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How old are railway tracks?

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waverley47

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Has HS1 been rerailed yet? (Genuine question).

I know the German high speed lines get completely rerailed every ten years on average, the S&C's less often.

This article has some interesting info on renewal on HS1, about fifteen years after the line opened.

On the track layout at St Pancras: "Although only around 10 years old, the track maintenance team has recently ordered spares based on accumulated experience from the classic network that these units have an average service life of only eight to 15 years, depending on tonnage and speed."
 
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hexagon789

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For busy lines I'd go SWML - I believe some rails date from 1966, for quiet lines I believe parts of the Kyle and possibly Far North are ~1923/4 vintage.

Happy to be corrected, but that's what I vaguely recall from a thread some years ago.
 

Boodiggy

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The detail is rolled into the rail web at the steelworks.
Not sure when it started to be done but has been common practice in UK and overseas since the 1930's
The detail is rolled in to the web approx every 2m on one side of the rail web.

Sleeper detail is maintained in office records.
Until about 10 years ago as part of the Track Renewal process records of what type of sleeper, rail detail, jointed or CWR, baseplated and what type or not. All had to be inputted into the NWR GEOGIS record.
This was one of my usual Monday morning tasks after the weekend relay for our area of the country.

GEOGIS had been replaced with INM but the process is the same...
 

daveinstoke

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There is a short section of siding surviving in Endon. This track , Chairs , rail & sleepers plus buffer stop are N.S.R .
 

theageofthetra

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Following the post Hatfield checks wasn't some rail found on the Esk Valley line that was over 100 years old?
 

paul1609

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No idea if it is still the case but upto 2010 York - Scarborough had some 1930's rail and Hull - Seamer had some 1941.
There was also one of the platform roads in Hull Paragon at 1914.
I haven't been up there for a few years now but the last time I went to the NYMR, Malton platform road still had some 3 hole fishplates and associated rail that I imagine must pre-date the Grouping.
 

Ploughman

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On the Scarborough line not far out of York there was still in place 2 hole plates on a curve.
Some conversion work was going on to drill an extra hole to get 3 hole joints but without moving sleepers too much.
 

david_g

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The detail is rolled into the rail web at the steelworks.
Not sure when it started to be done but has been common practice in UK and overseas since the 1930's
The detail is rolled in to the web approx every 2m on one side of the rail web.
Not a national network example but the Welshpool & Llanfair still has some original rail with "Dowlais 1901" rolled into the web so the practice has been around since then at least. I think the original rail has now all gone from the main running lines but there is still some in use in low speed locations such as stations, loops & sidings.
 

hexagon789

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Not a national network example but the Welshpool & Llanfair still has some original rail with "Dowlais 1901" rolled into the web so the practice has been around since then at least. I think the original rail has now all gone from the main running lines but there is still some in use in low speed locations such as stations, loops & sidings.
Some of the sidings at Didcot had 'Dowlais 1904' stamped on them in 2015.
 

XAM2175

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I believe mills on the continent and in the US were dating their rail from very early in the piece, indeed. Only a couple of years ago one of the heritage railways near Melbourne in Victoria had a lot of rail still in use in their main yard marked "KRUPP 1888".
 

D6130

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Some of the sidings at Didcot had 'Dowlais 1904' stamped on them in 2015.
Most of the sidings at the smaller stations on the West Highland Line, especially between Corpach and Mallaig, are still laid with the original lightweight (75 lb/yard ?) bull-head rail and chairs dating from when the line was first opened (1894 from Craigendoran to Fort William and 1901 onwards to Mallaig).
 

hexagon789

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Most of the sidings at the smaller stations on the West Highland Line, especially between Corpach and Mallaig, are still laid with the original lightweight (75 lb/yard ?) bull-head rail and chairs dating from when the line was first opened (1894 from Craigendoran to Fort William and 1901 onwards to Mallaig).
Lasted well then!

But then as it's not exactly taking heavy traffic at speeds it probably hasn't worn out significantly, most of those sidings would be either lightly used or just holding stock a lot of the time.
 

Peter Mugridge

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High wear rails may be replaced every 10 years, and in a few sites, less than that.
Am I right in thinking that the junctions at the north end of London Bridge ( Metropolitan Junction and Borough Market Junction ), at least before the two extra tracks were provided, holds the record for the most frequent replacement of track?
 

