Occasionally, having nothing better to do while riding the VRE, I make mental notes of scenery during my 1-hour commute. I’ve been observing ties lately (as well as Thighs and Thais). How different they appear than most hobby shop ties, which are smooth and uniform in color and evenly spaced.
Real ties are often mottled in color, some have giant knots in them, and most are cracked, some quite cavernous. Colors range from light brown, where rust has been deposited, to pitch black, like the occasional tie that on a hot summer day bubbles creosote. Most ties, but not all, are laid parallel, and most ties are unevenly spaced.
I will be observing fishplates and frogs today and may report my findings. And then again, I may not.
For those who want to make scale ties, the American prototypes are usually 9 inches wide (only 3/16 inch in O scale!), 7 inches deep, and 8, 8 1/2, or 9 feet long.
I’ve ridden Metra for years - and try to espy all the former railserved buildings along the right of way - usually, the tracks are still in the weeds. Although I can think of only three current online customers on this 45 mile of line, there are literally dozens of former ones. I’m interested in looking at the ballast too - the UP is dumping lots of large whitish gravel these days, but there’s plenty of almost purple ‘pink lady’ ballast left over from the C&NW days
Dave, have you ever noticed the quality of ride - and its relationship to the track-work. if I sit in the rear car of a long train, I can feel it whip around and ride fairly rough when the train is at speed. I’ve also noticed, the UP has done a fairly good job of using welded rail in most spots. You can really hear the ‘click-clack’ when the car crosses over a joint. Lots of old rusty fishplates in piles along the track. Also a long line of new almost black ties lying along the ROW, waiting to be replaced.