Noobie Track Question

[Cornboy]

Hi,

On my way to work this morning there were several flatbed trucks along a CSX line with what appeared to be pre-assembled sections of track on them.  The tressels and rails were already connected like full sized model railroad sections.  I snapped a couple of pictures:

http://www.blooster.com/photogallery/Trains/TruckRails1.JPG

http://www.blooster.com/photogallery/Trains/TruckRails2.JPG

I had always thought thought they put the tressels down first and then nailed the rails down with spikes.  I know this is a dumb/noobie question, but is this pre-assembled section thing common?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Doug

[Modelcar]

.....Looks to me like "panel sections" to use in a track repair or rebuild area.  Sure {CWR}, continous welded rail is put down in roughly quarter mile sectons {on ties already in place}.

[tree68]

It's called panel track, and is very much like the sectional track model railroaders use. 

Generally it's used for fast repairs when there is a problem. 

What you refer to as "tressels" are generally known as ties, although the Brits (and others) call them "sleepers."

[morseman]

I've seen a several similar truck loads along the interstate in Pa. and presumed they were for fast repairs due to derailments etc.     WELCOME TO THE FORUM.

[nbrodar]

It's panel track.  Used for quick repairs of derailments, washouts, etc, or to make temporary by passes.  You can also get preassembled turnouts to speed new construction.

Nick 

[CShaveRR]

I got the feeling (especially from the longer ties also on the flatbed, which appear to be switch ties) that we're going to see some new construction, possibly an industrial spur.

In cases like that, the panel track is often used as a quick and easy to lay ties, in approximately the proper spacing.  The rails would then (eventually) be lifted and replaced with whatever's going to be more permanent.  Tie plates remain--probably spiked down to the ties already, so the track gauge is set--saves time for the permanent rail-laying crew.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Ahh, but this load actually is preassembled turnouts - well, it appears to be at least the switch point portion for 2 of them, stacked on top of each other.  See especially the "TruckRails1" photo.  Note the following (in no particular order):

1.  The overhang of the side of the truck is more than the 3" normally seen for 8'-6" long ties (typically) on an 8'-0" wide truck.

2.  The bundles of ties on top of the load - aren't ties at all - they're too long.  They're switch timbers, and look to be long enough to be the ones for the middle, frog, and diverging portions of the turnout out to its end at the "last long timber" - say, 12 ft. to 16 ft. long.

3.  The rusty spots along the rails towards the front/ left end of the truck that are spaced irregularly are the outside "braces" for the switchpoints.

4.  The missing ties/ switch timbers towards the front/ left end of the truck - there's about 6 ft. of rail with nothing underneath it, then a single timber, then about a 5 ft. space with no timbers, then many timbers at what looks like a typical spacing.  The lack of ties in the first few feet is where the stagger of the "turnout rails" ahead of the switchpoints would be in single track construction with conventional ties, instead of switch timbers.  In the 5 ft. gap the missing timbers would be the longer timbers for the switchstand - typically from 13 to 16 ft. long, all of the extra length being to one side for that purpose - way too much overhang for a a highway truck, which is why they're omitted from the pre-fab here.

5.  The 2 wooden crates at the front each probably contain the rest of the special parts for a turnout - the switchstand, the various operating, connecting, and tie rods for the switchpoints, and the special tie plates ("mostly "hook plates") for the frog, and if separate guardrails are being used at the frog (i.e., not a "self-guarding" frog), also the flangeway blocks and special tie plates for the guard rails.

The frogs themseles are not visible, and this load looks "light" for all of the other timbers for the rest of both of these turnouts, despite 2. above.  The complete set of switch timbers alone for a No. 8 or No. 10 turnout is about 1/2 of a truckload for weight, so it's likely there is at least 1 - any maybe 2 - other truckloads with the rest of these turnouts on board, mainly more timbers, the frog, guardrails (if any), and the rest of the rails, whether or not cut and drilled yet into the various shorter pieces for the "closure" or "lead" rails, etc.

