| Triangle (railway) |
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A wye in North America n Railroad Terminology , known as a '''triangle''' in English language terminology outside North America, is a triangular shaped arrangement of Tracks with a Switch at each corner. With a sufficiently long track leading away from each corner, a Train of any length can be turned. OVERVIEW Turning is required for any directional piece of railroad equipment, such as most Steam Locomotive s, or indeed many passenger trains, especially those that have a dedicated tail end car such as an Observation Car . Individual Locomotive s and Railroad Car s can be turned on a Turntable , but obviously whole trains cannot. A wye or a loop are the only ways of doing that. Railroads in North America have more wyes than railroads elsewhere, and North American locomotives and cars are much more likely to be directional than those elsewhere. This is due to the fact that in most places in Canada and the United States, the railroad came first, or at least early, and therefore builders had much more freedom to lay down tracks where they wanted. In Europe, extensive use was made historically of bi-directional Tank Locomotive s and push-pull trains, and more recently most Diesel Locomotive s and Electric Locomotive s ordered in Europe have been fully bi-directional. NOTABLE EXAMPLES Sefton Railway Station, Sydney , lies on one corner of a triangular junction. The triangle junction allows trains to branch off in either direction, without the need to terminate or change end. One train a day from Birrong to Sefton does terminate at Regents Park station, in order to clean the rust off the crossover rails. The is also a goods branch from Chullora, and a proposed separate single track freight line. The three passenger stations at the vertices of the triangle have island platforms which makes it convenient to change trains. The sharp curves of the triangle and especially the turnounts on those sharp curves restrict train speeds to between 25km/h and 50km/h. The Keddie Wye in Keddie, California , was built by the Western Pacific Railroad and is a remarkable engineering feat. Two sides of the wye are built on tall Trestle s and one side is a Tunnel bored through solid rock. SEE ALSO |
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