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74-723: The west end of the yard has an operational railway turntable . A large turnaround wye has been constructed out of an industrial spur on the eastern side that formerly served the Campbell Soup Company plant. In 1976, Via Rail took over the passenger services of both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific . Originally, Via performed maintenance in Toronto at the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and CPR John Street Roundhouse, both just west of Union Station . In 1985, Via moved to its current maintenance facility in

148-415: A train coming from the point blades toward the straight path or the diverging path. A train moving from the narrow end toward the point blades (i.e. it will be directed to one of the two paths, depending on the position of the points) is said to be executing a facing-point movement . For many types of switch, a train coming from either of the converging directions will pass through the switch regardless of

222-638: A barrier between the metal surfaces to prevent ice from forming between them (i.e. having frozen together by ice). Such approaches however, may not always be effective for extreme climates since these chemicals will be washed away over time, especially for heavily thrown switches that experience hundreds of throws daily. Heating alone may not always be enough to keep switches functioning under snowy conditions. Wet snow conditions, which generate particularly sticky snow and whiteout conditions, may occur at temperatures just below freezing, causing chunks of ice to accumulate on trains. When trains traverse over some switches,

296-528: A central pivot. Loaded wagons could be moved onto the turnplate, and rotating the turnplate 90 degrees allowed the loaded wagon to be moved to another piece of wagonway. Thus, wagon weight was limited only by the strength of the wood used in the turnplates or sliding rails. When iron and later steel replaced stone and wood, weight capacity rose again. However, the problems with turnplates and sliding rails were twofold. First, they were relatively small (often no more than 1 yard (0.91 m) in length), which limited

370-601: A crossover can be used either to detour "wrong-rail" around an obstruction or to reverse direction. A crossover can also join two tracks of the same direction, possibly a pair of local and express tracks, and allow trains to switch from one to the other. On a crowded system, routine use of crossovers (or switches in general) will reduce throughput, as use of the switch blocks multiple tracks. For this reason, on some high-capacity rapid transit systems, crossovers between local and express tracks are not used during normal rush hour service, and service patterns are planned around use of

444-434: A lever to be moved by a human operator, and some switches are still controlled this way. However, most are now operated by a remotely controlled actuator called a point machine ; this may employ an electric motor or a pneumatic or hydraulic actuator . This both allows for remote control and monitoring and for the use of stiffer, strong switches that would be too difficult to move by hand, yet allow for higher speeds. In

518-413: A locomotive entered or exited. The turntables had a positive locking mechanism to prevent undesired rotation and to align the bridge rails with the exit track. Rotation of the bridge could be accomplished manually (either by brute force or with a windlass system), popularly called an "Armstrong" turntable, by an external power source, or by the braking system of the locomotive itself, though this required

592-588: A locomotive to be on the table for it to be rotated. The turntable bridge (the part of the turntable that included the tracks and that swivelled to turn the equipment) could span from 6 to 120 feet (1.8 to 36.6 m), depending on the railway's needs. Larger turntables were installed in maintenance facilities for longer locomotives, while short line and narrow gauge railways typically used smaller turntables. Turntables as small as 6 feet (1.83 m) in diameter have been installed in some industrial facilities where pieces of equipment are small enough to be pushed one at

666-427: A regular crossing. Double outside slip switches are only used in rare, specific cases. A crossover is a pair of switches that connects two parallel rail tracks , allowing a train on one track to cross over to the other. Like the switches themselves, crossovers can be described as either facing or trailing . When two crossovers are present in opposite directions, one after the other, the four-switch configuration

740-402: A siding, allowing a train to get off the track to allow traffic to pass (this siding can either be a dedicated short length of track, or formed from a section of a second, continuous, parallel line), and also allows trains coming from either direction to switch between lines; otherwise, the only way for a train coming from the opposite direction to use a switch would be to stop, and reverse through

814-470: A time by humans or horsepower. Some turntables that were built in earlier days rapidly became unsuitable for the longer locomotives introduced. The Roundhouse in London was built in 1846 to turn around steam locomotives on the line to Birmingham, but newer locomotives were too long within ten years—the building has been preserved and used for other purposes over the years. In engine maintenance facilities,

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888-408: A trailing-point movement (running through the switch in the wrong direction while they are set to turn off the track), the flanges on the wheels will force the points to the proper position. This is sometimes known as running through the switch . Some switches are designed to be forced to the proper position without damage. Examples include variable switches, spring switches, and weighted switches. If

