4 ms·

I guess the ultimate solution assumes that all the turntables are long enough to deal with at least two-car consists? Seems strange that the company would cheap

• hnal943 8y ago
  I thought that originally as well. However I'm not sure that the cars both need to be on the turn table to remain paired. If cars #45 and #44 are paired, can we repeat the turntable operation to keep them oriented in the same way without needing to generically solve the problem of car orientation?
• mannykannot 8y ago
  With the toilet at the end of the carriage that is connected to its corresponding non-toilet carriage, and consequently approximately in the middle (the offset is the "last three feet" that Dijkstra mentions), there is no longer a need to reverse any two-carriage set.
  • mayoff 8y ago
    Turntables are not just for reversing. A turntable also moves cars (and engines) between multiple tracks and storage facilities. Two-car sets need to be moved even if not reversed.
    • mannykannot 8y ago
      You can do that with tracks and switches - in fact, you can also reverse rolling stock with a 'Wye'. I believe turntables were mostly used to reverse steam locomotive - tender sets, and to build engine sheds in constricted urban areas where there wasn't a lot of room for a switch network.
• dokem 8y ago
  There is no longer a need to perform rotations on the car tuple because it can be treated as symmetrical.