Hello all,

At the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum we have an interesting situation with a group of switches that are at the eastern corner of the Wye that we are building around the site. Basically there are 3 switches built one almost on top of the next one.

A #15 starts the Wye corner dividing the Midland (Hartford) Interchange from the Airline Main. The next switch, a #8, starts less then 10 feet after the #15 frog, to divide the Passing Siding from the Airline Main. The 3rd switch, also a #8, starts just after the first #8 Frog to divide the Ashpit track from the Passing siding. See the picture below, looking in the opposite direction as the description (left to right: Hartford Interchange, Ashpit track, Passing siding, & Airline Main). The #15 frog is under the far truck of the 44 tonner, and the points of the #8 are next to the near truck.


http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2006100823074218183.jpg (in case the image link fails)

As you can see there is a fence & driveway to the crossing on the logical switch stand side, thus all the switch stands are being installed on the left side of the Hartford. Is there a standard way (or a known way, done by a railroad) for situations like this, where there is not enough room to safely place a stand or target next to the points, to indicate to the crew that the target is indicating the position of a point set 1 or 2 tracks away from the stand? Also would the railroad twist the target pole to align the target and switch light with the main track of the switch that it controls, so the target is parallel/perpendicular to the switch centerline and not that of the closest track, which it does not control?

I am hoping to hear real world answers to this question, as there are many ways to do it that would not be prototypically correct.

Thanks,

Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Blacksmith Shop Co-Head
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226
www.cteastrrmuseum.org

Not quite what you're looking for, but the East Broad Top has a switch where the ground thow has another track between it and the track it's attached to. In this case, the target is on the machine.

Anyone who operates knows to pay more attention to switch points or stubs rather than targets.

That is well known amongst the operations crew at CERRM, but I am trying to reduce the chance of confusion on approach, since the first 2 stands are ~75 feet apart and the second 2 are ~140 feet apart.

Rich C

You can always paint a number in white on the target .. "1", "2,", etc.

Some railroads have a numbering scheme to designate which track the turnout connects to. They have a numbering system for the various spur tracks. The number is then painted on the target of the switchstand for the turnout.