Railroad Construction in the Mid to Late 1800's

[nicknoyes]

To all who replied to my question,

Thank you very much! You have been a great help.

Nick

[vsmith]

Just to illustrate how light the rail was back in the mid-1800's, during the Cival War, Union troops would pull up Confederate rail, put a rail up against a tree or post, then using a horse they would tie on end down and using the horse to pull the rail around the tree, wrapping the rail at its mid point around the tree, and leaving what came to known as "Sherman's Neckties".

[dwil89]

QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill

Actually, Dave, it's easier to bend welded rail than stick rail. With welded, you have only one rail-end every quarter-mile or so, rather than a whole lot of ends, which means that you almost always have a lever arm to grasp.

Oh..okay..I figured that it would have been more difficult back in that day to have to bend a huge length of CWR. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown

[dwil89]

And along with the lighter rail, and iron rail used back then, was higher incidents of broken rails, derailments, etc. However, looking at overall Railroad construction methods used in the 1800's, they accomplished some incredible things with the equipment they had at the time...Look at the line up from Altoona over to Johnstown in Pa. Horseshoe Curve, all the cuts and fills, stone arch bridges and viaducts. Everytime I get out hiking somewhere along the East Slope of that grade along old fireroads, I study the alignment and grades, cuts..etc...they did quite alot with hand tools, dynamite and manual labor. A testament to how well this line was engineered back in 1854 is the relatively few changes done to it since then, aside from widening from its original 2 tracks. The West Slope did get more improvements around the end of the 19th Century, with a re-alignment that straightened the line out between Summerhill and Lilly. Those that have stood at the Iron Footbridge at Cassandra and looked West through the deep cut toward Portage..., that alignment is circa 1898. The original 1850's alignment went behind the location of the cut and went right through downtown Cassandra. Part of the original alignment still exists...in Portage. The old Bens Creek Secondary that runs through Portage to the Sonman Coal loadout is the original PRR alignment. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown

[jchnhtfd]

It really is hard to visualise how floppy rail really is (even today's heavy sections) until one has worked with the stuff a while. A 20 degree curve is really sharp for a railroad and, on a curve like that, if one is using 39' rails, each hunk only has to bend about 8 degrees -- which really isn't that much.

[dwil89]

And the fact that the rail was jointed probably helped too, unlike the long sections of continuous welded rail used today....Dave Williams http;//groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown

[mudchicken]

(1) Most rail on curves up to 20 degrees (R=287.94' for you non-railroaders) did not require bending or heating to make them bend. Most of that rail was light in section, 54# to 90# (small compared by today's standard) and most rail could be lined by hand with lining bars or with a team of horses. Not really that hard to bend.

(2) Your rail that had to be bent could be bent by using heat/fire and track jacks.

(3) As is true today, most sharp curves were found off in the yards, backtracks or on narrow gauge allignments. Railroads strived to get rid of sharp curves over time and in doing so, got rid of the main need for little end-cab switchers (and the 40' boxcar).

[nicknoyes]

Dear Subscribers,

How did the railroad construction crews of the 19th century bend the individual rails to facilitate going around a curve? I picture them heating the rail somehow. But, if so, that probably effected the hardness of the steel. Could they possibly bend them using special tools?

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Nick