Trivia

OK, this is an easy one but I love to see others post their "tough" questions, so maybe I can get the ball rolling:

A westbound train to NY will pass 2 "37 bridge"'s. One east of woodside and then another at Harold Interlocking.

How could this be?

The two bridge 37's is due to the fact that most signal bridges are numbered from a "zero" mile marker or "point".
The situation you mention with the two different 37 bridges is because the one on the LIRR mainline in measured from the "zero point" in Long Island City (the exact location I am not positive of). The other one near Harold interlocking s actually in Amtrak "Zone A-Metropolitan Division" and is measured from the "zero point" at the basically the "centerpoint" of Penn Station someplace (the exact location I am not aware of). Being that the zero point of Penn Station is in Manhattan, and the one in LIC further, the mile measureemnt of 37 (which is more or less 3.7 miles from the "Zero point") is different.
A similar situation takes place in Jamaica, where there are THREE mile post nines. One for the mainline, one for the Atlantic and one for the Montauk. They are closer together than the 37's but still in different location seperated by a few hundred feet in all three locations.

Very Good.

I have used this question to stump many a trainee.

thats an intresting point.

OK......let's keep the ball rolling with one more question......
There are block limit signals on 2 branches........Mainline and Montauk. Until recently, the West Hempstead Branch had one block limit signal, WM. Even though it is gone, how was WM block limit signal different from ANY OTHER block limit signal on the property?????????

do tell.

Well????????????

Drop the other shoe.

Dave Keller

Was it perhaps the only westbound only block limit?

Sorry for the delay folks, but I was away for a few days. Some good guesses, but not what I was looking for. WM block limit is in fact westbound only, but GY (Greenport) and MY (Montauk) are also westbound only. WM is also the only block limit signal that is next to an ASC Cutout, but again, not what I was looking for.

READY?????????

Every single block limit signal (with two letters) is posted VERTICALLY. WM Block limit signal was posted HORIZONTALLY.

I have a trivia question to add. It's a silly little question, but I gotta ask to see if people pick up on what I mean. I'm not sure if any of the local railroads use this "technique", but we use it up in Vermont..

What does it mean when you find a certain number of small rocks or peices of ballast placed on the knuckle coupler you will be tying onto? Say 3 small rocks for example.

I'll take a guess and say the rocks are a signal to the conductor that the knuckle pin is missing and he (or she) should not use the cut lever to open the knuckle.

Jay

That's not correct. I wanna see if a few more people take a crack at an answer before I spill the beans. You are right that it is a signal to the conductor who is supposed to pick up that cut of cars, but it doesn't have anything to do with defects.

Could it be that the amount of stones on the coupler indicate where the car is to be placed in the consist?

Great question, I am anxious to see what it means.

I have an easy trivia question for you guys.

Just east of old DK station on the main-line, there is a stretch of about 400-500 feet of third rail that parallels the main third rail (in other words, there are TWO third rails right next to each other for 400-500 feet). Why is this? Good luck

Joe

Because they couldn't dig deep enough?