962-490: A train could potentially split the points (end up going down both tracks) if the points were to move underneath the train. During trailing moves, the wheels of a train will force the points into the correct position if they attempt to move, although this may cause considerable damage. This act is known as a "run through". In the United Kingdom, FPLs were common from an early date, due to laws being passed which forced

1036-403: A train to proceed over points when it was safe to do so. Purely mechanical interlockings were eventually developed into integrated systems with electric control. On some low-traffic branch lines, in self-contained marshalling yards , or on heritage railways , switches may still have the earlier type of interlocking. A railroad car 's wheels are primarily guided along the tracks by coning of

1110-448: A truck to another wagonway, they did so by hand. The lack of switching technology seriously limited the weight of any loaded wagon combination. The first railway switches were in fact wagon turnplates or sliding rails . Turnplates were initially made of two or four pieces of wood, circular in form, that replicated the track running through them. Their diameter matched that of the wagons used on any given wagonway, and they swung around

1184-890: A turntable and roundhouse at the Richmond Hills yard. Several working examples remain, many on heritage railways in Great Britain, and also in the United States. Some examples are: The following are in storage, awaiting installation at UK sites: New build turntable. Hitachi Rail Europe's rolling stock plant at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham has an 80 tonne locomotive turntable and a bogie test turntable; supplied by Lloyds British Somers Group in 2016. The former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) in Janesville, Wisconsin. Used now by

1258-603: A turntable made by Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company, Old Park Works, Wednesbury. It was found buried in the grounds of the Israel Defense Forces History Museum , on the site of the old Jaffa railway station yard. Like most ex-socialist countries of Eastern Europe, Romania still has several turntables in operational use. One can even see twin turntables, each with their own 180 degree roundhouse, like for one example at Timisoara . In Sri Lanka , most turntables which were used in

1332-458: A turntable was usually surrounded, in part or in whole, by a building known as a roundhouse. It was more common for the roundhouse to only cover a portion of the land around a turntable, but there are fully circular roundhouses, such as these preserved roundhouses: Miskolc Tiszai railway station retains an active turntable as of December 2021. There was a turntable at the Talaguppa end of

1406-417: Is a lever and accompanying linkages to align the points of a switch by hand. The lever and its accompanying hardware is usually mounted to a pair of long ties (sleepers) that extend from the switch at the points. They are often used in a place of a switch motor on less frequently used switches. In some places, the lever may be some distance from the points, as part of a lever frame or ground frame. To prevent

1480-437: Is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. The most common type of switch consists of a pair of linked tapering rails, known as points ( switch rails or point blades ), lying between the diverging outer rails (the stock rails ). These points can be moved laterally into one of two positions to direct

1554-425: Is a short piece of rail placed alongside the main (stock) rail opposite the crossing. These ensure that the wheels follow the appropriate flangeway through the frog and that the train does not derail. Check rails are often used on very sharp curves, even where there are no switches. A switch motor or switch machine (point motor or point machine) is an electric, hydraulic or pneumatic mechanism that aligns

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1628-410: Is better to keep these separated as much as feasible). Sometimes a switch merely divides one track into two; at others, it serves as a connection between two or more parallel tracks, allowing a train to switch between them. In many cases, where a switch is supplied to leave a track, a second is supplied to allow the train to reenter the track some distance down the line; this allows the track to serve as

1702-410: Is called a double crossover . If the crossovers in different directions overlap to form an ×, it is dubbed a scissors crossover , scissors crossing , or just scissors ; or, due to the diamond in the center, a diamond crossover . This makes for a very compact track layout at the expense of using a level junction . In a setup where each of the two tracks normally carries trains of only one direction,

1776-430: Is connected, the right wheel's flange will be guided along the rail of that point, and the train will continue along the straight track. Only one of the points may be connected to the facing track at any time; the two points are mechanically locked together to ensure that this is always the case. A mechanism is provided to move the points from one position to the other ( change the points ). Historically, this would require

1850-414: Is described by the side that the diverging track leaves. Right-hand switches have a diverging path to the right of the straight track, when coming from the point blades, and a left-handed switch has the diverging track leaving to the opposite side. In many cases, such as rail yards, many switches can be found in a short section of track, sometimes with switches going both to the right and left (although it

