Now you just need to work out signals so 2 trains don’t try and share the gauntlet.
Stan,
Had to look carefully at the maps but final figured out where this new track is. I have been over this route a couple of times and did have a problem, but can see where some might. Very interesting.
Al P
David Maynard said:
Now you just need to work out signals so 2 trains don’t try and share the gauntlet.
Not that difficult to have the first train to approach kill the power to the second train for a preset length of time so the first train clears. Really no different than protecting a crossing. Should work with dcc assuming that the train “picks up” where it left off when the power was cut.
The circuit is simple and uses a pair of 555 chips to drive a pair of relays. A gap in the rail will detect any metal wheel.
Todd, if they are track powered, ok. But what about the battery guys?
Nice work Stan …I gotta get out there along with dads place!
Bathouse yard is my favorite !
I thought he said he runs dcc.
Battery guys are on their own, although I can think of ways to make it work for them.
For example, the wheel contact can still be used but instead of cutting power to the rails, it sends power to an electromagnet between/beside the rails of the opposing traffic. A reed switch in each engine senses the electromagnet and the 555 chip in each engine kills the power to the engine for a preset time.
Actually, I would use two reed switches on each engine; one toward the front and one toward the rear. They would simply be connected in parallel and their purpose is to prevent a collision due to a “Mexican Standoff,” which will happen on rare occasion.
But you’ve got to “equip” every engine.
Todd, ok. But I said, and was thinking, signals. Not power control. But then for signals to work, the engineers have to observe and heed them.
Signals are even easier so long as the battery train has metal wheels.
Instead of energizing an electromagnet, the track gap energizes the signal. Just use a 5 volt wall wart to trigger a relay using the wheel as the contact.
Use the second armature on the relay to let it put a pair of seriesed supercaps in parallel with the relay coil to hold the coil open until the supercaps run out of juice. Put a variable resistor in parallel with the supercaps to control the timing. When the relay opens, this armature recharges the supercaps.
No 555 chips are even necessary, though they are cheaper than supercaps and more flexible in their applications.
Wow, I have never heard of a gauntlet, in RR terms before and that is just too cool. I had to look 2 times to get what was happening, at first I assumed it was a narrrow gauge and standard gauge section, 2 frogs and some fancy handlaid track and it serves things well. I will store this bit of informantion for future attempts of doing something I know little about, handlaid track.
I do not know how common Gauntlet track were, but they did exist, and for basically the same reason as used here.
Gauntlets were used everywhere there was a scale for weighing hoppers and other bulk cars. While the scale could support the weight of the individual car, it certainly couldn’t support the weight of the locomotive. A gauntlet was (is) used to shunt the locomotive off the scale onto supported track.
Steve, yes that’s a scale track, and it is a gauntlet track. But I was saying that I am not sure how common gauntlets were in other applications, like this one. I know that they existed, and that they were used just like this one, but how common were they?
Direct from Wiki off google they are rare simply from a safety standpoint, but used when necessary, but you knew that.
United States
Roselle Park and Union stations, which are located on Conrail Shared Assets Operation’s Lehigh Line in New Jersey, are equipped with gauntlet tracks. As New Jersey Transit’s Raritan Valley Line trains use these stations, as well as freight trains of Conrail Shared Assets Operations use this track, the gauntlet track allows freight trains the extra clearance they may require, by moving the train further away from the platform edge. The gauntlet track is equipped with dispatcher controlled power switches. Or rather the gauntlet track allows the passenger train to get closer to the platform.
Gauntlet track on Conrail Shared Assets Operation Lehigh Line at New Jersey Transit’s Raritan Valley Line Union, NJ station.
This type of point gauntlet is also used on the South Shore Line (NICTD) railroad at stations in Hegewisch in Illinois and Hammond and East Chicago in Indiana. (SouthShore Freight runs freight trains on the NICTD line.) A frog gauntlet section on the NICTD line in Gary, Indiana, was removed in 1997 after a 1993 fatal near head on accident where the tracks diverged.
