Wye (rail)
A wye or triangular junction, in rail terminology, is a triangular shaped arrangement of rail tracks with a switch or set of points at each corner. In mainline railroads, this can be used at a rail junction, where two rail lines join, in order to allow trains to pass from one line to the other line.
Wyes can also be used for turning railway equipment. By performing the railway equivalent of a three point turn, the direction of a locomotive or railway vehicle can be swapped around, leaving it facing in the direction from which it came. Where a wye is built specifically for turning purposes, one or more of the tracks making up the junction will typically be a stub siding.
Tram or streetcar tracks also make use of triangular junctions and sometimes have a short triangle or wye stubs to turn the car at the end of the line.
Read more about Wye (rail): Earliest Examples
Famous quotes containing the word wye:
“The Wye is hush’d nor moved along,
And hush’d my deepest grief of all,
When fill’d with tears that cannot fall,
I brim with sorrow drowning song.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)