1924-433: Is measured as the number of units of length for a single unit of separation. In North America this is generally referred to as a switch's "number". For example, on a "number 12" switch, the rails are one unit apart at a distance of twelve units from the center of the frog. In the United Kingdom points and crossings using chaired bullhead rail would be referred to using a letter and number combination. The letter would define

1998-629: Is not uncommon to find switches where a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) or more is allowed on the diverging branch. Switches were passed over at a speed of 560 km/h (348 mph) (straight) during the French world speed run of April 2007. The US Federal Railroad Administration has published the speed limits for higher-speed turnouts with No.  26.5 turnout that has speed limit of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and No.  32.7 with speed limit of 80 miles per hour (129 km/h). Under cold weather conditions, snow and ice can prevent

2072-594: The Canadian National (CN) took over the yard along with the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1965, CN moved most of the yard's functions to the then-new MacMillan Yard in Maple, Ontario . The Mimico Roundhouse survived to the diesel area, but part of it was rented out to tenants. In March 1965, a fire partly destroyed the roundhouse with the remainder being demolished by 1969. Today, a turntable sits at

2146-604: The Grand Trunk Railway built the 200-acre (81 ha) Mimico Yard. In 1913, the GTR built a 34-stall roundhouse, a coaling tower and water towers on the south side of the yard. The yard exclusively serviced freight trains, and had facilities to maintain and repair freight cars. Freight trains were assembled and dispatched from the yard. Unlike today, the mainline ran along the north edge of the Mimico Yard. In 1923,

2220-805: The Shimoga-Talaguppa railway , and one at Howbagh Railway Station near Jabalpur on the Balaghat-Jabalpur Narrow Gauge Line. Both were used to turn the railbuses serving on these lines. After railbuses were replaced by MEMUs , turntables were dismantled. In 2012, Mumbai Metro One, the BOT operator of the Mumbai Metro Line 1 , announced that it had procured turntables to be used on the Rapid Transit system . The Israel Railway Museum , Haifa, has

2294-496: The "character and location of the premises, the purpose for which they are used, the probability of injury therefrom, the precautions necessary to prevent such injury, and the relations such precautions bear to the beneficial use of the premises." However, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court's decision based on an improper jury instruction as to the evidence. Accidents to locomotives sometimes occurred. For example, if

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2368-630: The UK and most other Commonwealth countries, the term points refers to the entire mechanism. In professional parlance, the term refers only to the movable rails and the entire mechanism is named turnout or points and crossings . Turnout and switch are terms used in North America in all contexts. In some cases, the switch blades can be heat treated for improvement of their service life. There are different kinds of heat treatment processes such as edge hardening or complete hardening. The cross-section of

2442-694: The arrangement may also be called a double switch , or more colloquially, a puzzle switch . The Great Western Railway in the United Kingdom used the term double compound points , and the switch is also known as a double compound in Victoria (Australia) . In Italian, the term for a double switch is deviatoio inglese , which means English switch . Likewise, it is called Engels(e) Wissel in Dutch and, occasionally, Engländer ("english one", literally "Englishman") in German. A single slip switch works on

2516-525: The asymmetric design of many locomotives, turntables still in use are more common in North America than in Europe, where locomotive design favors configurations with a controller cabin on both ends or in the middle. In San Francisco, US, the Powell cable car line uses turntables at the end of the routes, since the cable cars have operating controls at only one end of the car. The Long Island Rail Road still has

2590-433: The case of Chicago B. & Q.R. Co. v. Krayenbuhl (1902), a four-year-old child was playing on an unlocked, unguarded railroad turntable. Other children set the turntable in motion, and it severed the ankle of the young child. The child's family sued the railroad company on a theory of negligence and won at trial. The Nebraska Supreme Court held that the railroad company may have been liable for negligence after considering

2664-423: The construction of a turnaround wye . Railways needed a way to turn steam locomotives around for return journeys, as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse; also many locomotives had a lower top speed in reverse. Most diesel locomotives, however, can be operated in either direction, and are considered to have "front ends" and "rear ends" (often determined by reference to

2738-431: The crossing are often connected to move in unison, so the crossing can be worked by just two levers or point motors. This gives the same functionality of two points placed end to end. These compact (albeit complex) switches usually are found only in locations where space is limited, such as station throats (i.e. approaches) where a few main lines spread out to reach any of numerous platform tracks. In North American English,

