Troy NY Union station

[alastairq]

Hi guys, I'm trying to locate a track diagram and dimensions for the Union station at Troy, NY.

 

This seems to me to be a very compact prototype,with a little freight, but loads of passenger and parcels traffic.

 

I was intrigued by a photo I came across in an ancient Railroad Model Craftsman [July '83 to be exact] of the above station.

A colourised copy of that photo is at the bottom of the link below

 

http://gino.cdfw.net/TandS/troy.html

 

Heavyweight baggage cars always appealed to me.....dunno why...

 

A point[?] to note from the photo [the piccy in RMC, although B&W, has a lot better clarity]....is that the turnouts don't seem to have any check or wing rails?

 

Were they of the 'moving wing rail' variety?

 

Or cast and machined crossings?

[LSWR]

The Rensselaer Railroad Heritage Website of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Student Union Model Railroad Club has information. This RPI club has large layout started over sixty years ago which includes a representation of Troy Union Station. Google searching on "Troy Union Railroad", the owners of the station, will also bring up a bunch of leads.

[highpeak]

Heavyweight baggage cars always appealed to me.....dunno why...

Interesting patterns of doors. Loads of rivets. The mystery of what might be in there. All the stuff on the ends of the car. Clerestory roof. Maybe an RPO section. Could often be found just hanging around waiting for their next assignment. On some roads, more of them in a train than passenger cars (head-end traffic kept MEC in the passenger business for a bit longer than might have otherwise been the case.)

 

I'd love to have the space for 50s passenger operations, doubt that will ever happen, but I still ended up with a Bethlehem Car Works Baggage/RPO kit.

 

Troy looks like an interesting operation, as were most union stations.

[Oldddudders]

I suggest that the point about a Union station was that it was often built in the heart of the downtown area, while the freight traffic centred on the industrial zones. Is that D&H streamliner with Budd observation the Laurentian?

[Glorious NSE]

A point[?] to note from the photo [the piccy in RMC, although B&W, has a lot better clarity]....is that the turnouts don't seem to have any check or wing rails?

 

Were they of the 'moving wing rail' variety?

 

Or cast and machined crossings?

 

I suspect they have "self guarding frogs" - where a raised bit on the outside of the frog bears against the wheel face to keep it in the same place rather than a check rail on the opposite side - seems to be reasonably common on low-speed US trackage but annoyingly not easily modelleable unless you want to try and make sure that all your wheels are exactly the right width!!

 

http://www.harmersteel.com/catalog/frogs-switches-turnouts/solid-manganese-self-guarded-frogs/

[Glorious NSE]

Better self guarding frog pics:

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m46/farmallbob/Genesee%20Jct/?action=view&current=IMG_1473frog-800.jpg

[BR60103]

^{I took this shot with just this in mind.}

[alastairq]

Is that D&H streamliner with Budd observation the Laurentian

 

Yes, it is, apparently..

 

The caption on the link differs somewhat from the description given in July 1983 RMC......

 

According to RMC [Geoff Hubbs]..and the photo credit [Jim Shaugnessy]....the date is April 1957....NYC train 144.

{I presume this is the Laurentian?]

 

The train has 7 cars.....yet cannot fit within the confines of the station area, without blocking the lead turnouts and crossings.

 

The subject of the short header article was, cramped spaces on railroads in real life.....

 

the author noted how the railroad had to use overhead interlocking towers, [the photo apparently being taken from ''Grand St Tower''....] due to the lack of room for the ROW..

 

Other snippets I've picked out from the article are...note the coal hopper on the left, apparently spotted at the 'station boiler-house'....[note also what appears to be an Alco RS? at the 2nd platform from the left?]

 

Another point to note [from the article] was that the track to New York apparently disappear into a tunnel[under Congress St] beyond the far interlocking tower....

 

The questions I have [i have had a magnifying glass to the RMC photo, but am not able to pick out clearly, answers to my questions...]...are:

 

Was this a 'through' station? {The article page is headed ''The Terminal''...] I 'suspect the tracks in the foreground are a single main line out, B&M trackage...am I right?

 

The hopper spotted on the left...is it actually sat on top of a turnout leading to a spur? {it seems to be sat rather awkwardly to be on the same track as the Baggage car beyond?]

 

Whilst I can see the two central platform roads are 'through' roads, were all the others actually loops? [Evidence from the other linked postcard piccies suggests they are loops...but captions can be incorrect?]

 

Whilst unclear in the link piccy, the trackage at the far end, underneath and beyond the other interlocking tower [from my RMC copy] appears to be doubled....is that so? [towards New York]

 

Also, in the RMC photo, I can clearly see a crossover....but it leads between tracks 4 and 3 [counting from the right]..trailing onto track 3.

 

Ahead of the loco heading the Laurentian, coming towards it, appears to be a headlight, of an approaching loco/train?

Since all station tracks are occupied, and I'm not sure which 'hand' railroads ran to in this area [right or left-hand running?]...{the direction of the crossover switches suggests right-hand running if the disappearing tracks are indeed doubled}..is it a 'loco change?'

[The article mentions being able to observe NYC E8's being added to the Laurentian at this station?]

 

This one photo, [in the RMC] full of detail, reminds me of a storage/fiddle yard set-up, with platforms.....

 

Lengthwise, compression can be handled,[7 car trains can be reduced to 5 cars, for example?] so really the only issue is width of boards?....Everything is confined within a small area, by the presence of city buildings and the station building itself...all could be 'flats'... the overhead towers neatly secure view bocks either end....as does the prototypical tunnel?

 

[Given the recent focus by RMJ mag on UK parcels traffic movements, this photo made me think of a US version?]

[BR60103]

I've just dug out my Railroad Atlas that contains this area. There are no track plans, but the route shows up.

The line on the east side of the Hudson is shown abandoned north from a point south of Troy Union Stn, as is the line across the river that follows the Mohawk to Schenectady.

North of Troy Union was a wye with one track crossing the River to a junction with the D&H (old line) and continuing as the NYC (abandoned) along the Mohawk.

The line through the station and crossing the river is sown as TURR - Troy Union RR. The line continuing north on the east bank of the Hudson is BM (abandoned). The junction with the D&H is north of their Colonie Yard and Shops.

Terminus may just have meant the end point of one corporate entity.

Most railroads in this area would have used right hand running, but a lot were single track with passing sidings, some had very long passing sidings.