How old are railway tracks?

[daveinstoke]

in the past I have seen a mixture of chairs fitted to tracks, L.M.S & B.R together.
Dave.

 

[507020]

in the past I have seen a mixture of chairs fitted to tracks, L.M.S & B.R together.
Dave.

Do you have any pictures of the 2 types? I’d like to know what the difference is.

 

[CEN60]

I saw some NR info yesterday indicating 1924 Bullhead still exists on the Far North Lines (station loops!!!!)

 

[Dr_Paul]

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.

If a rail has been down for a long time in the open air, is it possible that it can be affected by the weather? I was lifting some rails from the old carriage shed at Drayton Park when doing volunteer work for the Ffestiniog Railway back in the late 1970s, and I was working down in an inspection pit. I happened to look along the top of the rails coming into the shed (my head was level with the rail-head) and noticed that there was a slight but definite drop in the rail-head at the point where the shed ended and where they were then out in the open, a couple of millimetres. I can't think of any reason other than this being the result of their having been exposed to the rain for many decades. Might there be some other reason than weathering?

 

[edwin_m]

If a rail has been down for a long time in the open air, is it possible that it can be affected by the weather? I was lifting some rails from the old carriage shed at Drayton Park when doing volunteer work for the Ffestiniog Railway back in the late 1970s, and I was working down in an inspection pit. I happened to look along the top of the rails coming into the shed (my head was level with the rail-head) and noticed that there was a slight but definite drop in the rail-head at the point where the shed ended and where they were then out in the open, a couple of millimetres. I can't think of any reason other than this being the result of their having been exposed to the rain for many decades. Might there be some other reason than weathering?

The track in the shed is probably on a firm concrete foundation but that outside may be ballasted. The ballasted part may settle, particularly in a low speed depot area where there's no need to tamp it to attain a perfect level.

 

[Dr_Paul]

The track in the shed is probably on a firm concrete foundation but that outside may be ballasted. The ballasted part may settle, particularly in a low speed depot area where there's no need to tamp it to attain a perfect level.

That's a good point. From what I recall, the track outside the shed was on ballast, but inside it was on longitudinal sleepers which sat in concrete. Settling into the ballast, and thus bending the rail, is indeed plausible. The drop in height of the rail-head seemed quite abrupt, but that might have been because I was viewing the rail at rail-head height along it from some distance, and thus my view was foreshortened.

 

[Annetts key]

The steel rail will weather, but the process is very slow. Running lines that are used regularly don’t get a chance to rust on the running surface of the top of the rail due to the action of the wheels.
The rest does rust of course, but the rust itself actually limits the reaction.

Hence the lifespan in a normal environment is determined by wear from the traffic.

The other thing to note, is that the steel used for rail is slightly softer than the steel used for the wheels.

 

[LowLevel]

The Skegness line still has some 1940s 45ft rail near Hubberts Bridge but the remaining jointed track is slowly being replaced with welded rail.

Skegness station had some ancient rail too.