As I read more and more I find myself asking questions. One of those has been the definition of a Division Point as in Division Point Yard. Can someone please tell me what the term is used for and what it means. Cheers Bruce
A division point is basically the location where the divisions change. Generally speaking this is where the largest yards were because many back in the day many aspects of railroading (crews, locomotives, cabeese, and even whole trains) did not run outside their own division. In modern terms this is rather outdated at divisions have grown to include hundreds of miles on many different routes.
Here's an example... In 1957 the B&O's Toledo Division mainline extended from Toledo to Cincinnati with a handfull branches and a secondary main line from Dayton to Chillicothe. This is a total of roughly 420 miles. Today that is part of the CSX Louisville Division which covers the mainlines from Toledo to Nashville, Cincinnati to St. Louis, and Cincinnati to Indianapolis and Columbus. Added to this are about a half dozen branch and secondary lines and you'll looking at a division well over 1000 miles.
Thanks Brian So a Division is a section of mainline for a particular railroad. Division Point Yards are main yards within the boundary of the division. Ok, my next question: Cabins. I have seen reference to them on plans in MR. The ones I have seen are generally at the ends of yards. Is this just a glorified name for a tower or is there a specific reason for the term Cabin. Cheers Bruce
Cabin is just a name for a tower by some railroads. Sometimes they are just cabins and no two story structures and sometime they are traditional railroad towers. The C&O used this term extensively.
Andy- Yes. Any division is usually broken down into smaller segments of main track, and branch lines. Subdivisions. Each sub will have a number. Boxcab E50
My next word is Interlocking. I have just seen that it relates to crossovers, yards etc....but what is it? Cheers Bruce
Interlocking refers to a group of switches, usually with some signals too. For instance a station approach area or where two railroads cross and have some interchange track. The term comes from the practice that in these situations the signals and switches would be interlocked so that a dangerous combination of settings could not be applied by the operator; like setting a go signal when a turnout is set in the wrong direction. The term isn't usually applied to a single switch or in a yard, because in these situations the turnout points are normally operated from the side of the switch and there is no interlocking, except maybe to a signal aspect. But I'm sure there are exceptions By the by, in old installations the interlocking was done with notched sliding bars and/or cams and stuff (real Meccano setups ) and are called mechanical interlockings. Later it was done with relays (electric interlocking) and nowadays with microprocessors (er, ... ). [ 19. May 2004, 20:40: Message edited by: Mike Sheridan ]
Some also used air. It was really interesting to be in a tower, and hear the compressor kick on...... Boxcab E50
Aha, thanks Mike So they are pretty much like a full size diode matrix Another lesson learned... Cheers Bruce
