I was out walking a rail line yesterday, and found some UN BELIEVEABLY long railroad ties under a line that utilized two back to back (RH-LH) switchs to get from a mainline to an obscure industrial siding,…the thing looked like e telephone pole sawn square.
typically, what is the longest tie you track gang guys can order up, before people in high places start wrinkling their eyebrows?
The longest I can get from TARMAC without special order is 7020mm (a tad over 23’)
[:D]
Why d’you suppose railroad tie length went metric?
I could understand that in Europe, not so much US/Canada. [;)]
In the US, Standard Switch Ties go up to 17 feet.
Beyond that you are looking at Bridge stringers sawn lengthwise in half up to 28 feet.
Was working around Locust Point Yard in Baltimore in the early 70’s when the upsurge in the grain business caused the 1880/90’s physical plant to collapse under the strain of 130 ton loads of grain. When a significant part of the yard was rebuilt during the ensuing Summer I saw ‘switch ties’ that were on the order of 35 feet long and 16" x 16"…the largest wood I have ever seen anywhere used in railroad construction.
What exactly is a switch tie?I cannot imagine it very well,but I believe that we don’t have them here in Holland.(Yes we do have a very uptodate railsystem,although our freighttrains are not likely to impress railfans in Canada and the U.S. of A.!)I’m very curious.
Cheers,railmanbart
Switch ties are the long ties that support the switch points, frog, switch stand and turnout portions of the switch assembly. The ties step-up in size in groups as the two tracks diverge from the switch points.
Does anyone know about ties length and tie spacing and rail weight on 3 1/2 foot narrow gauge (Japan, New Zealand, part of Australia, large parts of Africa)?
Is it the same so the ties stick out farther, or do they use shorter ties?