Crossovers/Interlockings on the HSC?

[Toripony]

Somebody who knows for sure please correct me if I'm wrong but on the Horseshoe Curve route, shouldn't there be more than 1 set of crossovers on the mainline between Altoona and Johnstown in 1950?! How are we suppose to route trains with no crossovers? My assumption is (I actually don't know that much about PA railroading) that there were slow coal drags, regular freight, express freight, local passenger, fast passenger, and broken down equipment all over those tracks in 1950.

I was at first exciting to think about building scenarios on a 4 track mainline, but now finding that in this rendition of the division, it's essentially 4 single-tracks side-by-side (kinda Euro style isn't that?).

Can someone with an old map confirm/disprove my suspicions, please?

Thanks,
Tori

[Chessie8638]

All interlockings are correct. Full crossover sets located at C, SO, NY, MO, MG, SLOPE, and ALTO. Basically the rule of "Freight on the outside, passenger on the inner tracks" is true. It was up to the tower operators to know what the traffic levels are and the types of trains coming and route them accordingly (passenger always on the inner tracks). Running a faster freight around a slow coal drag, etc. Every train on the PRR going east to west and west to east used these tracks. If only this was set in the modern NS day. Would be able to tell you a whole lot more.

Johnstown starts on page 11 of this 1951 PRR track map (not doesn't show ALTO since it was on the Middle Division and not the Pittsburgh Division): http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/rail ... 201951.pdf

[Toripony]

Well, I'm glad to know it's correct; thanks so much for researching it! But it still surprises me they only had xovers every 7-9 miles there at that time. Trains were smaller and more numerous. The C&O Alleghany sub had 2-3 times as many xovers then as it does today (as I have it modeled).

Thanks again for clearing up my questions.

[philmoberg]

... Basically the rule of "Freight on the outside, passenger on the inner tracks" is true. It was up to the tower operators to know what the traffic levels are and the types of trains coming and route them accordingly (passenger always on the inner tracks). ...

In addition, it was not unheard of for the dispatcher to write a 19 Order for a train to run "wrong main" (against the prevailing direction of traffic) in exceptional cases. A couple of decades later, under Penn Central, the middle pair of tracks, and in at least some cases, all four tracks, would be operated bi-directionally under Rule 261 (IIRC - it's been a while since I cracked a rule book). This, along with the drastic reduction in the number of passenger trains and fast freights, often made possible the elimination of one or two of the four main tracks, because the remaining traffic had a much more uniform operating curve.

[Chessie8638]

That what NS does now since Conrail got rid of what would be Main 2 in the game. Everything is run on this uniform operation; Track One for Eastbounds, Track 3 for Westbounds, and Track 2 is run bi-directionally. At times, especially at this point in time with the elimination of ALTO Tower and interlocking NS needs a 4th main.