mogul264 Could these rails be from the steel of what was to be the USS Illinois, BB-65? It was in construction at the end of WWII, but the contract ended in 1945. It was never completed, and was finally broken up in 1958.
Could these rails be from the steel of what was to be the USS Illinois, BB-65? It was in construction at the end of WWII, but the contract ended in 1945. It was never completed, and was finally broken up in 1958.
tree68 We've got some ~1920 rail on the mainline. What we don't know is whether it was laid new, or is relay from someplace else on the NYC.
- Paul North.
tree68 Midsouth fan I enjoy walking down my tracks and finding rail that we STILL run on the mainline that was forged in 1897! The northern extension of our line (LNW RR) was built in 1898. We've got some ~1920 rail on the mainline. What we don't know is whether it was laid new, or is relay from someplace else on the NYC.
Midsouth fan I enjoy walking down my tracks and finding rail that we STILL run on the mainline that was forged in 1897! The northern extension of our line (LNW RR) was built in 1898.
I enjoy walking down my tracks and finding rail that we STILL run on the mainline that was forged in 1897! The northern extension of our line (LNW RR) was built in 1898.
We've got some ~1920 rail on the mainline. What we don't know is whether it was laid new, or is relay from someplace else on the NYC.
Rail on low density branch lines, lines that are being used today, lines that have been spun off as Short Lines and lines that have been abandoned were most likely serviced with relay rail - if the density on the line was expected to be marginal when the line was built, it may have been built 'new' with relay rail.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
C.J. Kilgore
Jack-of-all-trades, master of none
Simsboro, LA
Only the current track chart knows for sure, and it's a couple steps behind.
Rails get further jumbled during maintenance. My carrier uses 'Curve Patch' gangs. These gangs work on curves, obviously. In curved territory, rails do not get equal wear. Depending upon the amount of superelevation and the normal traffic on that traverses the territory either the high rail or low rail will get measurably more wear, and thus need to be changed out earlier than it's partner. In most cases, the high rail will receive more wear and all this wear will occur on the gauge side of the rail. Normal practice will be to transpose the rails through the curve - low to high and high to low - thereby putting a new gauge face on each rail. If the high rail is worn and the low rail has been previously transposed to become the low rail - but is still serviceable, a new string of rail will be installed on the high side. The various permutations that will occurr over time will fully jumble the history of the rails that are in place on either rail.
rdamon Found a link to a machine to stamp the rails ... http://www.railstamping.com/index.php?id=72 Is it common practice to have the rails placed in the same direction so that the date or heat marks from both rails can be seen from one side? Thanks again!! Robert
http://www.railstamping.com/index.php?id=72
Is it common practice to have the rails placed in the same direction so that the date or heat marks from both rails can be seen from one side?
Thanks again!!
Robert
No - that result is usually just coincidental, from when both rails are replaced at the same time from the same rail train that has all its rails loaded facing in the same direction; or, if only 1 rail is being replaced, then it just happens that the replacement rail is also facing in the same direction as it comes off the rail train. If the rail train is coming directly from the CWR welding plant, that might still occur fairly often when the track is 'fairly close' to the plant, as there will be less opportunity for the train to get turned end-for-end via various routings as it travels to the site.
Finally, above is a recent photo of mine of a "heat number" - as can be seen, they're much harder to see than the raised 'brands' for the mill and rail section, etc. as in the Original Post above:
Paul_D_North_Jr Wonder if any of the model railroad-type hobbyists ever tried to more faithfully emulate the prototype by embossing the rail section 'brands' as shown in the photo in the Original Post, and/ or engraving the heat numbers on the inside of the webs of their rails . . . ? Makes as much sense as some of the rivet detail and paint scheme obsessions, if you ask me ! - Paul North.
Wonder if any of the model railroad-type hobbyists ever tried to more faithfully emulate the prototype by embossing the rail section 'brands' as shown in the photo in the Original Post, and/ or engraving the heat numbers on the inside of the webs of their rails . . . ? Makes as much sense as some of the rivet detail and paint scheme obsessions, if you ask me !
