# Mining/logging switchback.



## timlange3 (Jan 16, 2013)

Planning on a mining/logging switchback section on my railroad. HO is the scale. Was think four wyes total (to provide four climbing/descending sections) at 4% maximum. Tail tracks (those on the points side) login enough for two cars and engine. Should the tail tracks always ascend from the turnout? I suppose they must if I were to have cars descend by gravity only. That does not seem practical with HO, getting the weight of the cars, springs on the points and grade to all coalesce.

Anybody do a switchback? How did it work out? What are numbers, grade, tail track length, total rise you used?

Thanks,
Tim.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

I grew up around a standard gauge railroad at 15000' in the Andes Mt. of South America, in Peru. Switchbacks and horseshoe curves were a must. I don't recall the tails ascending from the switch, but....who knows. It's not a bad idea, but only if the power is meagre and can't really start the tonnage back toward the switch. What would be the point? Rails don't like to park trains on grades if it can be helped, but if it's just a momentary stop to change direction, a 1% grade would help to get the tonnage rolling again.

I would abandon the idea of wye/two-way turnouts. No need for them. If you look at the vast majority of prototypical switchbacks, they simply have a #10 or something like that...at worst. Many would be a #20 or so, conventional turnouts with a diverging route. I have never resorted to anything more exotic than a regular turnout on my switchbacks.

The tail should be as long as it takes to accommodate the longest trains you're likely to want to move over that switchback. If the grades are severe, say more than 2.5%, you'll either want helpers or less tonnage. 

Switchbacks take a lot of space. They can curve, like around the side of a mountain, but they still take up linear length.


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## Dennis461 (Jan 5, 2018)

If your trackwork is excellent, put any scheme together. Keep the turnout, and short track away from turnout on the same plane.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

So it is very rare for a rail car to descend a switchback powered by gravity. The locomotive is there to keep the cars from running away by providing air for the car brakes and providing braking power of its own. That said, there are examples of logging roads where they did send loaded cars downhill with a brake man riding along to keep the speed in check. If he failed to do so, he had no choice but to hang on for dear life, and jump for it when the inevitable crash or derailment came. The practice was too dangerous to stick around for long.

From a modeling perspective, though, I would do your best to keep both the wyes and tail tracks level. Less chance of a warped piece that will cause operating problems that way.


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