Posts: 86
Threads: 21
Joined: Nov 2014
When a railroad laid it's rail with I believe 39' sections how were curves constructed? Was the rail bent to form an arch or was straight rail used but laid slightly off the
straight to form an arch?
"My railroad is a figment of my imagination"
BobS
Posts: 9,820
Threads: 234
Joined: Dec 2008
Bob, rail is as flexible as spaghetti. You just start at one end and spike it in place. You make your curvature as you go. Just move it in position with a lining bar.
Charlie
Posts: 86
Threads: 21
Joined: Nov 2014
Thanks Charlie-now it makes sense
"My railroad is a figment of my imagination"
BobS
Posts: 2,429
Threads: 63
Joined: Dec 2008
Bob:
check some of the old photos of continuous rail being shipped on flatcars that show it bending around curves.
For something more worrying, look at photos of washouts or bridge collapses and see how the rail bends down.
I saw them put a new bridge in, over a new road, on my commute. The rails were just pulled over by a bulldozer with a chain to the shoo-fly position.
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.