Turnouts directly in front of a station?

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W

West Virginia Midland Man

Member
Is it correct to put turnouts directly in front of a station, especially where passengers load and unload? I would think not for safety reasons (get an ankle caught in a turnout or other hazard), but I'm not sure.
 
I rode METRA's BNSF and UP North lines daily for seven years and nowhere did I see a TO in front of a station. Just a data point for you...

I should add that the BNSF TOs near stations were virtually all crossovers and trains would hold on one side or the other of the crossovers so it probably wouldn't do to have a freight obstructing views around a station if they could avoid it.
 
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Just an FYI, I model the 1950's, so I'm thinking in those terms, not modern. OSHA would drop a deuce over a turnout in front of a station nowadays, but maybe not so in the era I model.
 


I don't think the railroads ever encouraged passengers to walk on the roadbed. Just put a paved or wooden walk path where you want your passengers to cross the track.
 
I would say no. If the station is a whistle stop where a flag signifies someone needs to board, and it stops on the main, there would be either a siding (rarely....very rarely), maybe double track, or just the single main. No need for a turnout either way.

If there were a need for a crossover, it would be several hundred meters on either side of a stop/station. Same for the myriad of double-slips that you often see in photographs of the large terminals in Chicago and St. Louis; they would be nearly 600 meters out where the train would take the routes they offer after departing the platform.

Yeeeeetttttttt....I wanted a double-slip on my layout, and I plunked mine smack dab in front of the station. :D

Cs-station-yard-horizontal.png


-Crandell
 
I don't recall ever seeing a switch directly by a station in my travels.
One thing you learn is not to stand too close to a train approaching a leading turnout in case a car goes astray!
 
I'm going to have to find a different place for Sugar Creek Junction's station. There are 2 RH turnouts back to back and then a curve. There might be enough room to put the station right behind the points on the last turnout. If not, I may have to put it elsewhere.
 
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In Hattiesburg, MS, there is a turnout in front of the extended passenger platform at the old NO&NE station. The extended platform on the southern end of the station is roughly 50 yards long, and the turnout is about 35 yards from the southwest corner of the building.

Bing.com (don't know if the link will work for you--use the birdseye view feature)

These pictures are older, since the parking lots have been built across the street, and the canopy for the platform is one piece now. A nice fence keeps you from stepping off the platform and onto the tracks.
 
We should remember that, after all, it is a yard, and trains are not meant to be slamming through it at track speed. In fact, there would be a strict speed limit in the yard, so it's not like no one knows how to place a turnout of appropriate # in a yard so that it offers both safety and utility. If that happens to be right in the middle of the platform's frontage...well....so what? It gets lined and taken like any of the others in that yard, others that offer the same safety and utility.

So, just because many of us can't bring to mind an image of a turnout in front of a passenger station/depot doesn 't mean there aren't dozens of such examples scattered across the continent.

-Crandell
 
im sure they do exist but not common. also consider a long passenger car that has to travel close to a platform for passengers to board. If the car traveld through the switch the car ends will swing out and may interfear with the platforms. again it all depends on the switch. clearance, use, etc....
 


In my particular case, Sugar Creek Junction has two RH turnouts one behind the other (frog to point). If I were to place the station directly in front of the turnouts, the mixed train or miner's doodlebug would be sitting directly over the two turnouts. I can honestly say that I've never seen that situation prototypically. I've found a spot across the tracks that I think should work and keep a problem from occurring.
 
Gary, the link doesn't work, except to show the location on the map. I've yet to figure out how to make a Bing link work beyond the general map.

As to the general question, Barstow station had a crossover that, while not directly in front of the station, was still within the passenger loading platform area. It was done kind of like a traction switch, with the ground throws under a metal cover and the rest of the switches embedded in concrete. About the only time it was used was when a local was due at the same time as a through train. The arrival track for both trains was the same, so the crossover served as a runaround, so the through train could bypass the still standing local. I'm sure there are other examples, but I suspect they are still pretty rare.
 
Selector said:
I would say no. If the station is a whistle stop where a flag signifies someone needs to board, and it stops on the main, there would be either a siding (rarely....very rarely), maybe double track, or just the single main. No need for a turnout either way.

If there were a need for a crossover, it would be several hundred meters on either side of a stop/station. Same for the myriad of double-slips that you often see in photographs of the large terminals in Chicago and St. Louis; they would be nearly 600 meters out where the train would take the routes they offer after departing the platform.

Yeeeeetttttttt....I wanted a double-slip on my layout, and I plunked mine smack dab in front of the station. :D

Cs-station-yard-horizontal.png


-Crandell
Click to expand...

wait is that a double turnout and a crossover how does that work
 
Sorry about the link. If you want to see the station & yard, here's the address.
905 E Pacific Ave, Longview, TX 75602
 
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