cb@hlwpc.UUCP (Carl Blesch) (01/24/86)
> >On a recent D.C. to Boston run the conductor said that the seating was > >reversible (this was on an Amcoach), but that they just turn the whole train > >around at the Boston end because it was faster and easier. > > It appears they do this on the DC end too. There's a short section of > overhead which goes up the DC-to-P. of Rocks line, forming a turning wye. > It would be interesting to know what they do in NYC. > I can't tell you what they do in NYC, but in Chicago, they wye the train south of Union Station, where the Burlington tracks head west. In fact, when I rode the Lakeshore Limited to Chicago last September, they wyed the train FIRST, then backed into the station and discharged the passengers. A local railfan told me that they do this to save money. If they go head-in to the station and discharge the passengers first, they have to pay a yard crew to back the train out, wye it, and back it back in. But if they wye it first, it costs nothing additional, because the road crew is doing the work. And if they get paid a day's wages for 100 miles of work, certainly the extra fifteen minutes it takes to wye the train doesn't add to an hourly salary. The only thing I didn't like about the new turning system was that I thought our train was going to arrive on time. It was on time until they did the wye song-and-dance. I still had 1.5 hours for my connection, however, so it made little difference. Carl Blesch