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| Re: Culver Express (1314026) | |||
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Re: Culver Express |
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Posted by Michael549 on Fri Sep 19 17:00:56 2014, in response to Re: Culver Express, posted by Broadway Lion on Fri Sep 19 08:24:02 2014. Growing up I lived in/near Parkchester on the #6 line. The Parkchester station handles the local Parkchester #6 trains, the middle-track Pelham Bay express trains, and through trains using just 3 tracks and just 4 single switches.All of the 4 switches that handle the operations at the Parkchester station are NORTH of the station platforms (between the Parkchester & Castle Hill stations. The middle track between Parkchester and Castle Hill is used as the relay track for Parkchester local trains to return to Manhattan service. There are no switches between Parkchester and St. Lawrence Avenue - meaning "south" of the Parkchester station platforms. Once a downtown-bound train (local or express) has reached the downtown platform at Parkchester there are no switches to move the train between the local or middle tracks. In the Bronx-bound direction all incoming Parkchester or Pelham Bay local or express trains must reach the Parkchester platform before the trains can be switched from one track to another. An uptown Parkchester local train has to be switched to the middle-track relay spot north of the station. At its scheduled leaving time, that downtown local train is again switched from the middle-track-relay-spot to the downtown-local platform. This terminate and relay operation has occurred at Parkchester for decades. All goes well so long as two Parkchester trains do not come in back to back, with a Parkchester local resting at the middle-track-relay position. When the Pelham Express is not in operation, and #6 trains use the local tracks in the Bronx, Parkchester trains are mixed with and separated from Pelham Bay tracks north of the Parkchester station. During the am-rush hours, #6 trains from Pelham Bay use a switch north of the Parkchester station to enter the middle track/platfrom for its journey to Manhattan. During the pm-rush hours Pelham Bay trains on the middle track upon reaching Parkchester platform are switched to the outside Pelham Bay local track north of the station. So with just 3-tracks and 4 switches all north of the station, the Parkchester station handles a complex operation. An operation that has continued for decades with the same simple facilities, just 4 switches on 3 tracks, all north of the station! While rail-fanning the F-train in Brooklyn in the 1970's when the F-train was an actual rush-hour express in Brooklyn, I was fascinated with the Kings Highway station. Like Parkchester, Kings Highway is a 3-track/2 platform elevated station. However Kings Highway has track switches both NORTH and SOUTH of the station platforms! Between the Avenue P station and the Kings Highway station platforms are 3 switches! There is a switch from the middle track to the Manhattan bound local track. At Kings Highway a local train could rest & originate at the middle-track platform AND serve local stations upon leaving the station toward Manhattan. On the Coney Island bound side there is a diamond cross-over switch between the middle and local tracks. This diamond cross-over switch allows the routes local and express trains between the middle track and the Coney Island-bound local track/platform, allowing trains to use either track. At Kings Highway they can terminate/relay Kings Highway local trains at the station platforms! DAMN - This is one up on Parkchester! When I visited Kings Highway in the 1970's, while riding a Coney Island pm-rush hour F-express train, I saw how it was moved from the express track to the local track BEFORE reaching the King Highway platforms, I was in "train-fan heaven!" This was due to that diamond cross-over switch NORTH of the station. Watching pm-rush hour Kings Highway local trains switch to the center platform-track for their return to Manhattan was "icing on the cake!" All of this with just using the track switches NORTH OF THE STATION (Between KH & Ave P stations)! In addition there were the similar functional track switches between Kings Highway and Avenue U (South of KH). These 4 track switches are similar in function to the switches at Parkchester! On the Coney Island side (SOUTH OF KH) is ANOTHER diamond cross-over track switch, for moving trains between the outbound local and middle-express tracks. This allows KH-trains to move to the middle-track-relay position (SOUTH of KH), and allow CI-Express trains on the middle track to switch to the CI-bound local track (SOUTH OF KH) to resume local service (Similar to what is done at Parkchester). On the Manhattan bound side of Kings Highway (SOUTH OF KH) there is a switch from the middle-track relay-spot to the Manhattan bound local track/platform used for returning to service Kings Highway local trains (just like Parkchester). The Kings Highway station can terminate/relay trains at the platform, AND at the middle-track relay position south of the station at the same time! With two relay positions, handling Kings Highway trains back to back is not a problem at all. The Kings Highway station is a superior "Parkchester!" Until the 1990's - there was a track switch (SOUTH OF KH) allowing trains from Coney Island to move to the middle express track/platform similar to the Pelham Express. In the AM-Rush Hours - the Kings Highway station operated similar to the Parkchester Station, using the 4 switches SOUTH of the station, and the middle track-relay spot for Kings Highway trains. All of this is the definition of versatility! Yes the removal of a single track switch (in the 1990's) means that there is no longer an am-rush hour "Pelham Express-type" operation - meaning no Manhattan-bound trains from Coney Island can be moved to the center express track. The station still retains the ability to easily terminate/relay Kings Highway local trains at TWO relay positions, and to allow express service originating at Kings Highway. So I call "BS" to your contention: "It *can* physically do it (sort of) but a LOCAL, in rush hour practice, cannot relay at KH when that track is needed by the express". The Kings Highway station remains a versatile station, even if it cannot allow trains from Coney Island to be placed on the middle-track express. For the purpose of creating a "Culver Express" there always was several options! Mike |
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