Signals through jenkintown interlocking

I was wondering how the signals are set up for jenkintown's interlocking. One reason i wonder is because sometimes very long inbound west trenton trains foul the landsdale/glenside/warminster tracks. Also, outbound trains to glanside/warminster/landsdale/doylestown foul the west trenton line tracks as they leave the station....

I also am curious about how/if the wye track comes into play, if it has always been dark, or if the signal lines that might have been there were simply de-activated/removed?

One final question, is how the one siding towards noble on the west trenton line is accessed..... often i see a rail mounted stop sign, does this mean the trains only come in the one side?

I'm not really sure what you're trying to ask as far as the first questions goes, but I would assume its set up like any other interlocking. As for the second, there is no Jenkintown wye. It was torn up decades ago I believe, possibly before the SEPTA era.

25Hz wrote:One final question, is how the one siding towards noble on the west trenton line is accessed..... often i see a rail mounted stop sign, does this mean the trains only come in the one side?

The Jenkintown siding is only accessed from the south at this time, even though it is still physically connected to the West Trenton line. It's primary use these days is to house push-pull sets that lay over during weekdays as well as some occasional MOW use.

25Hz wrote:I was wondering how the signals are set up for jenkintown's interlocking. One reason i wonder is because sometimes very long inbound west trenton trains foul the landsdale/glenside/warminster tracks. Also, outbound trains to glanside/warminster/landsdale/doylestown foul the west trenton line tracks as they leave the station....

Everything is automatic.

25Hz wrote:I also am curious about how/if the wye track comes into play, if it has always been dark, or if the signal lines that might have been there were simply de-activated/removed?

It doesn't come in to play. The interlocking at Jenkintown was totally redone probably about 10(?)+ years ago so anything that might have been left over from the past is long gone.

25Hz wrote:One final question, is how the one siding towards noble on the west trenton line is accessed..... often i see a rail mounted stop sign, does this mean the trains only come in the one side?

Stop signs can be removed.

Thanks for the replies.

What kind of signal aspects would an outbound landsdale train get if approaching and train in station was fouling the diamond? How far back would the signals show less than clear? Same for inbound west Trenton blocked by outbound landsdale/glenside/warminster.

Is it all cab signaled, or are there waysides that control this area, or is it both?? I've seen outbound trains stop well clear (towards Elkins park) of the station in those situations.

It's all cabbed and moreover I think the best cab signal indication trains get through the entire complex is Approach, even for straight moves because SEPTA thinks its a transit system. If there is a Stop signal at JENKIN for northbound R5 trains it would get a Restricting cab at SOUTH JENK interlocking. Approaching Jenkentown signal blocks are fairly close together, but northbound trains will get an Approach medium about 1 or 2 miles out for a Stop at JENKIN.

I haven't ridden the route in a while, but I do remember that the cabs start dropping excessively early then stay at Approach excessively long.

It is extremely annoying when leaving the city that trains slow down miles in advance of hitting Jenkintown. The track is wide open and the trains CRAWL into the station. What is the matter with the tracks? And it was like this long before the construction started there.

25Hz wrote:Thanks for the replies.

What kind of signal aspects would an outbound landsdale train get if approaching and train in station was fouling the diamond? How far back would the signals show less than clear? Same for inbound west Trenton blocked by outbound landsdale/glenside/warminster.

Is it all cab signaled, or are there waysides that control this area, or is it both?? I've seen outbound trains stop well clear (towards Elkins park) of the station in those situations.

What diamond???

25Hz wrote:What kind of signal aspects would an outbound landsdale train get if approaching and train in station was fouling the diamond?

What diamond?

The conceptual one.

Sorry, i was dead tired all day weds... It isnt a diamond, just tracks crossing at a shallow angle with switch.

But yea, it's a shame that trains have to slow so much there, especially when a outbound west trenton job is just gonna pass thru without fouling the other line. Other day i saw a deadhead move, it was really crawling through, and went from a decent clip down the way, to slower & slower, was probably going about 25 mph through the station itself. It was traveling outbound towards west trenton.

Wondering if PTC will help this area speed up at all?

bikentransit wrote:It is extremely annoying when leaving the city that trains slow down miles in advance of hitting Jenkintown. The track is wide open and the trains CRAWL into the station. What is the matter with the tracks? And it was like this long before the construction started there.

The Jenkintown crawl has nothing to do with the bridge reconstruction. It's been there since the 562 "upgrade" a few years ago. They took a perfectly good engineering design for an admittedly tired signal system that served the Reading extremely well, at higher speeds AND denser traffic volumes, for decades and turned it into a turtle crossing.

Yea, it was exactly same speeds before the old bridge was even closed to traffic.

What changes could be done here to improve the situation???? And how much time could be saved with such improvements?

Back when i saw a SPAX diesel towing the old silverliners off to woodborne, it did not slow at all, unfortunately this was because it was all ready only going about 18-20 mph.

25Hz wrote:Wondering if PTC will help this area speed up at all?

Unfortunately, and in general, the safer a system is, the slower the operating speeds become. SEPTA has been a risk-adverse system for a number of years. That's why you don't read about it as you do Metro-North or CTA. Only in Chicago can you find a train that can go up an escalator. And these are well-funded systems.

25Hz wrote:What changes could be done here to improve the situation???? And how much time could be saved with such improvements?

Nothing that a dose of common sense and some programming changes wouldn't fix.