Nostalgia & History > Modeling Dilemma with a Prototype Example?

Am working on the design of a yard again and have finally admitted to myself that the yard will never be as long as my longest trains no matter what I do. And there is an operator controlled interlocking on the other side of the wall. Therefore, an inbound train will hang over the interlocking until it is switched over onto the drill track. Also a train built to go outbound will require the power to back onto the train and enter with the interlocking or stop its train within the interlocking limits, plus perhaps double its train.

The yardmaster in the yard room and the interlocking operator will not be able to hear or see each other but will have telephones to communicate. I'm also going to install an approach (dwarf) signal for the outbound track that ties in with the interlocking. I may also add a camera near the interlocking with a TV screen in the yard room so the outbound train crew can see the home signals at the interlocking without having to walk out into the main layout room.

I model the 1950s and I'm sure there were (are) example of this.  Radios were not yet in use. (I have posted track plans, but they have been improved upon and might tweak it based on what kind of input I get.)

What would be the correct protocol for communication btw the yardmaster, the interlocking operator and the train crews? Remember--no radios. 

(Incidentally, the interlocking is to be a B&O tower installation with a CTC style GRS model board where my Wabash crosses the B&O. I'm going to make like two of the three tricks will be Wabash operators, so the Wabash has more control over its trains entering and exiting the yard.)

Victor Baird



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/23 19:57 by wabash2800.

Have you considered simply reducing the authorized length of your trains to match the space you have available?  Many modelers limit train lengths so they can firt onto passing sidings, staging tracks etc.

Well, I don't have a problem with the length of the passing sidings and staging tracks. It's just I'm limited on the yard space in the only room I can use for the Indianapolis Yard. It's at the end of a branch that makes and breaks up 4 to 5  trains a day, so not too much a liability for the interlocking: a back and forth Toledo-Indy train, A mixed local btw Fort Wayne and Indy that runs every other day and an occasional extra. A back and forth Detroit-Indy Ford train will be switched in the Pennsy's Hawthorne Yard in Indy (staging).

Victor Baird

mpe383 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Have you considered simply reducing the authorized
> length of your trains to match the space you have
> available?  Many modelers limit train lengths so
> they can firt onto passing sidings, staging tracks
> etc.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/23 19:22 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
<< I model the 1950s >>

Keep in mind your railroad could have been built 80 years prior, and the frugal engineering department only built your yard for shorter cars and shorter trans. Doubling over, inbound and outbound trains were common until yards were expanded. As for communication with the yardmaster, a phone system would be in order. Also, I've been places where you could press a button in a wayside box to request a signal without talking to someone. The person lining the signal could "answer back" with an acknowledging light or bell ringer. Just some ideas. Hey, it's your railroad!
Dave in MT

Incidentally, I had a discussion about the crossings of the Pennsy, NKP and Monon at one end of the yard at Frankfort, Indiana recently at the NKP site at I.O. Groups.. it was a interesting discussion with photos, but technically, it was not an interlocking, unlike that on my model railroad.

Victor Baird



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/23 20:02 by wabash2800.

I think this is what you are asking:  Rock Island's Short Line Tower was a manned interlocking tower in Des Moines Iowa at the west end of Short Line yard.  When I started railfanning at a young age in the 1970s it was common for switch jobs to pull across the interlocking, particularly when moving cars in and out of the arrival and departure tracks.   There was a special route that the tower operator could line that allowed movement east and west across the diamond for the switch job.  My memory is hazy but I think there was a dwarf signal with a lunar indication that was used to indicate the crew could move back and forth freely through the interlocking.   
The track arrangment is still there, but the manned tower disappeared many years ago.

Stephen

All the issues you report are downright prototypical. Live with them like the we real world rails have to do. Yes run your trains as long as necessary to keep shareholders from frowning....tear out as much track as you can get the scrap dealer to buy....and yes because of centralization the Yardmaster's will never SEE the dispatchers...the chief will never answer the phone...and ground employees will demand either an early quit or a full twelve hours...nothing in between. 

Interesting thought.

Victor Baird