how are engines turned around when pulling into a terminal?

I have a naive question. If a trainset coming into a terminal is not in a push-pull configuration,
where/how/when does the locomotive get switched to be the front for the outgoing train?

Specifically:
I know Grand Central Terminal had loop arounds, but I don't think they are in use anymore.

And what about Washington DC's Union Station, which seems to be a true Terminal configuration?

thanks...

There are a few things could happen. You brought up D.C. Union Station. The commuters coming out of their are all push pull I believe. The North East regionals can back out of the station into the yard, and because the AEM-7's, HHP-8's and ACS-64's are double ended, they can be run around to the other end of the train, serviced, and go back into the station. The Acela train sets have a cab on each end. The long distance trains don't terminate in DC, there are several through tracks I believe.

In other case, There is either a wye track back in the yard, a turntable, or a loop track, The loops are a bit more common then you'd think. But I would guess the most comment method these days is a wye track.

I am not an expert on the D.C. area rail operations but I applied the small bit of background knowledge I know, and I simplified the little railroad knowledge I have collected for the sake of not having to type a lot. Hope this clears things up a bit.

There is a wye just north of WUS near the Ivy City area. The capitol limited gets turned there. They may turn some regional trains there too, but I am not sure about that.

Some trains use the wye then back into the terminal, to keep the noisy diesels away from the platform. At some stations, a switch engine may hook up at the back end & pull the whole consist thru the wye.

what about at Boston South Station?

acs85 wrote:what about at Boston South Station?

There is a loop track.

In DC there is a wye. Generally all single end Amtrak trainsets are looped or wyed to avoid having to rotate all of the seats in the coaches since riding backwards makes many people sick. Go find any single-end-train Amtrak terminal and you'll find a wye somewhere nearby. For example in Pittsburgh trains shove about 4 miles to the wye at CP-HOME.

In Chicago, corridor trains usually operate with an NPCU or bracketed power so they're not turned. Long distance trains usually turn after unloading passengers on the wye south of 14th street coach yards. This is interesting because it requires using the 21st street draw for headroom as well as the busy BNSF racetrack / suburban line.

The most interesting train turn is in Canada, though. The Via Canadian is too long to wye or loop, so the eastward train arrives in Toronto, discharges passengers, and goes to the yard. Still facing the same direction, the train will go back to the station, board passengers, and depart in the same direction. It then loops around the back side of Toronto on some sort of CN belt line and heads due north out of town as a westbound Canadian.

Grand Central *does* still have loop tracks that get used, I don't remember which specific tracks they are off the top of my head, but I know they're upper level and somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 in terms of number. (Not that it pertains to Amtrak, but it was mentioned in the OP)

GCT,lower level loop is OOS due to LIRR ESA project,believe upper level tracks 44-40 are the loop
tracks to upper level tracks 1+2.

GCT's upper level loop is still in service, and was rehabbed back in the 90s. Tracks 38-42, on the west side of the terminal, feed into the loop, which resolves to the yard tracks on the east side.

Lower Level loop is permanently out of service, as the Madison Ave yards were turned over to the LIRR's ESA project, thus making the loop useless.

As for the topic, all trains into GCT are commuter trains which are either electric M.U. trains or push-pull. When Amtrak used the terminal, they did often use the loop to turn Empire Service trains.

This was pretty unorthodox, and I don't know how widespread it was elsewhere, but around the 1950's the Santa Fe used to wye the San Diegans with passengers aboard. There was (and I think still is) a wye between Old Town and San Diego; eastbound trains from LA used to wye there and then back the rest of the way to San Diego. I believe westbound trains did the same thing at Mission Tower before backing into LAUPT to discharge passengers. This maneuver, though it lengthened the trip for the passengers, saved enough time to enable a trainset to make more round trips. (That service would have been ideal for push-pull, if it had existed outside Switzerland and France, and maybe elsewhere, at the time.)

ExCon90 wrote:This was pretty unorthodox, and I don't know how widespread it was elsewhere, but around the 1950's the Santa Fe used to wye the San Diegans with passengers aboard. There was (and I think still is) a wye between Old Town and San Diego; eastbound trains from LA used to wye there and then back the rest of the way to San Diego. I believe westbound trains did the same thing at Mission Tower before backing into LAUPT to discharge passengers. This maneuver, though it lengthened the trip for the passengers, saved enough time to enable a trainset to make more round trips. (That service would have been ideal for push-pull, if it had existed outside Switzerland and France, and maybe elsewhere, at the time.)

If Amtrak trains were/are early sometimes they will wye and back into Chicago Union Station.

Amtrak trains arriving in Chicago early? How long ago was that?
I also forgot about the time-honored practice at St. Louis Union Station of having all arriving trains back in, with locomotive and train all ready to pull out forward to the yard, the sole exception being the 3-car MoPac local from Pacific, MO., which headed straight in. (I can just imagine 3 carloads of commuters patiently waiting while the train pulls up and waits to back in -- they'd have been jumping off and walking across the tracks.)

All of the Amtrak trains that terminate at Penn Station New York go over to Suunyside Yard in Queens where they are run around the loop and then serviced prior to their next departure from Penn Station.

The two daily Amtrak trains that terminate at Niagara Falls NY are turned on a wye a few miles south of Niagara Falls, while occupied, and then they are backed the last few miles into stub-end tracks at the Niagara Falls station, where they terminate.

When Amtrak's Adirondack arrives at Central Station in Montreal, it normally pulls straight into the station, unloads and is backed out to the yard (Via's MMC). It can be turned prior to its departure the next morning. However, if it has a private car that is going to be parked inside the station, then the (occupied) train 69 is turned on a wye near the station and backed into the station; this allows the crew to unload train 69 in the station, spot the PV in the proper location, cutaway from the PV and deadhead the consist out to the yard at Via's MMC.

There is a wye at Richmond and at Newport News for turning trains that terminate at those two stations.

There is a wye right near the passenger station in Rutland VT that is used for turning the Ethan Allen train after it has arrived and offloaded at Rutland.

There is a wye (location named ATANDO) at Charlotte NC, located a ways north of the station. The last time I had MOUNT VERNON on The Carolinian, the crew came on duty early in the morning at Charlotte and turned train 79's equipment into train 80 using the ATANDO wye. I will speculate that the Piedmont trains are also turned on the ATANDO wye at Charlotte.

When I took MOUNT VERNON to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 2004, Via turned the entire consist of The Ocean on a loop ("balloon") track at the intermodal ocean shipping terminal at the Port of Halifax, after the train arrived and offloaded at their Halifax station.

http://www.dominionrailvoyages.com/MV14 ... 3small.jpg

The Ethan Allen is turned on the wye down in the VTR freight yard in Rutland.