Track Numbering

[fredevad]

I was just wondering if there is some system to the numbering of tracks when there are 2 or more tracks side by side. Is there any way to know just by looking what track a train is running on, or do you have to look it up or "just know"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[George Harris]

do you have to look it up or "just know"?

Yes

Generally, assuming that you are talking about multiple main tracks, not multiple station tracks, they are "1" and "2". However, some are geographic, that is, "north" and "south" if the railroad is nominally east-west in orrientation or "east" and "west" if the railroad is nominally north-south in orientation. There are oddballs out there. For example, the ex RF&P part of CSX (Richmond VA to the south bank of the Patomac River, called its two main tracks "2" and "3". Possibly with the thought that they would ulitmately have four main tracks??

Generally for multiple track stations, the tracks will be numbered from 1 to whatever, starting on one side and going to the other. however, if the number of tracks is reduced, the numbers may not be changed so that there will be no track 1 to whatever. A prime example is Washington Union Station. Tracks 1 though 6 or 7 were removed in the early 1970's when the Washington Metro was constructed, but the numbers of the remaining tracks were not changed.

 

[MikefromCrete]

The naming of tracks is by individual railraod rules or useage, local practice or sometimes, it can just be lost in history. In my youth, I worked as a yard clerk for the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad in Chicago Heights, IL. We had a four track yard bisected by two main tracks just outside the depot where I worked. The tracks, were named, from south to north, back track, long track, eastward main, westward main, No. 1 track and team track. Don't act me why. Nobody else knew how the tracks got their names.

There was another yard in town, the Hill Yard, where the tracks were numbered, from north to south, No. 1 through 5, which, of course, at least makes sense.

 

[fredevad]

Thanks for replies. I guess this makes another case for using the scanner to tell what track I'm on.

The question kind of hit me on Saturday when I heard something like "clear diverge", then "clear track 1" after we crossed over (I think - I'm not sure on the timing or exact wording) on the scanner. Then at the SVT station, I noticed each platform was labeled "Track 1" (west side) and "Track 2" (east side) instead of "platform" numbers.

 

[the_traveler]

At least on the northern portion (where there are 2 tracks), the southbound track is "track 1" and the northbound track is "track 2". That means at least in KIN, the track next to the station is "track 2"! To get to "track 1", you have to cross the tracks via the bridge!

 

[George Harris]

The naming of tracks is by individual railraod rules or useage, local practice or sometimes, it can just be lost in history. In my youth, I worked as a yard clerk for the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad in Chicago Heights, IL. We had a four track yard bisected by two main tracks just outside the depot where I worked. The tracks, were named, from south to north, back track, long track, eastward main, westward main, No. 1 track and team track. Don't act me why. Nobody else knew how the tracks got their names. There was another yard in town, the Hill Yard, where the tracks were numbered, from north to south, No. 1 through 5, which, of course, at least makes sense.

Ahh. You joggled my brain on another example of what appeared to be an incomprehesible name. In the 1960's there was an L&N branch around the south side of Birmingham AL that was called the North Branch. Some time much later I found that in the late 1800 / early 1900 there were two L&N branches around the south side of Birmingham. The northerly of the two was the North Branch and the southerly of the two was the South Branch. By the 1960's, the South Branch was long gone, but the name of the other branch was stuck.

There is or was a tendency for long lost names to stick to the lines in the minds of people that work for the railroad. A very common example in the present day is found in the two CSX lines between Richmond vA and Florida. The "S Line" is the former Seaboard Airlline main and the "A Lins is the former Atlantic Coast Line main.

 

[jis]

Around New York, broadly speaking there are two track numbering schemes:

1. The PRR way, is to number tracks starting at one side of the ROW with 1. So the NEC has track numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, starting from the south side of the east-west oriented main line. If there are additional tracks on the north side they are 5, 6, etc. If there are additional tracks on the south side either they are 0 (only if only one additional track), but more generally A, B etc. starting with A next to 1. Variations are in places like Secaucus Jct where A and B are the two center tracks, 1 and 4 are missing. The main tracks are 2 and 3.

2. The NYC style, wherein all westbound tracks are odd numbered and all eastbounds are even numbered. So for example on the Morris and Essex line, the two westbound tracks through Newark Broad Street are numbered 1 and 3, while the single eastbound is numbered 2, so going from south to north the numbers are 2, 1, 3. I believe ex New Haven RR tracks are numbered similarly, as are of course all ex-NYC and subsidiary tracks.