Transfer table
Encyclopedia
Turntable (railroad)
A railway turntable is a device for turning railroad rolling stock. When steam locomotives were still in wide use, many railroads needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in many...
, though it cannot be used to turn equipment around. The table consists of a single length of track which can be moved from side to side, in a direction perpendicular to the track. There are often multiple tracks on one side of the table and a single track on the other.
Some railway systems like Locher do not allow installation of the regular switch and in such cases transfer tables are used as a switch replacement, as it is done in Pilatus Railway
Pilatus Railway
The Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn is a mountain railway in Switzerland and is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of...
.
They are often found in yards
Classification yard
A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...
with locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
maintenance facilities. The table allows a shed with multiple stalls for locomotives or carriages to be served by a single track, without the need for a number of points
Railroad switch
A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
which could take up a much larger area. Traversers were also used at metropolitan terminus locations where space is at a premium - such as at Kew
Kew railway station, Melbourne
Kew railway station was the terminus of the Kew railway line, Australia. It was opened on 19 December 1887. The line ceased operations in August 1952, but the line and station were officially closed on 13 May 1957 and subsequently demolished. The headquarters of VicRoads now stands on the site....
and St. Kilda railway stations
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
in suburban Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria, Australia; both these traversers worked only two tracks.
Smaller traversers are also frequently used on roller coaster
Roller coaster
The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...
s to switch out trains.
Combined turntable and traverser
An example of both pieces of equipment was in use up until the 1970s at the Collinwood Yards in Cleveland, Ohio. It allowed a single turntable to serve a linear train shed.
Preserved examples
Didcot Railway CentreDidcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre, located in the town of Didcot in the English county of Oxfordshire, is based around the site of a comprehensive "engine shed" which became redundant after the nationalisation of the UK railways, due to the gradual changeover from steam to diesel motive power.-Description:The...
, UK, has a traverser for transferring items of coaching stock between the roads of the carriage maintenance sheds.
The National Tramway Museum
National Tramway Museum
The National Tramway Museum, at Crich, in Derbyshire, England, is situated within Crich Tramway Village, a period village containing a pub, cafe, old-style sweetshop, including the tram depots. The village is also home to the Eagle Press, a small museum dedicated to Letterpress Printing including...
at Crich, in Derbyshire, England has a traverser allowing the restored trams to be moved between depot roads.
Pilatus Railway
Pilatus Railway
The Pilatus Railway or Pilatusbahn is a mountain railway in Switzerland and is the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. The line runs from Alpnachstad, on Lake Lucerne, to a terminus near the summit of Mount Pilatus at an altitude of...
has a lot of functional traversers as its rack railway
Rack railway
A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail...
system does not allow regular switches.
Traversers are common on ridable miniature railway
Ridable miniature railway
A ridable miniature railway is a ground-level, large scale model railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are models of full-sized railway locomotives .-Overview:Typically they have a rail track gauge between and , though both larger and...
s to access the shed and maintenance facilities. In this case there may be a desire to reduce the number of points required, or—in the case of raised track with overhanging carriages—to still allow switching with the same restrictions found on a saddle-beam monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
.
External links
- Photo of transfer table at the Derby Works of the Bangor and Aroostook RailroadBangor and Aroostook RailroadThe Bangor and Aroostook Railroad is a defunct United States railroad company, that brought rail service to Aroostook County, Maine. Brightly painted BAR box cars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces...
in Oakfield, MaineOakfield, MaineOakfield is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 732 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
, USA.