:X-Received:X-Received:X-Received:X-Received:References:To:In-Reply-To:X-MB-Message-Source:X-MB-Message-Type:X-Mailer:X-Received:Message-Id:x-aol-global-disposition:X-AOL-SCOLL-SCORE:X-AOL-SCOLL-URL_COUNT:x-aol-sid:X-Originating-IP:X-eGroups-Msg-Info:From:X-Yahoo-Profile:Sender:MIME-Version:Mailing-List:Delivered-To:List-Id:Precedence:List-Unsubscribe:Date:Subject:Reply-To:X-Yahoo-Newman-Property:Content-Type; b=gTyWchXAAMNBHKhdaBgowVHAnA2iyuDyHQ+f4RsdbI5VfxUJzONh/1Qd5gOvmJa+pkrnxiJMKVqGZ/fPlKbysUwSrXzgDbWbk4l/tBSf6ptUXrPZGsR++cp0Y0fxAQtF
Domainkey-signature:	a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=lima; d=yahoogroups.com; b=L1ckpZraz44IBguZksPtA3mW1KZzf1uZsD60HPei8j30kI4vNKNf0BZaIVwqsRw5IXXYETlrm+xKEZeocAm9Dmenjz9B9vyQS9281hbUHQeN8RWbBOVJ5iLfyq0Zs15s;
In-reply-to:	<a02ab.16786346.3d4dbf29@aol.com>
List-id:	<CBQ.yahoogroups.com>
List-unsubscribe:	<mailto:CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
Mailing-list:	list CBQ@yahoogroups.com; contact CBQ-owner@yahoogroups.com
References:	<a02ab.16786346.3d4dbf29@aol.com>
Reply-to:	CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sender:	CBQ@yahoogroups.com

 

Leo...I'm glad you made mention of the fact that the original track name never changed, no matter how long the original purpose for the track had been gone....and probably forgotten by all but the oldest head...

 

 

For example at Muscatine IA there was a track, I think it was right next to the main track which was called the MB&S..this track was the original main track for the Muscatine, Burlington and Southern a railroad which actually existed at one time..probably at least 100 years ago.  The track was used daily for making up pickups and assembling cars to go out on The Island..another puzzleing name..The Island was a "peninsula" of land which stuck out into the Mississippi 'River and where most of the large industries at Muscatine were located. 

 

I thinking of names such as The OLD east...and the NEW east.  The NEW east was probably 50 years old....There were also tracks...although I can't think of any specifics right now whose names we would be "censored" if we were to use them on this  "family friendly" list.

 

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: qutlx1 <qutlx1@aol.com>
To: cbq <cbq@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Aug 3, 2012 6:56 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Fwd: [BRHSlist] Yard Track Numbering System Question

 

And one last thing to really muddy the waters. If you were called to an investigation"to determine your responsibility,etc........" or to testify at a civil lawsuit in court;tracks were referenced by their engineering/property/acctg dept #s. So a question might be, were you proceeding on track 51237896-347 ?

 

And the appropriate answer would be............ we were on main one.

 

Leo Phillipp 

Attached Message

From:	QUtlx1@aol.com
To:	cbq@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	Fwd: [BRHSlist] Yard Track Numbering System Question
Date:	Fri, 3 Aug 2012 19:23:27 -0400 (EDT)

 Nelson,

 

I will let the guys who know far more about Burlington,IA than me answer that part in particular.

 

The Qs general pattern was to list yard classification tracks starting from the main in numerical order. Yard one was closest to the main and increasing therefrom as you move farther out. Now keep in mind many places; Mendota,IL south  yard in particluar comes to mind,had few # tracks but everything had a name. Some examples at Mendota were the coach,the diner,the mill #1,2,3,etc. and many others. The North yard was very straight forward 1,2,3,etc. I actually kept marked up trk diagrams in my bright red Q ETT cover for Mendota and other points that were unique.

 

The above applies to classification tracks. If were talking about a repair,storage,frt house or other type of non classification yard tracks the system was just the reverse. The track closest to the building,outside,etc was one and then numbered upward from there and these were often increasing as they became closer to the main line ?!

 

Confused yet ? No,good because here comes the third case.

 

In a BIG yard like Cicero/Clyde for example, there were multiple yards,each with its own unique numbering system. In Cicero and other major yards you really needed to know which yard you were in because for example, receiving XYZ could be right next to 'D' yard ABC. 14th st had an A,B and C yard.

 

I understand the C&NW Proviso yard was even more confusing in it's numbering and naming system.

 

Finally smaller locations often didnt have any #s for side tracks,just lots of names. Rochelle would be a prime example. And the names never changed long after the orginal purpose was forgotten. For example we were still referring to the coal chutes x/o at Rochelle in 1979 !

 

Leo Phillipp

 

Attached Message

From:	Nelson Moyer <ku0a@mchsi.com>
To:	BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	[BRHSlist] Yard Track Numbering System Question
Date:	Fri, 3 Aug 2012 15:27:06 -0500

 

I've learned that railroads had conventions as to how they numbered tracks,
spurs, and yards. How did the Burlington Route number yard tracks? I will
have a stub yard on either side of a double track main (actually is a
staging yard, but I can use either side as a classification yard as well).
I'd also like to know how the arrival, departure, and yard tracks in
Burlington, IA were named or numbered.

Nelson Moyer

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- End Message ---