R17 6688 Being Prepped for Highway Transport (4/3/17)

The car was chartered for use in the city, so here it is being prepped for highway transport from East Haven, CT to Brooklyn, NY:
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It was interesting seeing the subway car handled for shipping. However, I wondering about the crazy track arranged. A conventional track comes across a bridge, continues a few feet embedded in the roadway, and just ends. No bumper block, no signs. It just ends. What the point of having a track go someplace where it juist ends with no provision for going further, and there's nothing there that's railroad related? No station, no facility for loading oerr unloading cargo - just the middle of a street with houses at the sides.

railfan365 wrote:A conventional track comes across a bridge, continues a few feet embedded in the roadway, and just ends. No bumper block, no signs. It just ends. What the point of having a track go someplace where it juist ends with no provision for going further, and there's nothing there that's railroad related? No station, no facility for loading oerr unloading cargo - just the middle of a street with houses at the sides.

Disclaimer: I'm not an official spokesman, have no management role, etc. But this is how a delivery works:

The tracks that "just end in the street" did go somewhere pre-1947 - they went into East Haven and on into New Haven. When the Connecticut Company pulled up their track up to the point it became BERA property, the BERA tracks were left just dead-ending in the pavement. There's no bumper block because it would be a hazard in the middle of a public roadway (River St) and it would interfere with the normal delivery method by Silk Road - they uncouple their trailer from their cab and all of the stuff above the deck comes off the trailer. There are 2 pieces of inclined box beams that come off the trailer and provide a ramp from the trailer down to the tracks in the street. Gravity does most of the work as the winch is slowly paid out and the equipment rolls off the tracks on the trailer, onto the tracks on the first inclined box, then the second (lower) inclined box, and then the head end of the car is on the BERA rails. Repeat (or tug with another piece of equipment) until the whole car is down on BERA rails. It is easy enough that the Silk Road driver can do all of the work himself if necessary, though there are usually other folks around who are more than willing to help out.

Interesting. Quirky rail connections exist almost anyplace.

Normally that remaining streach of street track is where passengers board the cars

Backshophoss wrote:Normally that remaining streach of street track is where passengers board the cars

Again, I'm not an official spokesman, have no management role, etc.

Correct. The railroad-station-style building at 17 River St. (last building on the left, also known as Sprague Station) contains the ticket office, gift shop, and several rooms full of exhibits about various aspects of trolley car development and operation. On display are some original Sprague motors with explanations of how they work. Sprague is rightfully known as "the Father of Electric Traction" - equipment prior to his designs was more complicated and less efficient (c.f. the Van De Poele motor). Sprague Station is named in honor of Frank Julian Sprague, with a generous gift from the Sprague family (some of whom come to visit the museum to this day).

The house across the street (14) is also part of the museum complex. It houses things that were causing Sprague Station to start to bulge out at the edges - an office for the director, a large archive of material relating to transit - slides, maps, detailed engineering drawings, books, etc. - a meeting room for Board meetings, teleconferences with other museums & similar, presentations to potential donors, training of operators, and so on.

Owning both sides of the street means that we don't have to worry about getting a flatbed trailer full of railroad ties delivered and having them sitting on the lawn in front of somebody's house. During operating days, orange cones will be placed across the street just past the end of the tracks, allowing people to park (or turn around) in the large parking lot behind Sprague station. This does not block any access for other residents on the street, and from what I can tell, we have a very good relationship with just about everybody in the area. From what I'm told by old-timers, this has really been an area that's been worked on (cultivating good relationships with the neighbors) and it is good for everyone.

Here's the view from Sprague Station (17 River St.) with 2 trolley cars waiting to pick up passengers. Car 500 is in plain sight, while hidden off to the right is Car 1602. In the gap between them you can see across the road to 14 River St.