2812-402: The diamond instead of inside. An advantage over an inside slip switch is that trains can pass the slips with higher speeds. A disadvantage over an inside slip switch is that they are longer and need more space. An outside slip switch can be so long that its slips do not overlap at all, as in the example pictured. In such a case a single, outside slip switch is the same as two regular switches and

2886-411: The eighteenth century, cast iron components were made to build switches with check rails. In 1797, John Curr described the system that he developed which used a single iron blade, hinged on a vertical pin that was tapered to lie against the plateway. By 1808, Curr's basic design was in common use. The use of a sprung rail, giving a smooth transition, was patented by Charles Fox in 1838. Prior to

2960-399: The existing turnplate technology. Like earlier turnplates, most new turntables consisted of a circular pit in which a steel bridge rotated. The bridge was typically supported and balanced by the central pivot, to reduce the total load on the pivot and to allow easy turning. This was most often achieved by a steel rail running around the floor of the pit that supported the ends of the bridge when

3034-481: The following corresponding radii: Switches are necessary for the operation of a railway, but they do pose a number of risks: Switch-related accidents caused by one or more of these risks have occurred, including: The switch rails or points ( point blades ) are the movable rails which guide the wheels towards either the straight or the diverging track. They are tapered, except on stub switches in industrial sidings, which have square ends. In popular parlance in

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3108-418: The frequency of trains, or applying anti-icing chemicals such as ethylene glycol to the trains. The divergence and length of a switch is determined by the angle of the frog (the point in the switch where two rails cross, see below) and the angle or curvature of the switch blades. The length and placement of the other components are determined from this using established formulas and standards. This divergence

3182-466: The length (and hence the radius) of the switch blades and the number would define the angle of the crossing (frog). Thus an A7 turnout would be very short and likely only to be found in tight places like dockyards whereas an E12 would be found as a fairly high speed turnout on a mainline. On the London, Midland and Scottish Railway , switch curvatures were specified from A (sharpest) to F (shallowest), with

3256-467: The location of the crew cab). When a diesel locomotive is operated as a single unit, the railway company often prefers, or requires, that it be run "front end" first. When operated as part of a multiple unit locomotive consist , the locomotives can be arranged so that the consist can be operated "front end first" no matter which direction the consist is pointed. Turntables were also used to turn observation cars so that their windowed lounge ends faced toward

3330-407: The movable switch blades were connected to the fixed closure rails with loose joints, but since steel is somewhat flexible it is possible to obviate this looseness by thinning a short section of the rail's bottom itself. This can be called a heelless switch . Turnouts were originally built with straight switch blades, which ended at the pointed end with a sharp angle. These switches cause a bump when

3404-405: The other, alternatively to going straight across. A train approaching the arrangement may leave by either of the two tracks on the opposite side of the crossing. To reach the third possible exit, the train must change tracks on the slip and then reverse. The arrangement gives the possibility of setting four routes, but because only one route can be traversed at a time, the four blades at each end of

3478-575: The points are rigidly connected to the switch control mechanism, the control mechanism's linkages may be bent, requiring repair before the switch is again usable. For this reason, switches are normally set to the proper position before performing a trailing-point movement. Generally, switches are designed to be safely traversed at low speed. However, it is possible to modify the simpler types of switch to allow trains to pass at high speed. More complicated switch systems, such as double slips, are restricted to low-speed operation. On European high-speed lines, it

3552-600: The points with one of the possible routes. The motor is usually controlled remotely by the dispatcher (signaller in the UK). The switch motor also includes electrical contacts to detect that the switch has completely set and locked. If the switch fails to do this, the governing signal is kept at red (stop). There is also usually some kind of manual handle for operating the switch in emergencies, such as power failures, or for maintenance purposes. A patent by W. B. Purvis dates from 1897. A switch stand ( points lever or ground throw )

3626-411: The position of the points, as the vehicle's wheels will force the points to move. Passage through a switch in this direction is known as a trailing-point movement and switches that allow this type of movement without damage to the mechanism are called trailable switches . A switch generally has a straight "through" track (such as the main-line) and a diverging route. The handedness of the installation

3700-657: The proper movement of switch or frog point rails, essentially inhibiting the proper operation of railroad switches. Historically, railway companies have employees keep their railroad switches clear of snow and ice by sweeping the snow away using switch brooms (Basically wire brooms with a chisel attached onto the opposite end of the broom – quite similar to ice scrapers used today), or gas torches for melting ice and snow. Such operation are still used in some countries, especially for branch routes with only limited traffic (e.g. seasonal lines). Modern switches for heavily trafficked lines are typically equipped with switch heaters installed in

