Pivoting Train!

There was something else new that I noticed on this trip to the Stockyards (with Barb): A spinning device to switch the direction of a train onto new tracks! It's always been there, but I never noticed it all of these times....

Below is a picture of the 'end of the line' for the Grapevine Vintage Railroad train that rolls into the Stockyards each day. When the train arrives, the engine (front) car detaches and keeps going until this end of the line.

Then the whole end piece of the track spins around in that huge circle so that the tracks line up with a different set of tracks to go in a different direction!

OK, now it is in line with a different set of tracks, so they lock it in place.

Then the train takes off on the new path and goes around the train to attach to the front of the train (formerly the back) so it can pull the passenger cars back to Grapevine!

And then they move the track around the circle again so that it's straight on - ready for the train to arrive the next day and do the whole process over again. So interesting!