Richard's American Train Adventures

[richard carr]

Jim and I met up at 7:30 on Saturday morning, we had decided to explore the railway by the Lake again, but starting out in the reverse order of last time. This meant heading to Fremont on US20. As expected, nothing was happening when we arrived, so we headed to Bellevue, as we parked up an NS heritage ACe went by with a train, we saw it but we didn't get a chance to take a photo.

Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long for the next train



It's a pair of ACes. This was a very long train heading south to Columbus via Marrion.

While this was going by I saw this in the distance



I've looked this one up, so I know it's an SD40-2 high hood, it was switching in the yard.

I could see a train in the distance to the south that had come up from Columbus, but it turned across us to join the line to Fremont. At the same time a train from the Fort Wayne line made it's way round to the Columbus line, about half mile away from us.



After this we decided to go and get coffee, it was pretty cold outside about minus 4 Celsius.

Of course it was bound to happen, we were driving back and went up one of the east side streets just a s a coal train entered the yard.
Then as were coming back to the rail park a train of autoracks was coming off the Fremont line. No I didn't manage a photo of either of these trains. Once it had past we checked the signals but everything was red and we decided to head to Sandusky

This time we went to where the mainline is crossed by the route to the docks and where the access to the yard is.
Again we had just parked up and I had to hurry to get my camera out to capture this



It's a GEVO meeting tier 3 emissions standards



After that nothing for about half an hour by which point we were feeling hungry and went for lunch, but we did check the yard first and saw nothing.

 

[richard carr]

So after a quick lunch at BurgerKing we headed to Vermillion, right by the Lake on the mainline.

We were not to be disappointed, the first train was there straight away



In fact this spot has a good view of trains but there's very little warning of them arriving, we ended up with 3 east bounds, then 3 west bounds
as you can see I din;t manage to photograph 2 of the east bounds as I was too late seeing them arrive





I almost missed this one too




I did get them all on video

After this we headed to Oak Harbour, where the mainline is crossed by a Toledo to Fremont to Bellvue line.
We were running low on gas by this point so we passed over the Toledo to Fremont line knowing full well that it's not that busy and pulled into a gas station. I filled up with gas, Jim was making use of the facilities, then it was my turn and I decided to get a coffee too. Thats when I saw the crossing ligths start flashing and left the coffee and rushed to get the camera.




Not the best photos but it's what I got



Just typical.

After this we went out of town to the mainline where the interconnector is. A sea of red lights to the north



Green lights to the south



But don't be fooled, these signals are always on green so it means nothing, if they go red something is coming the other way.

Then the hawk turned upp







But he didn't hang around

Then the lights went green



But the sun was going down and it still took nearly 30 minutes for the trainto arrive







And that was the end of Saturday

 

[richard carr]

I stayed the night in Toledo and woke up Sunday morning to a bright sky but it was minus 9 outside, but thankfully the wind had dies down so it didn't feel too bad.

The plan was to drive to Elkhart and get breakfast, watch a few trains and then head on to explore the South Shore Line to the east of Gary in the Indiana Dunes national park. Then stop by Des Plaines Hobbies.

I set off about 7:15 and arrived in Elkhart at 9:30, I'd just got breakfast when the boss called, I carried on driving to the west end of the yard and parked up where I had a good view of the tracks. I saw a couple of stack trains while I chatted and once that had finished, nothing, in either direction. I gave it another 20 minutes then headed off to Dune Park South Shore Line station.

There wasn't a lot going on and the main NS line isn't here, but I did notice this



4 rails going through the platform, here's the switch



I think it is to maintain clearances, so that both freight and passenger vehicles can use the line.



I moved on and found a few freight cars parked up a couple of miles away






So I moved on to Ogden Dunes Station, it's on the west side of the Burns Habour Steel works. It ha both theNS mainline and the south shore electrics line. There's really good car parking and as you will see a really good view.



The first train after I arrived was this stack, I had seen this in Elkhart a couple of hours earlier

Then a short while later this autorack train arrived from the west, it was getting a move on.



Next a south shore electric arrived




Here's a close up of the back of the train showing how it uses the 4 rails.



