Steam & Excursion > Here's What It Looks Like When A Shortline Crosses A Mainline RR!

Back in the days of steam railroading certain operating practices were much simpler than they are today.  Among those practices was the relative ease by which a shortline railroad could gain permission to cross the tracks of a mainline railroad.

An example of this was captured on film by my old friend Al Farrow in April 1951 near Renton, Washington.  Al was following Pacific Coast Railroads 2-8-0 #16 and her freight when her train was approaching the Northern Pacific line for a crossing.  That's Al's car parked on the right.  He has set up for his shot by standing in the gauge of the NP as the PC train prepares to make her crossing at speed.  Note the simple crossing warning for any approaching NP trains.  Given the curvature of the NP track there was minimal time for an NP train to react to the crossing signal.

Again, these were simpler times.  Thanks Al for spending the time to capture this piece of railroad history for us to enjoy today.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 03:32 by LoggerHogger.

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It's probably one step up from a wood swinging gate or smoke signals, but I've spotted what appears to be a highball signal mast in an old photo of a diamond crossing of the shortline Hickory Valley Railroad (logging railroad common carrier)  with the Western NY & Pennsylvania RR (original PRR family) in an 1890's photo at West Hickory, PA.  Came right off a 640' river bridge and directly across a two-track diamond, and the WNYP main was on a long 3-degree curve.  WNYP was one of the Pittsburgh-Buffalo main lines at the time with Pullman service, so this was no backwoods situation (track speed 40mph in timetable).   Apparently the resident joint rail/highway toll-bridge tender set the signal as well.   Have always been puzzled that valuation maps never showed signals as the diamond lasted until about 1940,  Curious if other non-standard interlockings like this were documented on valuation maps that anybody has seen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 06:29 by randgust.

Great stuff as usual Martin! This shot was taken a couple of miles from my house here in Renton! Can you give an approximate / exact location? It looks like maybe close to Black Water Junction?... I've lived here about a year and a half and have spent many hours chasing down the old N.P. grade here. I'm not having too much luck with finding any remnants of the old Pacific Coast Railroad.  I've found the exact location of the old N.P. depot and the site of the fatal wreck of July 4th, 1955. It's built up so much here that you've really got to use your railroad instincts to find most locations. Google Earth and Historic Aerials also come in handy!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 08:31 by patd3985.

Our light rail/heavy rail diamond (MAX/Oregon Pacific Railroad) here in Portland next to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center is controlled by the TriMet dispatcher....and signals.   a bit more complicated and expensive than this one.  

Black RIVER Junction.

Ed

asheldrake Wrote:
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> Our light rail/heavy rail diamond (MAX/Oregon
> Pacific Railroad) here in Portland next to the
> Oregon Rail Heritage Center is controlled by the
> TriMet dispatcher....and signals.   a bit more
> complicated and expensive than this one.  

The OPR/MAX interlocker is actually accessed on a first-come first-served basis with the light rail always having "greens" until the OPR crew sends the proper DTMF tones out to the "plant". Except for our Saturday afternoon scheduled excursion trains our freight crew calls the dispatcher for a "slot" when we won't delay a MAX train.

Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad

Also notice the engineer is having his fireman "make smoke" so the other lines trains would know it was in the area.  A common practice.  That was even done with trains in the "hole" letting the oncoming train know they were there.

I assume both NP and PC Ry trains approached this diamond at restricted speed prepared to stop short of the "crash bar" interlocking gate.  The gate was presumably across the PC Ry in the normal position, as I assume they had fewer moves across the diamond.  NP would approach the diamond and if the gate was across the PC Ry the NP train would proceed.  A PC Ry train had to line the gate across the NP to cross.  A smashed crash bar indicates a failure to follow the restricted speed rule.

Yet another great photograph of a time long gone.....

  On of the jobs I work has a crossing with another railroad, at a sharp angle like this. In our case, the crossing is nearly blind with only about 50 feet of visibility and the only protection is a stop sign on our side, nothing at all for the other railroad and those guys don't seem to bother with looking first either! At least back then they had the tell-tale smoke plume as a clue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 12:32 by crackerjackhoghead.

If anyone has access to the NP or Pacific Coast employee timetable for this section of track, it may specify either Yard Limit Rule in the time schedule or in Special Instructions section for this crossing, that "All trains approach location at restricted speed prepared to stop short of train or odstruction." Or words to that effect. It might depend on how the NP designated these crossings. It would become part of the routine of running trains on these two lines.
Thanks for posting this great action photo.