Transfer table

A transfer table, also called a traverser (especially in the U.K.), is a piece of railroad equipment. It is similar in function to a turntable, though it cannot be used to turn equipment around. The table consists of a single length of track which can be moved from side to side, in a direction perpendicular to the track. There are often multiple tracks on one side of the table and a single track on the other.

Some railway systems like Locher do not allow installation of the regular switch and in such cases transfer tables are used as a switch replacement, as it is done in Pilatus Railway.

They are often found in yards with locomotive maintenance facilities. The table allows a shed with multiple stalls for locomotives or carriages to be served by a single track, without the need for a number of points which could take up a much larger area. Traversers were also used at metropolitan terminus locations where space is at a premium - such as at Kew and St. Kilda railway stations in suburban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; both these traversers worked only two tracks.

Smaller traversers are also frequently used on roller coasters to switch out trains.

Combined turntable and traverser

In rare instances, the turning features of a turntable have been combined with the lateral motion features of a transfer table. Examples of such installations are in use in Asia.

An example of both pieces of equipment was in use up until the 1970s at the Collinwood Yards in Cleveland, Ohio. It allowed a single turntable to serve a linear train shed.

Preserved examples

Didcot Railway Centre, UK, has a traverser for transferring items of coaching stock between the roads of the carriage maintenance sheds.^[1]

The National Tramway Museum at Crich, in Derbyshire, England has a traverser allowing the restored trams to be moved between depot roads.^[2]

Pilatus Railway has a lot of functional traversers as its rack railway system does not allow regular switches.

Traversers are common on ridable miniature railways to access the shed and maintenance facilities. In this case there may be a desire to reduce the number of points required, or—in the case of raised track with overhanging carriages—to still allow switching with the same restrictions found on a saddle-beam monorail.

References

External links

• Photo of transfer table at the Derby Works of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad in Oakfield, Maine, USA.