The Westside Express Service (WES) regional rail line in the Portland, Oregon, suburbs has gauntlet track at its three intermediate stations, Hall-Nimbus, Tigard and Tualatin. These locations are along a stretch of track that WES trains shares with freight trains of the Portland and Western Railroad. Gauntlets at the stations allows freight cars to clear the high-level platforms.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad used gauntlet track to allow two sets of track to be placed in the centre-line through the Oxford Tunnel in New Jersey.
Amtrak’s B&P Tunnel, underneath Baltimore on the Northeast Corridor, was equipped with a point gauntlet on one of its two tracks. Installed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the mid-1950s to allow TOFC trains to fit through the tunnel, Amtrak removed it in the mid-1990s after most freight trains had been routed away from the Northeast Corridor.
Gauntlet track exists on track 3 of Saybrook Junction on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Track 3 is the long leg of the wye at Saybrook Junction, and is used by the Valley Railroad occasionally to turn around equipment. In addition, track 3 is also a siding used by Shore Line East to service Old Saybrook Station, and freight run by the Providence and Worcester Railroad to access spurs when servicing the nearby Tilcon plant or Fortune Plastics.
The San Francisco cable car system features three areas with gauntlet tracks[12] where the outer rail of the inner track is shared as the inner rail of the outer track for two sections of tracks: on Washington Street[13] between Mason Street and Powell Street, on Powell Street[14] (north of Washington Street) onto Jackson Street to the point of divergence of the Powell Street lines at Jackson Street and Mason Street, and on Hyde Street[15] between Jackson Street and Washington Street. On Washington Street, the gauntlet track begins at a manual switch mid-block where Powell Street cable cars travel the right side of the gauntlet track and turn right onto Powell Street towards Market Street. Cable cars making non-revenue runs (such as those entering or leaving the car barn) normally bear left onto the left side of the gauntlet track which then turns left onto Powell Street heading north. On Powell and Jackson Streets, the gauntlet track also begins at a manual switch located mid-block on the northbound side of Powell Street north of Washington Street. This is where the two Powell Street lines diverge on a downhill section of Powell Street, with the Powell-Hyde line switching to the left side and the Powell-Mason line proceeding straight onto the right side. From there, the cable cars run on gauntlet track which turns left onto Jackson Street, continuing uphill for one block until the Mason line turns right onto Mason Street. On Hyde Street, the gauntlet track is located on the southbound side where California Street cable cars coming from the barn use the right side (forward-facing) of the gauntlet track to access their revenue tracks on California Street to begin their revenue service.
The East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company located at 421 Meadow St, Rockhill, PA 17249 has some dual gauge track.
The southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail at the Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle, Washington was reconfigured in 1988 to include a gauntlet track on the final approach to the station, ultimately causing a collision in 2005 that suspended monorail service for several months.
Stan,
Great idea…and it looks awesome! I need to get back over to see your layout again this year!
Gee I didn’t realize that they were still used in modern times, except for scale tracks. Using them so freight cars can clear high platforms is a cool idea. I just might have to remember that one.
Yep, went the wrong way there once. Nice track work looks real good.
Ric Golding said:
Yep, went the wrong way there once. Nice track work looks real good.
So you are saying you ran the gauntlet once and went the wrong way?
Were you punished for this inconsideration publicly or privately ?
Actually were you even punished at all for this act? Perhaps know one knew until you just told on yourself. (nothing wrong with telling the truth though Mr. Golding!)
Rooster
Rick ran the wrong way before the gauntlet was installed. The reason we installed a gauntlet was because that mistake was very common. The gauntlet makes it much easier to go through that section of the railroad. Come on up to TrainOps and operate on it.
David
Today Gauntlets are very common on light rail and trams. As pointed out they are also used on some passenger lines to get the train close to the platform when loading passengers or away from the platform when traveling at speed or for trains with wider loading gauges.
I have also seen the use in a double track situation going through a single track wide tunnel.
In the past they were used when two different rail lines needed to use the same right of way such as going over a bridge.
Below is an interesting video of a train in London going over a Gauntlet section.
Stan
Ric Golding said:
Yep, went the wrong way there once. Nice track work looks real good.
Once? Slacker…
Stan, I knew they were used in the past on shared rights of way, bridges and tunnels, but I didn’t know that they were still in use. Very cool.