Last time I tried this, the ants did a nice job of etching but couldn't get the hang of the raised letters. I don't think their welding machines had enough juice. Then a gecko moved in and took out my labor force.
ChuckAllen, TX
Found a link to a machine to stamp the rails ...
"
on those heat numbers, you will typically (but not always) see them like this:
X 123456 12 AB
X= top rail order out of the ingot with "A" being the first rail, usually going from about A to R (most railroads will automatically reject the A rail as it is more likely to have defects or air pocket occlusions in the rail
123456 = Ingot number (numbered in the order cast) and rail letter number
12 = Strand or Bloom number in conseutive order
AB Method of hydrogen elimination/ treatment code"
With continuous casting there are no ingots and no blooms. Its bottom poured into the caster which produces the billet which is rolled to the finished shape. CF&I developed the continuous rolling process.
The month in the year.
unchanged - at least from what is seen coming out of Ervaz RMSM-Pueblo and a mill tour a few months back.
I think Mud's description of heat numbers would apply to old rail. New is all about continuous casting and continuous rolling. I wonder how the numbering process has changed?
I'm pretty sure I've got a decent photo of a heat number - if not I can arrange to get one in the near future - and then post it here, with a little more time and less yardwork calling for me right now ("Yes, I'm coming, honey !") . . .
MC - you know how hard it is to find places here to even observe trains, w/o trying to look at the rails and not get into trouble. So the first thing I thought of is some secluded country rails with the Driver holding my ankles while I hang upside down trying to see the rail markings.
Think I will just take your word for it that they are on the rails.
But I did learn several new things, which is why I am here.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
diningcar Thanks muddy friend. Now all of our hobbiest colleagues will have no problem educating their newby's.
Thanks muddy friend. Now all of our hobbiest colleagues will have no problem educating their newby's.
AB Method of hydrogen elimination/ treatment code
Sir C! I understood every bit of that the first read thru!
Details of railroading that most of us would never even think of, let alone look for marks! Simple genius in railroading, again.
Eugene Lewis (author of 10,000 Days On The Northwestern Line) relates a similar tale from his time on the CNW about books with the heat numbers of the rails. If a rail was found defective, a few more rails with the same or similar heat numbers would get changed out as well.
He also relates somebody (office cleaning staff, maybe) ended up throwing some of those books out...
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
DwightBranch The caption on the photo says this track is in Colorado, the former MP line to Pueblo, which they started to tear up this summer.
The caption on the photo says this track is in Colorado, the former MP line to Pueblo, which they started to tear up this summer.
Mooks: Heat numbesr are the indented numbers, on the opposite side of the rail from the raised brand, are the pedigree and serial numbers for the rail. They tell you things much like a car VIN number does, where in the bloom/ingot the steel came from, top or bottom of the bloom, manufacturing options, etc.... DC, PDN, Steve14 and I all used to have to keep track, by hand carried notes in books (before computers), of the rail heat numbers and where they were in track for purposes of looking for trends in rail and manufacturing defects.
Although it does not happen all the time, when the detector car orders out a rail or the section gang replaces a broken rail, somebody ought to be noting the heat number in the rail changeout paperwork. In more recent history (1990), this partially is what SP used to discover what a mill defect was that plagued them with new Bethlehem rail on Tehachapi Pass...
(and if I brought back some painful memories for diningcar of terminal boredom and long painful days of mind numbing book-keeping, I apologize.)
[ OK, "groan" . . . ] . . . "relay", huh ?!?
It's been quite a while since I read anything about the making of steel, but I do know that the numbering of heats has to do with the manufacture of steel (if you had such a high temperature in your kitchen, your house would probably burn down).
Johnny
If anyone would like to hear my explanation of cascading, I hope they'll relay that to me...
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Well an ah ha on the hash marks. But doubt the rest of the explanation from fuzzy will be quite as straight forward.
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