When one look at a train often do not thing about the place where the
wheels of the trains roll: the rail.
This page is dedicated to the joints of the rails and switches..
First step in joining rails is to accost estremities. This is a simple
arrangement to do a temporary joint .
We see two images: On left the rails are fastened to the ties by springs,
of wich a particular is shown below, while on right we see a rail screwed
in the ties, with plates.
In the
picture at left you see a particular of the spring that fasten the rail
to the tie: there are no steel plates but just a rubber sheet between rail
and ties.
Currenly the most used are concrete ties, somewhere one can also find older
models of ties: These one have been laid in 1956 nd are hybrid, that is
in concrete with central part being a piece of steel.
To
join the rails in a more stable way is used thermite soldering, this is
a mixture of Iron, aluminium and other oxides powder, that when heated
enought burns spontaneously at a temperature high enought to found iron.
The liquified iron drop into the gap between the rails into a laterice
disposable cast, the canals of the model are the noses you see in this
picture.
After being solidified the form is broken and the rail is polished
.
These are the machines used to finish rails .... Picture taken on november
1996 at Campomigliaio, on the Firenze-Borgo
S. Lorenzo line under rebuilding.
Look at the elastic rail retainer and how the rail are laid on the bridge:
not ties but continuous concrete, the wooden ties you see are just spacers
when the bridge concrete was cast.
Sometime
is necessary to insulate a part of track to allow a circuit for train detection
. The insulated joints are pictured here and below there are the two sides.
Such joints are usually preassembled with only a short rail on each side,
and soldered in place, this to solidify resin in a more controlled environment.
Look at the insulators on the bolts on the picture at left.
A
rail is not always straight or curved, often have to diverge. Switches
are "special pieces" that allow a train to move from a track
to another. These pieces are sometimes specially manifactured for particular
places, but there are standard types that are esily interchangeble.
This is a semi standard switch, since it is on a curve (see
note), so the hearth of the switch is standard, and have casted indications,
while the needle have been specially adapted and have indications written
with chalk to specify the line where have to be laid.
Talking about temporary switches this is how a switch is arranged during
works: look at the hand cradle on the offline electric motor to switch
...
Switches can be electrically operated, if hand operated then it is necessary to know the position they have.
First option is having an electric control of it. It is a device that locks the needles in one position (8.1.99 at Caldine)
The other option, for remote switches, expecially if used in a limited way is a locker with a key. Usually it is a larger one, the picture below show one found at Casella on 3.1.99. It is just a device that lock the needle, and can be moved, releasing the needle, only with a right key (Whose remotion locks the signal)
The other part of the track is the ballast ... It is the most (in term of weight) part of the railway ...look at huge load on picture on right (These pictures got on 1.1.98 at Montorsoli)
This
track has yet to be finished. Look as it is not yet perfectly straight
and the ballast is not uniform.The same grinding machines we have seen
before will clean the soldering debrises and other machines would set uniform
the ballast. Also note that for a few weeks after a track is laid trains
are required to slow down, to allow the ballast to stabilize.
I
note about non-standard track: This is a section of a 600 mm minerary track,
it is built to have low loads, but so to be easily moveable.
a railway is not necessarily 2 rails ... Here one examples of a 3 rail
track, taken near Trento on Trento-Lavis where the inner 1000mm track is
for the Trento-Malé line, and the outer for freights (until a few
years used piggyback cars, but since most of traffic is on the few kilometers
a third track have been added for about 7 km and such cars are used only
occasionally for cars that have to go further.
The images On right instead have been taken on another minerary railway,
and actually is a monorail ... Go on its page
to look how the track is assembled and how the car run on it ....
If you will come here I will be happy to arrange a trip together