Next a BNSF manifest heading West






Then it was back to another stack train, for some reason it stopped on the main and blocked the crossing for nearly an hour



Then I got caught out by this on the South Shore Lines, it's a CSX coal train




Then a CSX manifest went by on the other lines, fortunately there was a gap in the stack train so you could see it.




Finally Amtrak turned up



So that was it, a fun couple of hours on a Sunday. I drove up to Des Plaines about an hour away following I90 right through the centre of Chicago.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

4 rails going through the platform, here's the switch

I think it is to maintain clearances, so that both freight and passenger vehicles can use the line.

Called a 'Gantlet Track'.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Called a 'Gantlet Track'.

I think 'Gauntlet' is the word one is searching for

 

[timbowales]

I think 'Gauntlet' is the word one is searching for

Not on that side of the pond

 

[Stephen]

Part of the Croydon Tramway has gauntlet/gantled track, although I’m sure it was referred to as ‘interlaced’ in their rule book. The section is/was west of the flyover past Reeves Corner, however from memory that is two separate tracks I.e the Up and the Dn line interlaced rather than from a single line. Not that I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of British railways, but I’m not aware of any other sections in the UK.

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[mickoo]

Not on that side of the pond

Or even this side of the pond, the correct term is Gantlet but Gauntlet has become more common.

Two things to note in Richards photos, the Gantlet track is only on one platform, the high level easy access one, aka the new one. The other track still retains it's original ground level one and thus only one track. Check out the CSSB EMU, they have step boards to gain access from the original ground level platforms at each end but also have high floor level footboards to close the gap with high level platforms.

The end doors have a slot in the floor to allow access to the steps which is covered by a retracting flap when in transit or using high level platforms.

Low level access mode.



High level access mode.



CSSB stock is urban stock and quite narrow (relative) so high level platforms extend out a little and encroach on the loading (plate) gauge of freight stock.

 

[mickoo]

Part of the Croydon Tramway has gauntlet track, although I’m sure it was referred to as ‘interlaced’. The section was west of the flyover past Reeves Corner, however from memory that is two separate tracks I.e the Up and the Dn line interlaced rather than from a single line. Not that I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of British railways, but I’m not aware of any other sections in the UK.

Cheers,

Stephen

Gantlet is switched at each end and is basically a passing siding overlaid over the running line.

Interlaced has no switch and is two distinct running lines overlaid on each other, it's common in Europe through tunnels to increase the height of the loading gauge at the apex. I'm sure there was some on the Tonbridge line to allow standard stock to run through the restricted tunnels on that route?

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

I think 'Gauntlet' is the word one is searching for

Not on that side of the pond

Thanks Tim, & Mick. Yes I did actually search for the right word before posting, because there's always one, isn't there...??

 

[simond]

I thought it was ”gauntlet”, having never knowingly heard the word “gantlet” before. It appears they may well be the same word, and both appear to be a corruption of something Swedish, if Wikipedia is to be believed.

Gantlet vs. Gauntlet: What's the Difference?

When should you use gantlet vs. gauntlet? Examine their meanings and learn when to use gantlet or gauntlet in a sentence.

www.grammarly.com

Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words

The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years!

www.dictionary.com

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gantlet

Running the gauntlet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

there seems to be some common thread of “running between two lines” which may explain the naming of the trackwork

Whatever it’s called, another place it may be seen is weighbridges, where one pair of rails is not supported by the weighing mechanism, the other pair is, of course. I have no idea where I dragged this up from but have seen photos, some time, in the deep, dark past…

 

[AJC]

Gantlet is switched at each end and is basically a passing siding overlaid over the running line.

Interlaced has no switch and is two distinct running lines overlaid on each other, it's common in Europe through tunnels to increase the height of the loading gauge at the apex. I'm sure there was some on the Tonbridge line to allow standard stock to run through the restricted tunnels on that route?

Presumably you mean the infamously narrow tunnel at Mountfield and Grove Hill? Not so far as I know. Mountfield was narrow and double track up to electrification in ‘86, thereafter worked as single line. Grove Hill has a concrete base to keep the track where it should be. It was (everything else seems to have been), suggested though.

Adam