Hope this helps to answer your question.

 - Paul North.

 

 

It's panel track.  Used for quick repairs of derailments, washouts, etc, or to make temporary by passes.  You can also get preassembled turnouts to speed new construction.

Nick 

[Anonymous]

A prototype for Atlas Snap-Track!

[tree68]

A prototype for Atlas Snap-Track!

I wonder if they use those slip-on joiners.....  

 

 

 

 

 

(You know I know better, but I couldn't resist...)

[Cornboy]

Thanks for the information y'all.  I must say it is awesome to be able to post a question and get so many specific and informative answers so quickly.  What did we do before the net, hehe?

Thanks again,

Doug

[zardoz]

Kinda says something about shipping via rail when you see railroad components like axles, ties, car bodies, track sections, etc moving by TRUCK!

[tree68]

Kinda says something about shipping via rail when you see railroad components like axles, ties, car bodies, track sections, etc moving by TRUCK!

Now, you know that the railroads aren't all that interested in carload freight...

[trainfan1221]

I've seen the giant "Snap-Track sections too.  Like they always say, there is a prototype for everything.

[morseman]

Doug,   What's with the cornboy moniker ???

[loadmaster747]

One other use for panel track:  a few years ago, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago donated Santa Fe 2903, a large 4-8-4 steam locomotive, to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.  Since there are no rail lines within a mile of MSI, the team from IRM used panels of track to form a temporary spur to the nearest active rail line, using a bulldozer to 'leapfrog' the panels ahead of the locomotive.   The Chicago Police Department had to temporarily block several streets to allow the move, which was made in the middle of the night to minimize traffic disruption.

[csxengineer98]

the question that no one has addressed yet was the the "tressle" in the seond photo...what you have a pic of there is a RCO platform car... it is a car that has all the Radio controlled equipment installed on it so it can be MUed to any locomotive to make ANY locomotive a RC controlled drone...

csx engineer 

[Cornboy]

Doug,   What's with the cornboy moniker ???

Hiya Morseman,

I have absolutely no reason for it, hehe.  When I created a Yahoo email account in 1994 I chose it randomly from some deep recess in my rapidly aging brain and it has been around ever since.

 

Cheers,

Doug

[Cornboy]

the question that no one has addressed yet was the the "tressle" in the seond photo...

csx engineer 

Hi CSX,

I knew they weren't called tressels...I don't know where my brain was when I wrote that.  Keep in mind I'm an IT geek not a train guy. And for some reason at the age of 51, ive started to develop a facination with trains.

Doug

[Cornboy]

the question that no one has addressed yet was the the "tressle" in the seond photo...what you have a pic of there is a RCO platform car... it is a car that has all the Radio controlled equipment installed on it so it can be MUed to any locomotive to make ANY locomotive a RC controlled drone...

csx engineer 

Hi again CSX,

I got to wondering about RCO and how that worked.  Is there a hand held remote control device that the operator can use as he observes the movement?  Is it typically used to push or pull a set of cars?  If it pushes, how can a remote control operator know what is at the front of the movement and isn't that kind of dangerous?  Are there little cameras that can be attached to the leading car that give the operator a view of what he/she is moving towards?

I know this is off the original topic of this thread, but your post spurred these thoughts.

Doug

[tree68]

the question that no one has addressed yet was the the "tressle" in the seond photo...what you have a pic of there is a RCO platform car... it is a car that has all the Radio controlled equipment installed on it so it can be MUed to any locomotive to make ANY locomotive a RC controlled drone...

csx engineer 

Interesting!   Notwithstanding the fact that I'm not very close to a yard that uses RCO's, I've never seen one.  Interesting application.  I note that the platform car has a 4 digit number, something I'd expect to see on a locomotive.  Most 'regular' freight cars I see have a 6 digit number.