Dwarf signals at Clare Yard Cincinnati

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Cal:   Oh, gosh.   I have slides of these dual signals.....somewhere.  I'll
dig them up but it might be a while. 

Attached are some digital photos I took of the yard signals in 2004 or 2005.
I don't have a photo of the dwarf and it situated on the siding track in
this group.  You can see the side of he dwarf signal in the vertical photo
of the home signal leading on to the old PRR main.

This photo shows the old N&W main reattached to the PRR Main #2 instead of
the old connection to the PRR Main #1 (the old PRR e/b main) to reduce the
curvature.  This change was made in the 1993 rebuilding of the connection
and the removal of the yard and its replacement with the Bulkmatic yard of
four long spur tracks.  The N&W mainline into the yard was removed along
with the diamond.  The PRR Main #1 was turned into a passing siding with a
connection switch west of the new switch connecting the N&W main to the PRR
#2 main.

Previously, there were two PRR style dwarf signals that controlled the
movement off of and into the two PRR mainline tracks now used as stub-end
storage tracks.  These would have been installed after the 1976 purchase of
these old mainline tracks upon the formation of Conrail.  

As noted before, the N&W purchased about a 1-1/2 mile of the ex-PRR mainline
to Columbus EAST of the N&W/PRR diamond and the w/b PRR mains west of these
diamonds west to RED BANK at the west end of Clare Yard, the single
connection track from there to the ex-PRR Cincinnati- Richmond line and that
line over to its connection with the B&O in Hamilton, Ohio.  From there the
N&W went over about 3 miles of B&O tracks on trackage rights to New River
Junction and the New Castle District.

When the Bulkmatic facility was put in all fourteen tracks in Clare were
removed, the upper yard was removed and four long spurs were placed in the
yard to serve as team tracks.  A road was built over the upper yard for
access.

The old diamond was removed and the curve off of the bridge reduced as it
had been an operating hassle for many years.  (In 1949 the #2080 bridge over
the Little Miami River into Clare was curved a bit from its old
configuration of straight by relocating the truss section nearest Clare to
create a slightly curved bridge to improve the connection.)

To tie up some of the loose ends in this description, in the old days, the
N&W passenger trains w/b went on to the #1 PRR e/b main, then took a cross
over to the #2 main then went down to Red Bank signal and took the
connection on to the PRR Cincinnati & Richmond line.  This track runs
north/south up to a wye near Oakley.  The east leg of the wye continued to
Richmond, IN and the west leg curved southwest past the PRR Norwood station
to a connection with the B&O Ohio Division at GK Tower/East Norwood station.

>From there the passenger trains would follow the B&O tracks to Cincinnati

Union Terminal.

Going back to Red Bank, this was a wye connection where the two track PRR
main line curved from compass w/b to south and went south past the PRR
Undercliff Yard.  As I noted before, the north leg of the wye was the
connection to the PRR Cincinnati & Richmond.  Before Cincinnati Union
Terminal was built, the N&W sleeper trains and the Pocahontas would have
taken these tracks to Undercliff and the north bank of the Ohio River and
proceeded west past the PRR Pendleton locomotive shops to the PRR station at
Pearl and Butler Street in downtown Cincinnati.  

Just after the merger between the Southern and the N&W, Clare yard was
closed and all freights coming off the Peavine took these tracks to
Undercliff Yard  and proceeded west along the river to a single story tower
called OASIS, which was at the east end of the old PRR station yard and the
Ohio end of the L&N bridge over the Ohio.  N&W trains switched off of the
PRR main to the Cincinnati Street Connection Railroad running along the
riverfront and under the now-demolished Riverfront Stadium and over street
trackage on Mehring Way to the Southern Gest Street Yard via a big loop
track at the end of the Southern's bridge over the Ohio.

As the N&W did not like running over these tracks along the riverfront and
Sawyer Point Park, along the riverfront, and the possible liability if a
train ran over park pedestrians, they arranged for their old trackage rights
over the B&O using the East Norwood connection after the N&W re-installed
the track.  They ran the connection to Gest Street for about one year. 

Gary Rolih

-----Original Message-----
From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 10:11 AM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Dwarf PLs...

Pictures Gary? Cal Reynolds.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "'NW Mailing List'" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 2:22 PM
Subject: RE: Dwarf PLs...



>

> Two PRR style dwarf signals guarded the ex-PRR Little Miami mainline 

> tracks

> coming eastward to the old PRR/ N&W diamonds at Clare Yard in Cincinnati.

> The Little Miami ran from downtown Cincinnati to Xenia, ohio and then

> Columbus, Ohio

>

> These were installed at the end of PC operation on the old Little Miami

> tracks after the N&W bought about 1 1/4 miles of the ex-PRR mainline and 

> the

> three transfer tracks for Clare Yard.  These tracks became storage and

> shifting tracks for the N&W operations out of Clare Yard.  The N&W would

> build trains heading for Ft. Wayne on the newly purchased New Castle

> District.  These controlled movements on to the two old mainline tracks 

> for

> the now stub-ended tracks and were controlled by the Peavine and then the

> New Castle Dispatcher.

>

> When the diamond and connection track was removed in 1993 and the two

> mainlines running along side Clare were changed to one mainline and one

> passing siding, one of the old PRR tracks was disconnected and connected 

> to

> the "Main TWO east of the old crossing.  One dwarf signal was unnecessary,

> so it was removed.

>

> Main ONE, the ex-PRR eastbound main, still called Main One, has a modern

> two-light dwarf at the west end of this siding where it connects to Main 

> two

> for movement westward on to the New Castle District (ex- PRR Cincinnati &

> Richmond line).

>

> Gary Rolih

> Cincinnati

>

>

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