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  • Passenger trains in sections

  • General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.
General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.

Moderator: Robert Paniagua

 #1299389  by BobLI
 
When there were named trains that ran in sections how much time did they run behind the main train?

I recently saw a picture of a named train that had a second section and the departure time on the gate showed the same as the first section.
 #1299434  by CarterB
 
http://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/192054.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

some good info here.

Also FYI "January 7, 1929 The New York Central Railroad's "20th Century Limited" runs a record seven identical sections. "

Regarding scheduling "Where ABS signals were in place, the second train could leave as soon as the first train got far enough down that line that the signal would clear for the second train, followed by the third, etc. Where there were no signals to provide rear end protection for the train ahead, then the 20 minute rule typically applied. This meant the following trains had to wait until 20 minutes had elapsed after the departure of the train ahead before they could follow. This gave time for the train ahead to send out flagmen in case something delayed it."
So depending or railroad and length of signal blocks determined the timing gaps.
 #1299442  by edbear
 
The first section couldn't leave its terminal or stops ahead of time. However, some roads were resourceful during peak travel periods and to run advance sections of certain trains they'd make them second, third or fourth sections of an earlier train. I have a NY Central June 1954 train register for Springfield, Mass. Train #78 was a Buffalo-Boston pick-up train and had cars from Detroit, Toronto, Cincinnati and St. Louis all combined at Buffalo along with cars originating in Buffalo. Since it had to wait for four trains, there was a chance it could run late. Several times in June, 1954 it was running an hour or so late. The superintendent had a road-switcher and two heavyweight coaches sent out as First 78 from Springfield and regular #78 left Springfield as 2nd #78. Happened several times that month.
 #1555905  by dave1905
 
In dark (unsignalled) territory, most rules required a 10 min spacing between following trains (any following train). In signalled territory, it would be whatever the signal spacing and timing allows, which could be shorter than 10 min.