Stopped by the former Southern Railway depot in Saluda, NC today and found a static Z Scale model of the famous (and now inactive) Saluda Grade inside. I know this line fairly well and the model builder(s) did a good job in replicating its signature locations.
Very nice!! Great to see Z featured, and showing off a prototypical line no less! It wouldn't take much to get that operational. Rob
A great ride through the country. I'll be in Raleigh-Durham this week and mapping out some idle time rail fanning.
They used selective compression. The prototype line has a lot of curves, so as to reduce the severity of the grade, but not to the exhibit's extreme. My wife and I plan to hike up the grade from Melrose (I posted some photos from here a few months ago) up to the start of the timing track signal. It might make a neat photo. SOU set up a timed block and only if the train safely exceeded a time limit between two points did the switch at Melrose move from the escape track to the main.
You're right Rob, just a loop of track on the backside of the exhibit would make it operational. I've posted this photo before on TrainBoard, but this was the scene at Melrose as a train came downgrade. I'm standing on the escape track.
The sound was almost as cool as the view, with the dynamics screaming all the way down. Going up, trains were split into sections of a dozen cars or so and reassembled at a passing siding just west of Saluda. All of this tonnage now runs east of Asheville via the Old Fort Loops, Linwood and Charlotte, circuitously rolling 270 Miles instead of 70 Miles via Saluda. I shot this in December of '84 at Sand Cut halfway up the Saluda grade:
Yep! The escape track turnout was controlled by a timing circuit to assure a train was under control as it ascended the grade. I forget the year, but perhaps it was sometime in the late '70s or early '80s the circuit failed and a train entered the escape track and safely stopped. It was impossible to back the train up the grade, so it was extremely fortunate that the engineman stopped the train with only the front half of the lead unit on the escape track turnout. The crew tied down the train and the lead unit uncoupled and moved fully onto the escape track. They were then able to manually line the turnout for the main and proceed to Spartanburg less one unit.
I think I read about Saluda in a train mag (forget which title) years ago. The timing circuit was tied to a safe speed downgrade, and if the train crossed the circuit sooner, it assumed the train was over speed, and left the switch lined for the escape track.
You are spot on Hemi. There was also an escape track close to the top of the grade perhaps 1/4 mile from Saluda. It was very short and served to dump a train against the hillside if needed. It was manned in the golden era and I think a whistle signal was used to confirm a train was under control. I found another photo of Melrose at [http://tarheelpress.com], but this one is from long ago.