THE TRACK LAYOUT

R-1-b 3343, built by Schenectady in 1924, is at the Yard Office which stood about midway between the Branch Avenue and Smithfield Avenue viaducts. The 4-8-2 is seen from the eastbound mainlines along Smithfield Avenue and is on a running track to the eastbound departure yard on August 18, 1937.

OTTO PERRY PHOTO FROM COLLECTION OF DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

Ideally a hump yard should have separate yards for east and westbound traffic. That is, there should be a receiving yard for westbound trains, a hump and westbound classification yard and a westbound departure yard. all arrranged in a straight line. For eastbound traffic there should be a duplicate arrangemrent. Northup Avenue had only one hump which fed cars into adjoining, contiguous westbound and eastbound classification yards.to the south of the hump. The receiving yards for trains arriving from the east and west were located north of the hump and were also adjoining and contiguous. The eastbound departure yard was along Smithfield Avenue while the westbound departure yard was along Silver Spring Street. The main line divided at each end of the yard and therefore freight trains entered or left the yard without having to cross in front of opposing traffic.

This view is to the north in 1954 near the end of the yard's life as a hump yard. The two eastbound mainline tracks are on the right along the "new" Smithfield Avenue. The two westbound mainline tracks are on the left along "new" Silver Spring Street. The hump can be seen just north of the "new" Smithfield Avenue viaduct. The adjoining eastbound and westbound receiving yards are north of the hump in Pawtucket. On the right just to the south of the bridge is the eastbound classification yard fanning out from the hump and filled with cars. The west bound classifiction yard fans out from the hump to the left and has only a few cars. The long train is on a westbound departure track. The eastbound departure tracks are on the right adjoining the mainline. The large building in the center of the picture is the car repair shop with many stored cars on the adjoining tracks. The yard office is a two-story wood building to the right of the repair shop. The tracks that cut diagonally across the yard are the remains of the old four-track mainline now classification tracks. The diagonal tracks essentially divide the the westbound and eastbound yards. The tracks at the left bottom edge of the picture store work equipment and serve as RIP tracks. They are the remains of the old flat switching yard built just after the turn of the last century. The triangular land at the center bottom of the picture is the remains of old yard 16, also one of the original sections of the flat switching yard. The Branch Avenue viaduct which marks the south end of the Northup Avenue yard is just out of the bottom of the picture.

A view north from the west end of the Smithfield Avenue viaduct shows a car rolling into the westbound classification yard. The smoke in the distance is from an engine and train moving along the receiving yard. The receiving yards extend well north of there. Tower "B" is to the left of the box car while Tower "A" is barely observable at the hump crest. The foreground area is where stock yards and slaughter houses once stood. Almost all the area in this picture is the city of Pawtucket.

Retarder Yard. The seven receiving yard tracks in Pawtucket fed cars into thirty-four classification tracks fanning out from the hump. Every car passed over three retarders. The first retarder was close to the hump and Control Tower "A". The single track left the first retarder and divided into three tracks, each with a retarder. The three tracks split into seven, each with a retarder for a total of eleven retarders. The lower seven retarders were across from Control Tower "B". The last seven retarder tracks divided into clusters of five tracks except the one on the west end which only had three and the third from the west which had six tracks. A total of thirty-four tracks were retarder controlled with track switches controlled from the towers. Fourteen of the tracks were westbound classification tracks and were numbered 1 to 27, using odd numbers only. (The New Haven used odd numbers to designate westbound tracks and even numbers for eastbound tracks starting with the center line. For example, the westbound mainlines at Northup Avenue were 1 and 3 while the eastbound mainline tracks were 2, 4 and 6 with 1 and 2 on the "inside".) Twenty of the tracks off the retarders were eastbound classification tracks numbered 2 to 40. Track number seven led to a "short" track yard near the car shop which was used to hold cars for nearby industries. All the tracks came together near the Branch Avenue viaduct. There were clearly defined separate eastbound departure tracks along the eastbound mainline but the westbound departure tracks were extensions of the classification tracks.

The Woodlawn end of the receiving yard looking south toward the Northup Avenue hump. At this point the four-track mainline divides. The westbound main tracks are right foreground while the eastbound main tracks are on the far left. The track on the extreme right is the Moshassuck Valley railroad interchange. Photo by Edward J. Ozog

The view from the east end of the Branch Avenue bridge showing the south end of the Northup Avenue yard. The four track mainline divides near the top of the photo placing the yard between the eastbound (left) and westbound (right) lines to allow freight train to enter or leave the yard without conflict with oncoming traffic.

The south end of the yard with Branch Avenue on the right edge of the photo from March 1956. The south bound New Haven FCD II Mack Railbus was built in 1954 and operated until December 1956 between Providence and Woonsocket and briefly to Worcester. The Red Fox Ginger Ale Company dates to 1920 but moved to the Silver Spring Street location in the photo in 1948. It survived into the 1980's. Notice the sand hill which was not unusual for the area. Photo by Mike Usenia

An ALCO DL-109 has just passed under the Branch Avenue bridge with a local from Boston.

The hill in the background is the sand hill in the photograph above. The four track mainline divides here; the tracks in the foreground are the eastbound mainline.

The view north from the west end of the Branch Avenue bridge showing the two tracks of the westbound mainline and part of the westbound classification yard. The eastbound mainline tracks are on the other side of the yard. Silver Spring Street is on the left. A Fairbanks Morse C Liner and an ALCO PA have charge of the New York express. Photo by Edward J. Ozog.

The view north at the Woodlawn end of the yard. The picture shows how the westbound mainline diverges at this point to run along the opposite side of the yard. Woodlawn tower is just out of sight beyond the Lonsdale Avenue bridge.

Photo by Edward J. Ozog.

The Branch Avenue end of the yard in 1941. Much of this end of the yard was the original flat switching yard of the early twentieth century. Old Yard 16 at the bottom would soon become a junk yard.

The car repair area (R.I.P.tracks) and shop building was located half way between Branch Avenue and Smithfield Avenue. The 1954 view shows the wheel storage area and the wreck train with a water car which had been a 2-10-2 tender. Other work equipment including snow plows and flangers were stored here. Photo by C. B. Gunn

What might have been. The plan revised to December 13, 1920 made provision for a large engine terminal with entry through a tunnel under the mainline. Also contemplated were three 1.000 foot transfer platforms to handle LCL shipments and a seventeen track coach yard. A turntable for cars is also shown. Just to the left of this section of the blueprint was a 29 car caboose yard and a railroad YMCA. The blueprint section shown here includes the part of Pawtucket opposite St. Francis Cemetery. The hump was built just to the right of station 130 on the blueprint. The dotted lines are the tracks that were in place, that is, the old mainline and sidings which became the receiving yard. None of the solid lines were built.