Any hand-thrown switches on Amtrak?

[rohr turbo]

Are hand-thrown switches a thing of the past, or do Amtrak train crews still ever have to throw a switch? If so, does the engineer or conductor do this? just curious.

(I'm not talking yard moves where I assume there are many such switches.)

[Noel Weaver]

On the Vermonter route there is no CTC system in use between Palmer and East Northfield and also north of White River
Junction. On the Rutland route it is all hand thrown switch territory between Whitehall and Rutland.
This is a starter, I might think of others down the road.
Noel Weaver

[Gilbert B Norman]

That is one of the more interesting questions I've seen posed around here in quite a while. My answer for the record is "I don't know", but I was of thought that there were several on the Coast Line that both the Train Crew (as distinct from Engine) on the Starlight and the San Luis Obispo Surfliner handled.

It would appear that the most efficient operation for such would be for the Assistant Conductor to alight from the head car, align such switch, reboard, then have the Conductor on the rear align same when the train had cleared.

[Cadet57]

The crew throws the switches whilst changing from the NECR to the CSX in Palmer on the north and southbound Vermonter.

[DutchRailnut]

90 % of all yard switches on Amtrak and still a lot of mainline switches too.
the job is normaly done by conductor or trainperson.

[EricL]

And then even in the case of power switches, many are equipped with hand throws for the trainman to use when the dispatcher can't get the switch to line & lock remotely. This happens a lot in winter, due to ice and snow buildup - even in spite of preventative measures like switch heaters.

[timz]

Amtrak trains run on hundreds? thousands? of miles of non-CTC main lines, where if the train had to enter a siding it would have to hand-throw itself into the siding. So, how often does an Amtrak train take siding? Next step is to check the timetable and see how many Amtrak trains ordinarily meet each other on non-CTC single track; one possibility is 3 and 4 in New Mexico.

[Noel Weaver]

I wasn't thinking of the UP former SP Coast Line in California a large portion is simple ABS territory with hand thrown switches.
Dutch, I think most main lines that Amtrak operates over are CTC or fully signaled with dispatcher controlled switches. I
believe we are trying to establish the exceptions to this on here. I don't think there are too many others.
In North Carolina Greensboro to Selma on NS (mostly) may still be hand thrown switches for sidings but I seem to think this
line is to get CTC operation in the not very distant future if it hasn't already.
There is no territory in Florida with hand thrown switches on main line tracks that I am aware of although if the Sunset or
some other train eventually goes on the route between Jacksonville and New Orleans there are some areas of this route that
are not CTC operated and would have main line hand thrown switches.
The Adirondack at Rouses Point has to use a hand thrown switch to get to the CN to continue north to Montreal.
This is probably the only place in New York State unless they use a hand thrown switch at Niagara Falls.
Sunnyside Yard in New York has some hand thrown switches too but I don't think for the most part that the passenger crews
take the trains over there, I seem to think yard crews are use for that operation.
There are hand thrown switches at Rensselaer too but again there is a yard crew there.
Whitehall - Rutland is not signaled and there are no electric switches in this territory either including the yard at Rutland.
There may be hand thrown switches at Springfield, Mass as well for some of the station tracks.
Noel Weaver

[D.Carleton]

Last time I looked 97/98 still stop at Auburndale, FL for a hand thrown switch as it has been since the FEC strike.

[EricL]

Also maybe worth mentioning: the brand-spanking-new station tracks in St. Louis were all laid with hand throw switches. The only power switches are the ones on the east and west ends of the terminal area, controlling movement from TRRA mainline to Amtrak property. I kind of scratched my heat at that one. Proper dispr-controlled power switches would be overkill here, but I wonder one of these little numbers would do just the trick. They require no connections to ground power (solar panels recharge the batteries) or signal/comm. lines, and as such aren't very expensive to install. Obviously, such a device would never be allowed out on the main track, but it works great in yards/terminals.

[AMTKHawkeye]

Some of those very same "hydra-switches" have been installed in the Chicago yard, with likely many more to come in the future. Having worked the CHI-STL trains a bunch, I agree these could be a good solution there as well.

5 and 6 run on ABS territory with hand-throw switches for most of the distance between Galesburg IL and Creston IA. The few times I've worked where we'd had to cross between tracks, though, BNSF has called out "switch tenders" to assist us. Crossing over between main tracks in "Multiple Track ABS" territory is a cumbersome process overall - after the first switch closest to us is lined for the crossover, we have to wait a full 5 minutes before throwing the second switch onto the other main. This is necessary in order to "establish protection" from movements on the other track - the dispatcher cannot necessarily "see" the exact location of trains in ABS territory, and the signals only serve as "protection", and not "authority" to occupy a track segment. The 5 minutes allows oncoming trains that may have passed the previous signal before the crossover to clear the right-of-way for our movement. Throwing the second switch immediately after the first could result in a head-on collision in such a scenario.

[BuddSilverliner269]

On the nec between NYC and DC, there are still a few hand throw switches into industries and customers, but Amtrak really shys away from having facing point hand throw switches in high speed territory so most of the switches are trailing switches. South of Wilmington, there are a number of freight customers and although the tracks are signalled in both directions, most switches are trailing point for say the normal flow of traffic. All of these switches are electric lock switches.I hope this helps alittle bit?

[timz]

Still single-track ABS for 120 miles on the SP Coast Line between Santa Margarita and Salinas; 11 and 14 aren't scheduled to meet in that area, but if 11 is, say, three hours late they will meet there. Dunno how many freights they might see; if they do meet a cabooseless freight, seems possible they'd have to normal the switch that the freight used to enter the siding.

3 and 4 have several hundred miles of single-track ABS across KS-CO-NM; they're probably supposed to meet each other in a short stretch of CTC, but the crews have to be prepared to hand-throw siding switches if either train is late.

[rohr turbo]

Thanks for the insight, guys. Fascinating info.

[mtuandrew]

I think 7/8 have a hand-thrown switch on the Minnesota Commercial at their connection with CP Rail's Milwaukee Short Line... though I can't imagine MNNR wouldn't line it for Amtrak. On the north end of the Commercial, the connections onto the GN and NP mains westbound are controlled by BNSF out of Fort Worth.