Talk:Zig zag (railway)

Wartime type switchback

I removed this from the article because neither example in the image appears to be a switchback. --NE2 06:55, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

In Japan at WW2 some Wartime type switchback (戦時型スイッチバック, Senji gata suicchibakku) stations were made. The station had only one level line and only uphill trains went back into the line while starting from the station. The line is also called Accereration Line (加速線, Kasoku sen). One of them remains at Niyama Station. (It is not used for usual operation, but still exists.)

Ecuador

A switchback exists in the Devil's Nose section of the Guayaquil & Quito Railroad. It is one of the few sections of the railroad still in operation. PatrickDunfordNZ (talk) 07:18, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Italy

there was a switchback along the line Saline di Volterrra - Volterra, closed in 1958. For more info see italian wikipedia page "Ferrovia Cecina Volterra" Nowadays there's a switchback along the line Genova-Casella at Casella Deposit — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.41.152.105 (talk) 23:43, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Hard to make this article complete

After looking through quite a few railway maps in many countries I would say that the number of zig zags and switchbacks are many more than those listed hear. Only in Sweden has one zig zag and two swtichbacks existed, and Sweden is not a very hilly country. While the spiral are getting closer to almost complete it will be much harder to make this list complete, especially when including switchbacks which are quite common for getting down to ports etc, also on fairly flat islands like Gotland in Sweden. But there are far less zig zags and switchbacks then horseshoe curves which is very common. S how can this be stated in the article? Tord Björk (talk) 23:31, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Not at all clear

Honestly, to a non-train guy, I still have no idea what this is. The newer picture shows a slight incline, and a split, but I don't think that's a switchback. The other B&W image seems to show something steep, but hard to see what's going on. Is there an actual zig zag somewhere? Is it merely a place where the rail goes up an incline? The whole reserving station mention is effectively unexplained too. Echoniner (talk) 05:45, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Oldest zizag

What is oldest railway zigzag, and what is the oldest one that became well known and influenced railway engineers world wide? Tabletop (talk) 10:48, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Australia

New South Wales in Australia had/has seven crossing stations that involved setting back into a siding.

• Capertee on a 1 in 40 gradient where there were several dead end sidings, more or less on the level.

• Dombarton on a 1 in 33 (Compensated) gradient, where there was two switchback sidings, with an underpass under through line.

• Cowan where there was a deadend refuge siding on the double line. Later converted to a loop using motorize points.

• Otford and Fish River where there were two deadend refuge loops on the double line, both at one end of the station.

• between Cullerin and Gunning where there was a deadend refuge siding in the middle of a long 1 in 75 rising grade.

• Molong where a short crossing loop was replaced with a long section of a truncate branch line.

• Set back refuge sidings on double lines were/are too numerous to mention. Tabletop (talk) 12:22, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Add a simple image

The article needs a simple image at start, like http://www.justus2.se/rwy/zigzag/index.htm, so people can grasp the idea. Jidanni (talk) 03:56, 12 December 2019 (UTC)

Isn't switchback the more common usage?

It's kind of odd that this article is titled "zig zag," which is used only in some parts of Europe and Australia, rather than "switchback," the far more common usage for this type of railroad layout. --Coolcaesar (talk) 14:41, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

@Coolcaesar: You are correct to say in North America we prefer the word "switchback". However, it is a broader term that also includes the use of switchback loops so that the middle section is not done in reverse. In British Columbia, a prime example was the Glenfir–Adra Tunnel section on the Kettle Valley Railway. The Zig zag (railway) page deals only with instances of reversing direction on the middle section. The word "switchback" should be deleted from the first sentence, and a sentence inserted at the end of the introduction explaining the North American term, and its broader meaning to include switchback loops.

Just east of Field, British Columbia, we have a switchback on the Takakkaw Falls road where buses and long RVs drive the middle section in reverse. Not sure if this is unique for a much traveled road.

Regarding railroad terminology generally, you are touching on an issue of concern. When including the populous British Commonwealth countries, British railway terminology becomes far more widely spoken than the North American version, which uses a totally different vocabulary. Talk:Mixed train#Terminology illustrates the confusion North Americans experience when deciphering British railway terminology. I believe we should make all Wikipedia rail related pages easily understandable by both North American and British Commonwealth readers. DMBanks1 (talk) 23:45, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Although the KVR Glenfir–Adra Tunnel and Belfort–Jura sections are termed switchbacks, some purists might say they are hairpin bends not switchbacks, because there are no switches (points). However, switchback is used in the same way on walking or mule trails (eg. Grand Canyon), where I'm pretty sure the mules don't walk backwards on the middle sections. Unlike zig zag, which has a connotation of pointy ends, switchback only needs to refer to an immediate switch in direction by unspecified means.DMBanks1 (talk) 14:39, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Disappeared ones

I'm proposing to make a separate list for the former zig-zags, e.g. in Constanța of the Danube–Black Sea Railway. [1] [2] [3] [4] Thanks, Capras Dávid (talk) 15:17, 3 September 2020 (UTC)