[PRCo] Re: Cin

[Donald Galt]

Okay, now.

First of all, Boris's initial argument appears based on the idea that this was 
a bi-directional track with outside positive wires and a centre negative one. 
Though I think the discussion has discounted this assumption, let's put it 
unequivocally to rest: the track saw only northbound traffic.

On 16 Jan 2007 at 15:13, Jim Holland wrote:

> Putting this together with the adjacent in street trackage which has 
> triple overhead and the apparent split in two different directions in 
> the distance suggesting At Least 2 different routes using this loop, it 
> seems that the zoo loop itself contains two separate track loops.       
> The above mentioned contactors set the switch automatically for either 
> of the two loops so each line can layover without blocking the 
> other.       They share the same track to leave the loop but split into 
> two different directions up the street  --  the switch can be thrown 
> automatically there as well.
> .

The Zoo loop was single track. There was no need to accommodate throngs of 
waiting riders - it wasn't adjacent to a zoo entrance and they would have 
boarded and alighted at the main entrance up at Vine & Erkenbrecher.

Plus, in normal service it was the terminus of only one line, the 49. X-Zoo was 
a seasonal special working. Granted, such a service might have been intended to 
carry large crowds. The fact remains: dual-track loops were not unknown on CSR 
but this wasn't one of them.

So what we have here is a single northbound track with a branch taking off to 
its right into the loop. Normally in such a situation you'd have an overhead 
junction coincident with the track junction. Yet what we seem to be looking at 
is a car about to turn into the loop, its left pole riding the same wire as 
would be followed by the right pole of a 78 car continuing down Vine Street. If 
there is any indication of a switch on the wire on our left, I can't see it - 
that wire appears to head into the loop and nowhere else. 

Leaving aside the question of possibility, what would be the point of this?

Sadly, pictures of the loop that I have found don't show the overhead.

Note:
I made an error previously: the 49 was converted to buses in 1947, not 1949.

Note:
Anybody interested in Cincy ought to have a look at Jeffrey Jakucyk's good and 
growing pages:

http://homepage.mac.com/jjakucyk/Transit1/index.html#csr

	where you will find the "now" picture of the Zoo loop that Bill Robb pointed 
us toward, along with many other things including an painstakingly-crafted, 
very detailed interactive map of everything railway in and around Cincinnati. 
Steam railroads, Cincinnati Street Railway, Green Line, inclines, cable cars, 
interurbans - everything.

Don G