Spiking a switch

[Anonymous]

There was a time in the late '50s when the SP spiked some switches on their coast line. I was working at Point Concieption and went down the road about 3 miles to a general store to get lunch. Had to stop at the SP tracks for safety reasons and to let a Fairmont speeder pass which was overloaded with track inspection personnel looking hard at the track. Picked up my lunch and on returning to the crossing had to stop for a special passenger train. On the open vestibule checking the California scenery was Nikita Kruschev, who waved to me. It was a good idea to spike remote switches to prevent a world incident.

[Anonymous]

There was a time in the late '50s when the SP spiked some switches on their coast line. I was working at Point Concieption and went down the road about 3 miles to a general store to get lunch. Had to stop at the SP tracks for safety reasons and to let a Fairmont speeder pass which was overloaded with track inspection personnel looking hard at the track. Picked up my lunch and on returning to the crossing had to stop for a special passenger train. On the open vestibule checking the California scenery was Nikita Kruschev, who waved to me. It was a good idea to spike remote switches to prevent a world incident.

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cablebridge

Kenneo,

Wouldn't you quickly wear a tie out if you removed a spike and ran through and then respiked the switch again? Was this a type of temporary measure or was it used for long term problems? Oh, and one more thing . . . what do you do when concrete ties are used, or are they not seen on switches? - The other Ed

Far as I know, the head blocks are always wood. You did not mention it, but there are also ties made out of steel. They look a bit like highway guard rails with tracks attached. I have never seen a switch on concrete ties, but I have heard of such.

The head blocks are those two massive pieces of wood on which the switch stand is attached and also goes under both rails and the points "float" over the head blocks. The throw rod goes from the switch stand to the points between the head blocks. The spike is supposed to go into the head block closest to the frog, but as long as the points are immobilized and no damage is done to the part of the points that go under the rail head against the rail web, most any tie will usually do.

Spiking a switch was always a temproary measure.

[kenneo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cablebridge

Kenneo,

Wouldn't you quickly wear a tie out if you removed a spike and ran through and then respiked the switch again? Was this a type of temporary measure or was it used for long term problems? Oh, and one more thing . . . what do you do when concrete ties are used, or are they not seen on switches? - The other Ed

Far as I know, the head blocks are always wood. You did not mention it, but there are also ties made out of steel. They look a bit like highway guard rails with tracks attached. I have never seen a switch on concrete ties, but I have heard of such.

The head blocks are those two massive pieces of wood on which the switch stand is attached and also goes under both rails and the points "float" over the head blocks. The throw rod goes from the switch stand to the points between the head blocks. The spike is supposed to go into the head block closest to the frog, but as long as the points are immobilized and no damage is done to the part of the points that go under the rail head against the rail web, most any tie will usually do.

Spiking a switch was always a temproary measure.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wrwatkins

There was a time in the late '50s when the SP spiked some switches on their coast line. I was working at Point Concieption and went down the road about 3 miles to a general store to get lunch. Had to stop at the SP tracks for safety reasons and to let a Fairmont speeder pass which was overloaded with track inspection personnel looking hard at the track. Picked up my lunch and on returning to the crossing had to stop for a special passenger train. On the open vestibule checking the California scenery was Nikita Kruschev, who waved to me. It was a good idea to spike remote switches to prevent a world incident.

I imagine you were suitably impressed as I would have been! [:)]

Jen

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wrwatkins

There was a time in the late '50s when the SP spiked some switches on their coast line. I was working at Point Concieption and went down the road about 3 miles to a general store to get lunch. Had to stop at the SP tracks for safety reasons and to let a Fairmont speeder pass which was overloaded with track inspection personnel looking hard at the track. Picked up my lunch and on returning to the crossing had to stop for a special passenger train. On the open vestibule checking the California scenery was Nikita Kruschev, who waved to me. It was a good idea to spike remote switches to prevent a world incident.

I imagine you were suitably impressed as I would have been! [:)]

Jen

[Anonymous]

For Jen-
It WAS the highpoint of my day. Talked about it for a long time afterwards. Working in the desolate oil field at Point Conceiption you were quite a distance from "civilization". In later times it was interesting when the Air Force would be launcing a rocket form Vandenberg. They would bring 5-6 trailers of telemetry equipment to monitor the launch and set it up on our location. Got to see all the "secret stuff" and an occasional passing train.

[Anonymous]

For Jen-
It WAS the highpoint of my day. Talked about it for a long time afterwards. Working in the desolate oil field at Point Conceiption you were quite a distance from "civilization". In later times it was interesting when the Air Force would be launcing a rocket form Vandenberg. They would bring 5-6 trailers of telemetry equipment to monitor the launch and set it up on our location. Got to see all the "secret stuff" and an occasional passing train.