bull head rail

[red circle]

I hope I have put this in the right place,mods please move if not.
On last nights mega machines there was a 10 minute article on the Durango and Silverton railway,While describing the difficulties crossing the rocky mountains there was a brief shot at low level of the track,this quite plainly showed bull head and chairs,later shots were as expected ie fb rail spiked direct to sleepers.Did our friends across the pond or indeed anywhere other than the UK use bullhead ?.

 

[Old Timer]

My experience of offshore railways indicates that they do not. Flat bottom has been in use for many, many years on the Continent and I very much doubt that there is any bull head there anymore.

Conversion of bull head to flat bottom was treated by the UK Treasury as "Investment" and had to come out of that budget, A renewals change from bull head to flat bottom was thus treated as an investment which is why it is still around in the UK.

 

[A60K]

I concur - even on an relatively minor and little used branch line in Denmark I've seen flat-bottom rail dating from 70-odd years ago. I can't imagine the East Suffolk line or the Cambrian Coast having flat-bottom rail then - although someone's probably going to find some now!

 

[Ty'n'wtre nr 2]

There are still quite a lot of 60 foot lengths of bullhead rail on the Cambrian, old chairs and wooden sleepers, although recent renewals have been in CWR flat bottom rail. Some of the bullhead chairs are pretty ancient. The oldest I've got is dated June 1944. Many of those still in service are dated in the 50's and 60's.

 

[Old Timer]

There are still sections of bull-head on the DC lines.

Bet you its LMSR chairs

 

[4SRKT]

When I used to walk along the former NCC line at Carrickfergus as a youth in the 1980s and early 90s (I wouldn't do it now BTW, and back then the railway line was used as a sort of footpath into town. Incredible now when you think about it), some chairs were still marked 'M.R.'. Given that renewal of track on the Larne line wasn't completed until into the current century, this must be some sort of record.

Between Whiteabbey and Belfast York Road, the rotten wooden sleepers used to sit in a rectangular depression in a thick clay gloop, roughly an inch larger all the way round than each sleeper! Not a single piece of what you would call 'ballast' to be seen. Despite this, the track-bashing thumpers used to race along this section, swaying about all over the place. Hair-raising if you stuck yr head out of the window and looked down.......

 

[Ploughman]

There are still stretches of track with rail and chairs dating back to 1931 in service with 80 mph traffic on the York - Scarborough and Hull - Seamer lines.
That also includes 2 hole fishplates and not the later 4 hole plates.

 

[Trog]

There are still sections of bull-head on the DC lines.

Bet you its LMSR chairs

No almost all BR from the 1950's and 60's, although there is still some LNWR conductor rail in use.

 

[LE Greys]

No almost all BR from the 1950's and 60's, although there is still some LNWR conductor rail in use.

Is all conductor rail bullhead, including new lengths?

 

[royaloak]

Con-rail is flat bottomed and just sits in the pots.

 

[LondonLarry]

I'm sure most of the Island Line is using the original track from when the railway was opened! It certainly feels that way!

 

[boing_uk]

Con-rail is flat bottomed and just sits in the pots.

Surely conductor rail is a different cross section? Given that rail head is rounded and all that...?

 

[chappers]

Surely conductor rail is a different cross section? Given that rail head is rounded and all that...?

It is a very different cross section - the web is much smaller and the head is flatter and wider, giving the rail a much squatter appearance when viewed in section.

 

[Trog]

The older conductor rail sections tend to be more of an I beam shape, more recent heavier sections tend to have a wider foot and a deeper head.

 

[Navviboy]

I hope I have put this in the right place,mods please move if not.
Did our friends across the pond or indeed anywhere other than the UK use bullhead ?.

As I read it Red Circles original post asked if bullhead was ever used abroad. I believe it was. I seem to think it was quite common in France. In fact, if you watch that second world war classic starring Burt Lancaster 'The Train' (dedicated to the Railwaymen who gave their lives) you will see in the closing stages the train being stopped by keys being knocked out of chairs. That looks very bullhead to me.

The question now is 'where else was it used?'

 

[4SRKT]

As I read it Red Circles original post asked if bullhead was ever used abroad. I believe it was. I seem to think it was quite common in France. In fact, if you watch that second world war classic starring Burt Lancaster 'The Train' (dedicated to the Railwaymen who gave their lives) you will see in the closing stages the train being stopped by keys being knocked out of chairs. That looks very bullhead to me.

The question now is 'where else was it used?'

Well, as per my post re NCC lines it was extensively used in Ireland.