Eastern Railroad Discussion > Amtrak And The New Wye at CLT

Amtrak turned its first train on the new GIBSON wye in south Charlotte today. Still a work in progress, but progress nontheless, to get all the ingredients together to allow this to happen on a regular basis for all passenger trains inbound into CLT from Raleigh.

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And a few more...

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The last one coming off the wye at CLT Junction.

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Thanks for your overhead shots. 

Very interesting!

Very nice to see the is shots of the new wye, especially the overhead shots. Gibson is a good name too.

Posted from Android

Who is/was Gibson?

Pic 1 must be looking compass-east at this overpass

https://mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.22219,-80.90315&z=15&t=M&marker0=35.22250%2C-80.89953

The Charlotte - Columbia, SC line ("R") once diverged from the Washington-Atlanta main line immediately south of the old passenger station in central Charlotte. In the 1960s when the main line through central Charlotte was being elevated to eliminate grade crossings, Southern tore out the diverging R line track and replaced it with a new five-mile connection from the main line three miles west of the city center. The main line interlocking at this connection was named Charlotte Junction. Building a wye for Amtrak/NCDOT simply required adding the third side of the triangle at Charlotte Junction. I assume Gibson is the new interlocking at the west end of the wye track. As to who or what Gibson is, I have no idea. The town of Gibson in North Carolina is not nearby.

timz Wrote:
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> Who is/was Gibson?

Presumably and hopefully, our longtime signal supervisor Jack Gibson.

Posted from Android

ctillnc Wrote:
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> The Charlotte - Columbia, SC line ("R") once
> diverged from the Washington-Atlanta main line
> immediately south of the old passenger station in
> central Charlotte. In the 1960s when the main line
> through central Charlotte was being elevated to
> eliminate grade crossings, Southern tore out the
> diverging R line track and replaced it with a new
> five-mile connection from the main line three
> miles west of the city

Not exactly. When they built the Berryhill Cutoff (new R-line connector) around 57-58, SOU initially, ceremonially removed one rail from the passenger line out of old Trade Street Station. The removed rail was down near Stonewall Street- where the junction switch with the old R-line through uptown and into Air Line Yard was. For several more decades, we continued to service uptown freight customers along that old passenger line - including the Charlotte Observer newspaper on South Tryon Street uptown. In the final circus years, I even spotted the Ringling elephants on a track off that line.

Posted from Android

so there was no wye recently here?

dan Wrote:
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> so there was no wye recently here?

We have always had some wyes on the SOU in Charlotte or at closeby Arrowood Jct. This new wye also can also route intermodal trains from Charleston or Savannah to our newest intermodal yard adjacent to the Charlotte Airport. That was a major impetus in the long planning of this wye .

In SOU passenger days we used the Dalton Street Wye, once located between the two SOU passenger stations.



Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/26 09:01 by Notch7.

So until 1957-58 the Washington-Atlanta SR main ran A to B via C

https://mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.19422,-80.89422&z=13&t=U&marker0=35.23849%2C-80.82337%2C2.2%20km%20NE%20of%20Charlotte%20NC&marker1=35.15797%2C-80.87680%2C8.3%20km%20SxSW%20of%20Charlotte%20NC&marker2=35.19624%2C-80.87191%2C4.3%20km%20SW%20of%20Charlotte%20NC&marker3=35.209%2C-80.91255%2C6.6%

then they built the new line via D and that's now the main A to B?
Just to get rid of road crossings?

Notch7 Wrote:
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> dan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > so there was no wye recently here?
>
> We have always had some wyes on the SOU in
> Charlotte or at closeby Arrowood Jct. This new
> wye also can also route intermodal trains from
> Charleston or Savannah to our newest intermodal
> yard adjacent to the Charlotte Airport. That was
> a major impetus in the long planning of this wye
> .
>
> In SOU passenger days we used the Dalton Street
> Wye, once located between the two SOU passenger
> stations.
>
>
>
> Posted from Android

wonderingif it was/ is passenger service reinstalled an old wye or something, thanks for explaining it to me

timz Wrote:
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> then they built the new line via D and that's now
> the main A to B?
> Just to get rid of road crossings?

The project eliminated the use of one main uptown grade crossing - South Tryon Street. The other crossings affected by the bypass were just used a little less. The Columbia Division passenger trains avoided more of the uptown streets. The long Columbia Division through freights mostly avoided slow running across uptown crossings. One long through freight 186/338 ran slowly through uptown streets as needed until the mid-80's.

Posted from Android

Notch7 Wrote:
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> timz Wrote:
> --------------------------------
> > Who is/was Gibson?
>
> Presumably and hopefully, our longtime signal
> supervisor Jack Gibson.
>
> Posted from Android

Per officials on today's 73 train, that is the case.  In fact a Mr. Gibson was on the train today.  That is a really cool honor and so nice for him to experience it.

nice to see recognition!

timz Wrote:
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> So until 1957-58 the Washington-Atlanta SR main
> ran A to B via C
>
> https://mapper.acme.com/?ll=35.19422,-80.89422&z=1
> 3&t=U&marker0=35.23849%2C-80.82337%2C2.2%20km%20NE
> %20of%20Charlotte%20NC&marker1=35.15797%2C-80.8768
> 0%2C8.3%20km%20SxSW%20of%20Charlotte%20NC&marker2=
> 35.19624%2C-80.87191%2C4.3%20km%20SW%20of%20Charlo
> tte%20NC&marker3=35.209%2C-80.91255%2C6.6%
>
> then they built the new line via D and that's now
> the main A to B?
> Just to get rid of road crossings?

No, the abandoned line was Charlotte-Columbia, not Charlotte to Atlanta.  The Columbia traffic was rerouted to the Atlanta main west of downtown, and now a west leg has been added to that junction to create a wye.

Thanks for the correction. I got careless.

Does this mean the Piedmonts won't need to use cab cars anymore?

Notch7 Wrote:
> Not exactly. When they built the Berryhill Cutoff (new R-line connector) around 57-58, SOU
> initially, ceremonially removed one rail from the passenger line out of old Trade Street Station.
> The removed rail was down near Stonewall Street-where the junction switch with the old R-line
> through uptown and into Air Line Yard was. 

Thanks for the information. One of the bridge abutments that carried the passenger R-line over South Graham St has survived. Charlotte was lucky to be able to reuse the freight R-line through uptown for the Blue Line.