| Date approximate. This is the tail track viewed looking to the north. The switch in the foreground on the right (behind the phone pole) was for the pair of tracks on the dock itself. The switch in the background, dead center on the tail track, allowed cars to be pulled from the yard (behind me to the left) and shoved out onto either of the dock leads. Locomotives were not permitted on the dock structure itself (posted sign: "no locomotives past this point" or similar wording - sorry, no photo), so each cut of cars was placed on a previous cut and shoved out until the leads were "full". Gravity takes it from there. Typical operation involved pulling a cut of loads from the yard (maybe 7-8 cars) past the switch, stopping to tie down the hand brake and open the knuckle on the lead car, then flipping the switch and shoving out onto either of the dock leads. If it looks like the tail track rises slightly going away from the camera (which would make sense), it probably does. I don't remember. If anything, it was at least level. The areas on either side descend toward the turning basin and the river, so the tail track was built on an embankment. It's still there today, should you want to go for a hike. You'll find some rotting ties and maybe a leftover spike or two. With regard to the Feldspar leads, the diamond had to have been between the two switches, but there's no evidence of it in this photo. It had to have been long gone before I got there. |