3774-410: The provision of FPLs for any routes traveled by passenger trains – it was, and still is, illegal for a passenger train to make a facing move over points without them being locked, either by a point lock, or temporarily clamped in one position or another. Joints are used where the moving points meet the fixed rails of the switch. They allow the points to hinge easily between their positions. Originally

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3848-439: The rear of the train. Some early turntables rapidly became too small for their purpose as longer locomotives were introduced. Early wagonways were industrial railways for transporting goods—initially bulky and heavy items, particularly mined stone, ores and coal—from one point to another, most often to a dockside to be loaded onto ships. These early wagonways used a single point-to-point track, and when operators had to move

3922-622: The regional Wisconsin & Southern In the United States , when deciding liability for turntable accidents, most state courts followed the precedent set by the United States Supreme Court in Sioux City & Pacific R.R. v. Stout (1873). In that case, a six-year-old child was playing on the unguarded, unfenced turntable when his friends began turning it. While attempting to get off, his foot became stuck and

3996-421: The same principle as a double slip, but provides for only one switching possibility. Trains approaching on one of the two crossing tracks can either continue over the crossing, or switch tracks to the other line. However, trains from the other track can only continue over the crossing, and cannot switch tracks. This is normally used to allow access to sidings and improve safety by avoiding having switch blades facing

4070-451: The shock, vibration, possibly in combination with slight heating caused by braking or a city microclimate, may cause the chunks of ice to fall off, jamming the switches. The heaters need time to melt the ice, so if service frequency is extremely high, there may not be enough time for the ice to melt before the next train arrives, which will then result in service disruptions. Possible solutions include installing higher capacity heaters, reducing

4144-470: The site of the former roundhouse, but it was built years after the roundhouse's demolition. GO Transit started using the Mimico Yard in 1967, and in 1978 opened its Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility in the Willowbrook Yard, the name given to the northern half of the Mimico Yard. In 1985, Via Rail opened its Toronto Maintenance Centre in the southern half of the yard. By this time, the mainline

4218-507: The southern half of the Mimico Yard. In 2022, Via demonstrated for Trains magazine the locomotive simulator in the centre's training complex. Both the Via Toronto Maintenance Centre and GO Transit's Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility lie in south and north halves respectively of the Mimico Yard. The northern part of the yard is also called the Willowbrook Yard after the nearby Willowbrook Road. In 1906,

4292-694: The steam area have been abandoned. Most were situated at the major railway yards like Kandy , Galle, Nanu Oya, Anuradhapura , Maho, Galoya, Trincomalee , Batticaloa , Polgahawela Jnc, Badulla, Puttulam, and Bandarawela and depots in Dematagoda 2no. and Maradana . All turntables in Sri Lanka Railways were operated manually. They were used to turn some rolling stock and non-dual cab locomotives. Most turntables were later scrapped, though some have been preserved in museums. In Britain, where steam-hauled trains usually had vacuum-operated brakes , it

4366-460: The switch blades also influences performance. New tangential blades perform better than old-style blades. The crossing is the component that enables passage of wheels on either route through the turnout. It can be assembled out of several appropriately cut and bent pieces of rail or can be a single casting of manganese steel. On lines with heavy use, the casting may be treated with explosive shock hardening to increase service life. A guard rail

4440-561: The switch onto the other line, and then continue forwards (or stop, if it is being used as a siding). A straight track is not always present; for example, both tracks may curve, one to the left and one to the right (such as for a wye switch ), or both tracks may curve, with differing radii , while still in the same direction. Switches consume a relatively high proportion of a railway maintenance budget. Simple single-bladed switches were used on early wooden railways to move wagons between tracks. As iron-railed plateways became more common in

4514-423: The switch rails being about 25 mm (0.98 in) less high, and stockier in the middle. Apart from the standard right-hand and left-hand switches, switches commonly come in various combinations of configurations. A double slip switch ( double slip ) is a narrow-angled diagonal flat crossing of two lines combined with four pairs of points in such a way as to allow vehicles to change from one straight track to

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4588-405: The tampering of switches by outside means, these switches are locked when not in use. A facing point lock ( FPL ), or point lock , is a device which, as the name implies, locks a set of points in position, as well as mechanically proving that they are in the correct position. The facing point part of the name refers to the fact that they prevent movement of the points during facing moves, where

