A tracklaying challenge

[asarge]

Right Chris, that's what I put in my earlier post except I called the MC the NYC. The guys who used to run the MC?NYC Joliet Branch use to call it the Joliet line. It actually still exists for awhile about a 3/4 mile to the west thru Harstdale junction and on into Chicago heights, but I don;t know if they use it for much.

here is a youtube link with a photo collage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLZtyglAC84

Heck of a place to visit 50 years ago.

[Chris333]

You know I forgot all about my own hometown crossing Center St. Junction in Youngstown, OH. Now it is just a crossing:

NS crossing CSX, but once upon a time it was the B&O crossing the PRR, P&LE/NYC, and the Erie

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=55711&nseq=73
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=36410&nseq=77

[bman]

Is this ever a delicious-looking mess...

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qntbbk82g244&lvl=18&dir=0&sty=o&form=LMLTCC

ahhh  Scioto Tower.
If you look close enough,  you can see the remnants of an old spur that runs up onto a small concrete trestle.  I have been told there was a small coal dealer here back in the day.   Used to be if you could sit here on the old tower site and watch trains. But with all the changes over the last 10 years, it isn't advisable for a bevy of reasons.

[sizemore]

I'd love to do it just for the challenge.

But my favorite is still this one in Chicago, mostly because of the switches on the bridges.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qz925r7pxq3g&lvl=19.620116566756202&dir=0.12929721272937617&sty=b&where1=Griffith%2C%20IN&form=LMLTCC

I like the spacing on the tracks to allow the switches. Screams foob if modelled, but as the saying goes -a prototype for everything!

The S.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

a prototype for everything!

You're getting a charlie horse net time I see you.

[Coxy]

The Columbus crossing is a great place to railfan. I spent a very entertaining couple of hours there last November. Access is easy and there is a nearby riverfront park that affords easy legal access.

Here's a clip I shot of a pair of trains on the CSX line plus a few others:

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I also took a bunch of reference pics as I won't be back there for a while. You can find the ref shots here on my Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coxsj/sets/72157622850292360/detail/

There's even a few shots of the old coal dock (track now removed) just south of the junction.



The track on the east side of the Junction is for the Ohio Central seen here heading to Columbus Junction from just south of the crossing:

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Cheers,
Steve

[Brakie]

Steve,Thanks for the memories..I spent many days there back in my youth(I was born and raised in Columbus)..NYC,PRR and C&O kept those rails shiny.

[seusscaboose]

In Chi-town it was called ATSF Juction, they ran the tower there. My fav pic 

Hey!  look!  It is a Walthers Building!

on a serious note...   that train looks sweet!

[asarge]

Hey!  look!  It is a Walthers Building!

yeah, but it's HO. ;D

[eric220]

This looks fakey:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qz8vgk7pxp4d&lvl=19.590579476700032&dir=0.896105646545006&sty=b&where1=Griffith%2C%20IN&form=LMLTCC

Why not flip the crossover and run the interchange track off the left main, and eliminate the diamond?  There must be enough real estate to allow it.

The only thing that I can see is that if you flip it and eliminate the diamond, a train crossing over would have to go through two s-curves to reach the siding.  With this arrangement, there's only one s-curve (the crossover itself).

[SkipGear]

Did anybody notice that after that interchange track crosses over the next double track, it crosses what looks to be a double track plate girder bridge burried in the dirt. It may explain some of the odd crossover configuration. This may have been the second track of a double track originally and it was realligned to go over the closer side of the girder bridge because of structural issues, which is certainly looks to have.

The other thing I thought of was that they would have to tighten up the curve considerably if they branched from the left track instead of the right. By the time the track crosses back over itself, it has made 15 degrees of curve already. Maybe there was a structure there at one time that was in the way.

[pnolan48]

You know I forgot all about my own hometown crossing Center St. Junction in Youngstown, OH. Now it is just a crossing:

NS crossing CSX, but once upon a time it was the B&O crossing the PRR, P&LE/NYC, and the Erie

And the speed limit for this crossing was approximately . . . ? And people razz me for my track.

[Chris333]

Pete,
The track does sort of dip at the crossing, but other than trains stopped at the signals they don't seem to slow much at all:

/>

/>(BTW all these trains crossed one right after the other withing about 10 min.)

These long shots show the dip: