[PRCo] Re: "Derail" at Mt. Washington Tunnel

[Jim Holland]

Hi Bob!
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What you describe with concrete is true when a typical street point was 
installed in place of the T-Rail derail  --  concrete was brought up to 
the flangeway of the girder rail used And to the top of the Railhead as 
though it was in standard street paving.
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In Open T-Rail Days when the point was strictly T-Rail, the concrete 
Didn't Exist.     This was a PTM calendar cover for 1994 and I have 
scanned just that portion of the photo necessary for this 
discussion.     In the very bottom of the photo  (URL at the bottom of 
this email)  we see the paving in front of the admin building and this 
paving stops about 3-feet before the derail  --  the paper scrap is 
inside the point itself and the stock rail can be seen veering off to 
the right.     Paving Opposite The T-Rail Point is Non-Existent  --  as 
Phil said, if the TrolleyCar derailed here it Would Literally Go On The 
Ground.     The only brake failure it would catch is one that Just 
Happened At This Moment of approach to the Derail.
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The I-Beam you describe is also when the T-Rail Derail was converted to 
the single point like used in street paving  --  it is non-existent in 
this photo.
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Jim
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Bob Dietrich wrote:
> The derail was a single RR point with a short piece of track, about 6', and an H beam buried at the end of it.  The left rail was T rail with a concrete base at about flange level.  If the point was thrown to derail the car would be slammed into the H beam and, hopefully, stop.
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> Bob   
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> ----- Forwarded Message ----
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> From: Phillip Clark Campbell <pcc_sr at yahoo.com>
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> The derails at the junction were originally RR points weren't they which literally put the car on the ground and they were operated by the tower, not the approaching trolley.  This derail could only catch runaway cars possibly unattended when a relief is made; this derail would not catch a vehicle with slack brakes.  Look very closely in this photo http://www.davesrailpix.com/pitts/htm/pitt605.htm  and you can see  the derail among the weeds.
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> Phil
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> ----- Original Message ----
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> From: Jim Holland <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com>
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> There was also a Derail at Palm Garden on the southbound storage track which led to the 42-main  --  RR type switch  --
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> Jim
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> Jim Holland wrote:
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>   
>> Bill Vigrass photo at Dave's.
>>     
>>> On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:46:45 -0700 (PDT), Herb Brannon wrote
>>>       
>>>> The link seems to be no photo and all code.
>>>> Herb Brannon
http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/derail.jpg

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