Were there ever any 5-way points?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I know of an example of a 4-way point that once existed, but were there any 5-way turnouts?

And were 4-way points quite rare?

Just a wondering...

[Paul H Vigor]

Yes! Here's one:

https://www.toysperiod.com/brio-33462-fiveway-points-wooden-railway-roundhouse-switch-p-1105.html

[kevinlms]

Don't know about a 5 way, but if you want lots of point blades (or none), South Australia is a good starting point (sorry for the pun - not really!).

 

https://nrm.org.au/assets/pdfdocs/collections/multi-gauge-muddle.pdf

 

Gladstone Yard appears to be an interesting place.

 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

Not sure about the angles

48 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Don't know about a 5 way, but if you want lots of point blades (or none), South Australia is a good starting point (sorry for the pun - not really!).

 

https://nrm.org.au/assets/pdfdocs/collections/multi-gauge-muddle.pdf

 

Gladstone Yard appears to be an interesting place.

 

 

, but I think this point is about 5 ways:

• Top Centre to Bottom Right
• Top Right to Bottom Left
• Top Left to Bottom Right
• Top Centre to Bottom Left
• Top Left to Top Right ?

[Michael Hodgson]

49 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Don't know about a 5 way, but if you want lots of point blades (or none), South Australia is a good starting point (sorry for the pun - not really!).

 

https://nrm.org.au/assets/pdfdocs/collections/multi-gauge-muddle.pdf

 

Gladstone Yard appears to be an interesting place.

 

 

 

Not yet available in RTR!

[alastairq]

I suspect there were 4 or 5 way stub turnouts in yards/loco sheds in the USA...?

[Deeps]

3 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

…….but were there any 5-way turnouts?

Yes, but generally they are known as turntables!

 

(sorry for my sense of humour)

[Wickham Green too]

39 minutes ago, Deeps said:

Yes, but generally they are known as turntables! ...

Little doubt that's what the Listowel one was - though with its curved 'deck' it doubled as a multi-route turnout. ( Would be great on a shunting puzzle layout ! )

[Mol_PMB]

There were two types of Lartigue monorail 'turntable' on the L&B.

 

The ones intended for turning locos were straight, were turned under load, and were called 'turntables'. They had wheels at the ends that ran on a circular rail for support.

 

The curved ones were called 'points' and were used as turnouts, they only needed to be turned unloaded but had to bear the weight of the train passing over them.

The one pictured is definitely a 'point'. Note that there are wheels at the ends which are only fully supported when it aligns with another track, so it would be very difficult to use this as a turntable.

 

However, I'm not sure it qualifies as a 5-way point. After all, a 4-way point has 5 tracks connected to it. And this one doesn't appear to have 5 different routes across it - top left to top right is the wrong angle to be connected by the arc of the turntable.

 

 

[keefer]

Don't know if it represents a prototype or was just an exercise in 'Can I.....':

http://www.clag.org.uk/green14.html

[keefer]

I think that there probably aren't as many 'true' even 3-way points as we'd think - in the real world the track is made to fit the location/purpose so they are often single- or tandem-points superimposed on each other.

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, keefer said:

I think that there probably aren't as many 'true' even 3-way points as we'd think - in the real world the track is made to fit the location/purpose so they are often single- or tandem-points superimposed on each other.

 

4 hours ago, keefer said:

Don't know if it represents a prototype or was just an exercise in 'Can I.....':

http://www.clag.org.uk/green14.html

 

Yes, that example is really two three-ways superimposed - or a tandem point and its mirror image superimposed.

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, keefer said:

Don't know if it represents a prototype or was just an exercise in 'Can I.....':

http://www.clag.org.uk/green14.html

That's a mixture of multiway and compound points

 

There used to be a 4 way/compound in Snow Hill Station, Birmingham.

Just to the right of the platform end.

 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Thanks Keith that certainly looks like one. 
 

I've use the more colloquial term 3-way/4-way; am I correct in that these were termed tandem turnouts? 
If so, how would a tandem that diverged three ways be differentiated from one diverging four ways, in terms of nomenclature?

[Compound2632]

I'm pretty sure that a three-way, with overlapping switches, would only have been used in goods yards and would not appear, even trailing, on a running line. A tandem is like a tandem bicycle, one behind the other. What do you call a bicycle made for three?

[jcm@gwr]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

I'm pretty sure that a three-way, with overlapping switches, would only have been used in goods yards and would not appear, even trailing, on a running line. A tandem is like a tandem bicycle, one behind the other. What do you call a bicycle made for three?

 

The Goodies bike?

[Wickham Green too]

a.k.a "Trandem" : https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/iconic-trandem-from-the-goodies-up-for-auction

 

.... but then, as were talking about quins rather than trios : - 

 

Coventry Motor Museum : 9/9/19

[sir douglas]

5 way stub on Mcleans island, New Zealand

 

though these are 4 not 5 way, they are still interesting

 

Hodbarrow

 

Kemptown goods

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, sir douglas said:

5 way stub on Mcleans island, New Zealand

 

You have to wonder whether all that froggery didn't offset any saving in using a stub switch.

 

[melmerby]

13 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Thanks Keith that certainly looks like one. 
 

I've use the more colloquial term 3-way/4-way; am I correct in that these were termed tandem turnouts? 
If so, how would a tandem that diverged three ways be differentiated from one diverging four ways, in terms of nomenclature?

On Templot ones with overlapping blades are 3 throw, sequential ones are 3 way tandem

 

Here's a couple of 3 throw and a tandem for good luck (curved as well!):

 

I think there is another 3 throw far left.

 

EDIT one of my original picks is another tandem, so 2 three throw and 2 3 way tandem.

Edited April 28 by melmerby

[bécasse]

The "four-way" point at Kemp Town was there when the station still had passenger trains. The fpl arrangement must have been interesting.

[Compound2632]

37 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Here's a couple of 3 throw and a tandem for good luck (curved as well!):

 These shows the trackwork after the post-war rebuilding of Birmingham Central Goods as a parcels depot rather than general goods station. The original layout, rather than having a tandem to the right of the three-throw, had a pair of the latter side by side:

 

 

[Embedded link to Warwickshire Railways mrcgy928.]

 

The Midland was rather partial to both.

[melmerby]

In case anybody's confused, the image I posted is of the post WW2 building taken in 1966, replacing the post WW1 building posted by Compound2632, taken in 1922 which was damaged during WW2.

 

(Central Grammar School, later Matthew Boulton college, seen behind in both views)

Edited April 28 by melmerby

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, melmerby said:

In case anybody's confused, the image I posted is of the post WW2 building taken in 1966, replacing the post WW1 building posted by Compound2632, taken in 1922 which was damaged during WW2.

 

Just so. Damaged is a bit of an understatement! Burnt out in an intense fire on the night of 25/26 October 1940, courtesy of the Luftwaffe. The rebuilding and trackwork alterations in the 1966 photo were carried out in 1947/8. Looking at the two photos again, I see the layout actually gained an extra tandem in the rebuilding.

[Michael Hodgson]

6 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

a.k.a "Trandem" : https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/iconic-trandem-from-the-goodies-up-for-auction

 

.... but then, as were talking about quins rather than trios : - 

 

Coventry Motor Museum : 9/9/19

I have a vague recollection from about half a century ago of a Coventry museum telling me about some local factory having built a 21-seater bike only it proved too heavy to move.

 

But there's always this ....

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/worlds-longest-bike-looks-like-the-support-structures-of-a-walmart-store-146352.html#agal_0