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The spacing between sleepers is a combination of factors, but axle load and rail height (profile) are the two primary factors. Axle loads in the UK rarely exceed 25t, (unless you work where I do!). Axle loads elsewhere in the world are higher (30t+). In order for the rails not to fatigue (and...

Yes sort of. HP335 and MHH are British Steel products. MHT is an "old" British Steel product from quite a while ago. There are other hard rails out there, 400HT for example but harder does not always mean more wear resistant at high hardness levels. I think the jury is still out on exactly why...

Not a lot these days if I'm honest, NR have used it so it is out there in track but I can't recall seeing a lot come out way in recent years. NR use HP for anything that needs premium rail currently.

British Steel produce 95lb bullhead reasonably regularly. Sadly NR sources their bullhead from abroad not the UK currently.

No no no no no! HP335 is a specific grade with its own welding and performance parameters MHH375 is another one MHT is an old grade again with different weld parameters They are all very different rails.

This advice was to prevent someone changing grades midway around a curve or putting a 260 grade plug rail into the middle of a HP335 curve. It does have some unintended consequences if you take the advice to the extreme. As I understand it exceptions are allowed if gone through the correct channels.

Yes specific approved welding processes for HP335 / HPrail need to be used. They are detailed on the approval cert for it. If you need a copy mail [email protected] and I'll send one over.

British Steel rails are currently branded BS SC - British Steel Scunthorpe (UK) or BS HY - British Steel Hayange (France). They aren't branded MSM any more as its name changed from MSM (Medium Section Mill) to SRSM (Scunthorpe Rail and Section Mill) many years ago.

No problem at all with this - have sent you an e-mail directly.

Still plenty enough to fry you though.

Yeah that makes sense as there tends to be much more alloy content in wheel steels. Aferpi is the new name for Lucchini long products I think. It'll be interesting to see how they fair implementing EAF.

Exactly right on the metallurgy stuff. High residuals are bad for many properties and so limited in the European rail specification. Lucchini used BOS steel making until very recently (last year or so - at least for their rails). They have declared they are building EAF (Electric Arc...

Rail can be made from 100% recycled steel via the electric arc furnace (EAF) route. Indeed this is pretty much the only way in the USA that they make rails. However in Europe no-one (to my knowledge) currently takes this approach as you end up with lots of undesirable elements in the steel...

Added the 5th part - sorry for the delay!

I guess in answer to the thread title question - I do! (Well sort of). Network rails answer is probably better than mine though https://twitter.com/networkrailPR/status/717274316669337600 The vast majority of Network rails are produced in the uk here in sunny Scunthorpe, both the steel and...

Rejection rates vary depending on a whole host of things, (rail specification, which particular test, whether rework is possible etc etc). Also they are commercially sensitive so I can't really discuss them I'm afraid. It is safe to say though that generally rejection rates are very low (as...

Dear All, I've been slowly writing a series of articles describing how rail is made. I'm publishing these on LinkedIn (as it will hopefully reach some of my potential customers), however I think they may well be of interest to the general rail user/enthusiast too. I'll come back and add...

Yes I know, all involved have my sympathies. And on a brighter note they still do run in South Wales too. --- old post above --- --- new post below --- Yes they are indeed a giant insulated tube, (steel shell lined with refractory bricks). So they don't cool down very quickly. Great...

Hi, I wrote a little article on some of the rather unusual traction and rolling stock that we have here at Tata Steel Scunthorpe when we transport molten metal by rail. Perhaps you'd like to take a look for general interest. Click on the link to take you to the original article which has some...

Sorry I've been off work for a couple of weeks so appologies for the late update of this thread. Please find the two posts below for info. The originals in the link contain pictures which some may find interesting which I can't replicate in the quoted text. As usual any questions then let me...