Interesting What purpose does this guantlet track serve? You can see the second set of rails on google maps, but it's not clear to me why they are there. Is this just added clearance for passenger platforms when freight moves through?
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The "Gauntlet Track" provides a slightly different alignments for trains based upon purpose. For example, freight trains, express passenger trains skipping the station, and any other trains that wouldn't be making a station stop would be routed on the outer set of tracks to provide extra distance from the station platform. It's not a huge amount of extra distance; probably only a foot or two. Ordinarily, the inner set of tracks are only used by passenger trains who are going to make a stop at the station.
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| Posted by Dane on June 3, 2020 | |
You are correct about the gauntlet track. Its design to give freight trains more clearance room though the station.
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Freights can run on either main track, but any "high and wide" type trains would make use of the gauntlet track's outside alignment to provide extra clearance. There may be a "preference" to run freights on Main 2, even when they don't have any "high and wide" traffic, but there's no requirement to do so.
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