Bill
According to the CB&Q Standard Roadbed Sections drawing, adjacent tracks were
laid with 14’ between track centres, including on curved, banked track.
This gave a distance of about 11’ 7” inches between the track
centre and the rail on the next track, or 9’ 4” between adjacent
rails. There is no indication on the drawing that the track centres distance
varied for particular use of tracks. In 1970, the maximum width of cars
was 10’ 8”, so there would be a minimum side clearance of 3’ 4”
between two cars.
Copies of the diagram were in Zephyrs 20, 22 and 28.
Looking at Google Maps in conjunction with the ICC diagram, it would seem that
the BSCTR land between 101 and 105 Streets alongside the Calumet River was
principally the very black area to the west of the River plus a bit to the
south.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
From:
CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Scott
Sent: Thursday, 25 July 2013 10:38
a.m.
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Burlington,
South Chicago Terminal RR CO.
Doing some more searching, I found that
Michigan law requires 8.5 feet either side of the center of track for the
safety of railroad crew. I assume other states have similar laws.
Using their 17 feet clearance rule, you could easily get 9 parallel
tracks a mile long on 29 acres. The next question is - how close can you
make the tracks if they're just for storage, or must you allow for loading and
unloading?