advantages of CWR

[88gta350]

I thought I read in Trains or on this forum that one of the advantages of CWR was that it was stronger (less prone to failure) because it lacked the bolt holes of jointed rail. But I saw CWR this week that had bolt holes at the "joint". The side of the rail said: "136 RE VT HY 1999" Does all CWR have these holes and if so, why?

[BaltACD]

Bolt holes in CWR come from the fact the the individual rails themselves, were part of a segment of jointed rail in a 'prior life'. When segments of jointed rail are removed from service or replaced with welded rail. The rails that are removed from the track structure are evaluated, and if suitable, are welded into welded rail strings that are relaid into other locations. In the 're-manufacturing' of welded rail, the ends of the jointed rail are squared and croped to insure a good rail to rail welding surface. Some welding strategies will only crop the extreme end of the rail, other strategies will crop past the bolt holes. Croping past the bolt holes will shorten the standard 39 foot rail length by about 3 feet.

[cefinkjr]

Mark:

[:D]"Stick rail"? Never heard jointed rail called that but your meaning was immediately apparent.



Chuck

[Anonymous]

One of the stages for use of welded rail involved welding two 39s to make 78' rails for use in road crossings and on curves. I worked for a railroad that had a lot of 78s and after being accustomed to the sound of 39' "sticks" (that bit o' slang never made it to my inexperienced ears) the 78' areas sounded strange, indeed. The next step for this particular railroad was CWR in curve territory.

Aren't they now making insulated joints using short lengths of rail joined by, among other things, epoxy, that themselves can be welded into a CWR string at appropriate locations?

And I think they're not even using joints at the butt ends of switch points nowadays. When the points move, the rail just flexes to suit.

Old Timer