Bald Rick

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Am I right in thinking that the junctions at the north end of London Bridge ( Metropolitan Junction and Borough Market Junction ), at least before the two extra tracks were provided, holds the record for the most frequent replacement of track?

That I don’t know, but the switch rails and particularly crossings of pointwork are replaced more often than plain line, particularly so where they have high use and are on tight curvature (leading to side wear). Which those have.
 

D6130

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Am I right in thinking that the junctions at the north end of London Bridge ( Metropolitan Junction and Borough Market Junction ), at least before the two extra tracks were provided, holds the record for the most frequent replacement of track?
Quite possibly......although the rails in the Severn Tunnel and the Mersey tunnels have to replaced pretty frequently too, due to salt water corrosion. I think I read somewhere that it was every five years, but I'm sure someone on here will correct me if I'm mistaken!
 

gimmea50anyday

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I see thameslink was mentioned, when snow hill tunnel was reopened back in NSE days the rails were recovered from Woodhead
 

Rhinojerry

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Took a picture at Arnside not long back,the rail stamp said Workington 1957.! The year i was born..would that be correct ?
 

Grumpy Git

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Quite possibly......although the rails in the Severn Tunnel and the Mersey tunnels have to replaced pretty frequently too, due to salt water corrosion. I think I read somewhere that it was every five years, but I'm sure someone on here will correct me if I'm mistaken!

The rails on the Merseyrail Wirral line under the river were renewed about three years ago. IIRC, this was the first time it had been done since the 70's.
 

edwin_m

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Took a picture at Arnside not long back,the rail stamp said Workington 1957.! The year i was born..would that be correct ?
May well be ... I've seen chairs with dates in the 1920s (bay platform 3 at Grantham, still regularly used but only very slowly, was a few years ago so may have been re-laid since). Apologies if I posted this earlier on the thread, it's a rather old one.
 

Annetts key

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Quite possibly......although the rails in the Severn Tunnel and the Mersey tunnels have to replaced pretty frequently too, due to salt water corrosion. I think I read somewhere that it was every five years, but I'm sure someone on here will correct me if I'm mistaken!
The problem in the Severn Tunnel is spring water, not salt water. Spring water and dampness causes problems in other wet tunnels like Chipping Sodbury.

Other problem areas are level crossings where local or highway authorities use rock salt in winter. The contaminated water keeps the foot and the web damp. And worst, it also corrodes the fittings. And because of the road surface, these stay wet and damp for much longer than open track nearby.

Before Filton Abbey Wood station (South Gloucestershire/North Bristol) was built, on the upside sidings for the coal depot, there were some chairs with some date stamps from 19th century even though the age of the coal depot was much much younger!
 

CEN60

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The problem in the Severn Tunnel is spring water, not salt water. Spring water and dampness causes problems in other wet tunnels like Chipping Sodbury.

Other problem areas are level crossings where local or highway authorities use rock salt in winter. The contaminated water keeps the foot and the web damp. And worst, it also corrodes the fittings. And because of the road surface, these stay wet and damp for much longer than open track nearby.

Before Filton Abbey Wood station (South Gloucestershire/North Bristol) was built, on the upside sidings for the coal depot, there were some chairs with some date stamps from 19th century even though the age of the coal depot was much much younger!
North of the Border there have been some instances of installing coated rail & sheridized clips to help reduce corrosion.

Would help if Scotrail staff didn't shovel the salt laden snow off the edge of the platforms onto the track!!!
 

Western Sunset

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There are still lots and lots of GW broad gauge bridge rails being used as fence posts along many ex-GW routes...
 

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Deepgreen

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It used to be the case that often rails on mainlines would be replaced before they were completely life-expired, and those old rails were then re-used on more lightly used parts of the network. I have no idea if this still happens though.
From what I'vce seen most old rails now get dumped by the line to rust away for decades.
 

zwk500

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There are still lots and lots of GW broad gauge bridge rails being used as fence posts along many ex-GW routes...
Plenty of old rails also used by the SR for the same purpose. I think a few SR-built Signal gantries that are still in use are also made of old rails.
 

D6130

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When the Woodhead lines were lifted in the early 1980s, much of the relatively new concrete sleepered CWR track was recovered and reused on secondary routes in the North of England. About ten years later, long sections of the Copy Pit line (Gannow Junction, Burnley to Hall Royd Junction, Todmorden) were relayed using secondhand concrete sleepered track from the Lancashire section of the West Coast Main Line.
 
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