4662-500: The train traverses in the turnout direction. The switch blades could be made with a curved point which meets the stockrail at a tangent, causing less of a bump, but the disadvantage is that the metal at the point is thin and necessarily weak. A solution to these conflicting requirements was found in the 1920s on the German Reichsbahn. The first step was to have different rail profile for the stock rails and switch rails, with

4736-578: The turntable was incorrectly set and a locomotive was accidentally started or failed to stop, it might fall into the turntable pit. On rare occasions, a turntable would spin too fast during high winds, as happened at Garsdale ( Settle–Carlisle line ) in the UK c.1900. At this very exposed location, this was resolved by surrounding the turntable with a wooden stockade made from old sleepers. Stations housing large numbers of engines may have more than one turntable: Railway switch A railroad switch ( AE ), turnout , or [ set of ] points ( CE )

4810-414: The usual direction of traffic. To reach the sidings from what would be a facing direction, trains must continue over the crossing, then reverse along the curved route (usually onto the other line of a double track) and can then move forward over the crossing into the siding. An outside slip switch is similar to the double or single slip switches described above, except that the switch blades are outside of

4884-404: The usually flying junctions at each end of the local-express line. A stub switch lacks the tapered points (point blades) of a typical switch. Instead, both the movable rails and the ends of the rails of the diverging routes have their ends cut off square. The switch mechanism aligns the movable rails with the rails of one of the diverging routes. In 19th century US railroad use, the stub switch

4958-535: The vicinity of their point rails so that the point rails will not be frozen onto the stock rail and can no longer move. These heaters may take the form of electric heating elements or gas burners mounted on the rail, a lineside burner blowing hot air through ducts, or other innovative methods (e.g. geothermal heat sink, etc.) to keep the point & stock rails above freezing temperatures. Where gas or electric heaters cannot be used due to logistic or economic constraints, anti-icing chemicals can sometimes be applied to create

5032-554: The wagon length that could be turned. Second, their switching capacity could only be accessed when the wagon was on top of them and still, which limited the total capacity of any wagonway. The railway switch , which overcame both of these problems, was patented by Charles Fox in 1832. As steam locomotives replaced horses as the preferred means of power, they became optimised to run in only one direction for operational ease and to provide some weather protection. The resulting need to turn heavy locomotives required an engineering upgrade to

5106-407: The wheels, rather than relying on the flanges on the insides of the wheels. When the wheels reach the switch, the wheels are guided along the route determined by which of the two points is connected to the track facing the switch. In the illustration, if the left point is connected, the left wheel will be guided along the rail of that point, and the train will diverge to the right. If the right point

5180-428: The widespread availability of electricity , switches at heavily traveled junctions were operated from a signal box constructed near the tracks through an elaborate system of rods and levers . The levers were also used to control railway signals to control the movement of trains over the points. Eventually, mechanical systems known as interlockings were introduced to make sure that a signal could only be set to allow

5254-459: Was crushed. The Court held that although the railroad was not bound by the same duty of care to strangers as it was to its passengers, it would be liable for negligence "if from the evidence given it might justly be inferred by the jury that the defendant, in the construction, location, management, or condition of its machine has omitted that care and attention to prevent the occurrence of accidents which prudent and careful men ordinarily bestow." In

5328-440: Was quite common for turntables to be operated by vacuum motors worked from the locomotive's vacuum ejector or pump via a flexible hose or pipe, although there are a few manually and electrically operated examples. The major manufacturers were Ransomes and Rapier , Ipswich and Cowans Sheldon, Carlisle. The Great Western Railway (GWR) built several tables for its own use; there is little evidence any other companies did so. Due to

5402-499: Was running through the middle of the Mimico Yard, separating the GO Transit and Via Rail facilities. Railway turntable In rail terminology , a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning round railway rolling stock , usually locomotives , so that they face the direction they came from. It is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weigh against

5476-482: Was typically used in conjunction with a harp switch stand . The rails leading up to a stub switch are not secured to the sleepers for several feet, and rail alignment across the gap is not positively enforced. Stub switches also require some flexibility in the rails (meaning lighter rails), or an extra joint at which they hinge. Therefore, these switches cannot be traversed at high speed or by heavy traffic and so are not suitable for main line use. A further disadvantage

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