handling cars at a terminal station

[webbcompound]

I'm working on the operational side of a just-pre WW2 layout I have under construction. the layout is essentially just the dead end half of a terminal station. Incoming trains have a loco, then a bunch of head end cars (express refrigerator, cans, newspapers, mail, baggage), then the passenger cars. Outgoing trains are propelled in by an off-scene shifter, passengers are loaded, then the train is drawn out by an off-scene loco. It is the incoming trains I am trying to get a handle on.

The tracks are in pairs with release crossovers, so the loco can be drawn forward and then reversed over the adjacent track for servicing. I've read that baggage cars will be loaded/unloaded on the passenger platform, so do head end reefers and milk cars get out the same way as the loco but drawn by a shifter?  I can't see them just sitting there waiting while the baggage is sorted out. The passenger cars are obviously taken away by an off-scene  shifter for cleaning and turning for the return journey.

So any thoughts on the sequence for dealing with the incoming train?

[long island jack]

Lots of dead end terminals had a wye or loop tracks,so the passenger train were reversed in, of coarse there were exceptions 

 

some light reading for you!

http://nmra2015.sbcrailway.ca/sites/default/files/clinics/Clark_LD handout 2015.pdf

Edited June 7, 2020 by long island jack

[mikjd]

See this recent thread and fine layout for similar questions.

 

[mikjd]

And this one.

 

[mdvle]

5 hours ago, webbcompound said:

I'm working on the operational side of a just-pre WW2 layout I have under construction. the layout is essentially just the dead end half of a terminal station. Incoming trains have a loco, then a bunch of head end cars (express refrigerator, cans, newspapers, mail, baggage), then the passenger cars. Outgoing trains are propelled in by an off-scene shifter, passengers are loaded, then the train is drawn out by an off-scene loco. It is the incoming trains I am trying to get a handle on.

The tracks are in pairs with release crossovers, so the loco can be drawn forward and then reversed over the adjacent track for servicing. I've read that baggage cars will be loaded/unloaded on the passenger platform, so do head end reefers and milk cars get out the same way as the loco but drawn by a shifter?  I can't see them just sitting there waiting while the baggage is sorted out. The passenger cars are obviously taken away by an off-scene  shifter for cleaning and turning for the return journey.

So any thoughts on the sequence for dealing with the incoming train?

 

I suspect the question is do you want accuracy, or do you want something fun for your space restrictions.

 

My immediate guess is that the head end cars are removed prior to the train entering the station, so that only the baggage and passenger cars remain.

 

This is in part because it appears to be a rare US station that has release crossovers in terminal stations - they dominant form seems to be dead end tracks leaving the engine trapped until the entire train is removed.

 

I have however asked on an email list dedicated to passenger trains to see if I can get any definitive answer.

[dave1905]

I posted this answer on one of the other forums on which he posed the same question.

 

The train pulls into the station track.

The passengers get off.

They unload the baggage, which belongs to the passengers that got off.  

They might unload the express if its handled at that part of the station.

15-20" after arrival, the train is empty of passengers.  

The engine cuts off and escapes or the switcher pulls the cars off the engine and the engine escapes.

The switcher switches out the RPO. reefers, REA, milk, whatever and spots it wherever it goes at the terminal.

The switcher reconfigures the cars and respots them on the station track for the outbound train.

 

Generally you let the passengers off first.  They get pissed if they have to sit just outside the station while the train is switched.  Cans of milk rarely complain if they have to wait 15".

[mdvle]

So the reply I got elsewhere is that essentially anything could and did happen in terms of handling things at a terminal station.

 

To a certain extent what the original poster does will depend on how much space there is available - creating the ability for a switcher to remove head end cars requires more track space at the terminal end.

[Zigzag Canyon]

Sorry for the resurrection, but there was a series of articles by Robert A. Clark in the January - April 2002 issues of "Model Railroading" on passenger terminals in large American cities that you might find helpful.  The articles cover switching and servicing and also the facilities located distant from the headhouse and platforms, like express, commissary, Pullman, and mail buildings.  The articles are available online at trainlife.com (here's a link to the first article of the series:  http://magazine.trainlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mrr_200201.pdf).

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Zigzag Canyon
clarity

[webbcompound]

Thanks for this excellent link in to Model Railroading Zigzag. Some excellent articles in there.

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by webbcompound

[Zigzag Canyon]

Anytime! Head-end operation can be as varied as freight traffic. Have fun!