Interlocking Walkthrough: SHEA

This week's interlocking walkthrough returns to the western edge of the LIRR system with a tour of SHEA interlocking.  SHEA interlocking is located to the west of Mets-Willets Point station (which was formerly called Shea Stadium after William A. Shea).  Here's a bird's eye view of the interlocking.

The interlocking here didn't exist until Shea Stadium station was nearly 50 years old.  The interlocking first went into service on March 21, 1988.  Today, the interlocking, which is just over six miles away from Long Island City, is fairly simple in nature.  

There are two crossovers which are quite a distance away from each other.  The first one goes from Port Washington track 2 (the eastbound track) to Port Washington 1 (the westbound track).   A little further down the line, there is a crossover from track 1 back to track 2.

Of all the remaining switches in the diagram above (going into and out of the other two station platforms), only the very westernmost one that goes from Port Washington 2 to track 3 is a part of the interlocking.  All of the other switches in the Mets-Willets Point station complex are hand thrown (but they are rarely used so it rarely becomes a problem).

I went into some of the history and the configuration of the Shea Stadium/Mets-Willets Point station itself back in March as the Mets service was about to start up (I would have liked to see trains running to the station this time of year, but unfortunately that won't be the case this year!).  But be sure to check that post out also too: you can see it here.

Position light signals still signal movements through the interlocking.  There are two special signals that are unique to the Mets-Willets Point station complex.  On either side of the station, there is a special yellow light that flashes to signal to the engineers that their train is to stop at Mets-Willets Point. Going westbound, the signal is mounted on the west end of the Flushing-Main Street station platform.  Going east, the signal is mounted on a signal bridge as you approach the station.  When the signal is flashing yellow, the train is supposed to stop at Mets-Willets Point.  When the signal doesn't flash, the station is to be bypassed.

That wraps up this week's interlocking walkthrough.  We'll be in a slump of somewhat boring interlockings for the next two weeks or so more, but keep on checking back, we're getting very close to the end of the LIRR interlockings!