Wilmington & Western Railroad R-O-W, TRACK and RAILROAD BRIDGES

WWRR Route Map (east)

WWRR Route Map (west)

This is what your tracks should look like.

This is not what your tracks should look like.

Or this

Wilmington & Western’s Main Switching Yard

Tehachapi Mountains, California

A four unit 12,000 hp locomotive train weighing 750 tons roaring around a curve at 70 mph is being supported and

guided by 260 ft of track which is made up of:

• 11.5 Tons of steel rail held in place by

• 600 lbs. of spikes resting on

• 3.1 tons of steel tie plates resting on

• 16.7 tons of creosote crossties resting on

• 130 tons of crushed ballast

A typical track cross section

TRACK section nomenclature

RAIL section nomenclature

Rail Sections

•Rail is rolled from high quality steel containing .7 % carbon

•Dimensions in accordance with A.R.E.A ( American Railway Engineering Association) standards.

•Most rail produced today weighs from 112 to 145 lbs. per yard.

Rail sections

Tie plate cant

• Rail is inclined towards the center of the track.

• Matches the 1:20 wheel tread contour.

• Distributes better loading to the tie.

• Reduces lateral forces tending to slide the plate out of gauge.

TRACK GAUGE: 56 ½ INCHES

Why 56 1/2 Inches?

Summary of the Rumor

This story is a "We've always done it that way" tale. It says that the standard distance between railroad rails in the U.S. is four-feet, eight-and-a-half inches. Why? Because that's what it was in England. Why? Because that's the gauge the tramways used before the railroads. Why? Because the tramways were built using the same tools as wagon-builders and that's how wide the wagon wheels were spaced. Why? Because the old roads in England had ruts that the wheels needed to accommodate. Why? Because the ruts were made by Imperial Roman chariots.

TheTruth (See page 26 of the text book)

• There is no evidence that we could find that this is true. In an article on www.railway.org by D. Gabe Gabriel says this tale has existed since shortly after World War II but that history does not support the claims of the story. The Roman ruts, according to Gabriel, were not for chariots but for narrow, hand-pulled carts. Although there are many places where the ruts are visible, Gabriel questions that they played a role in English railroad standards 1400 years after the last Roman legions. One of the claims of the rumor is that the width of the ruts was affected by the need to make the chariot and it's wheels the same width as the combined rears of the horses pulling them. Gabriel says there's a statue by Franzoni in the Vatican museum that is regarded as the most accurate known depiction of a Roman chariot. The two horses are wider than the chariot and the chariot wheels behind them. Where did the four-foot, eight-and-a-half-inch standard originate? Gabriel says it was from a Englishman named George Stephenson. Carts on rails had been used in mines in England for years, but the width of the rails varied from mine to mine since they didn't share tracks. Stephenson was the one who started experimenting with putting a steam engine on the carts so there would be propulsion to pull them along. He had worked with several mines with differing gauges and simply chose to make the rails for his project 4-foot, eight inches wide. He later decided that adding another six inches made things easier. He was later consulted for constructing some rails along a roadway and by the time broader plans for railroads in Great Britain were proposed, there were already 1200 miles of his rails so the "Stephenson gauge" became the standard. Interestingly, the 4-foot, eight-and-a-half inch width has not always been the standard in the U.S. According to the Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, at the beginning of the Civil War, there were more than 20 different gauges ranging from 3 to 6 feet, although the 4-foot, eight-and-a-half inch was the most widely used. During the war, any supplies transported by rail had to be transferred by hand whenever a car on one gauge encountered track of another gauge and more than 4,000 miles of new track was laid during the war to standardize the process. Later, Congress decreed that the 4-foot, eight-and-a-half inch standard would be used for transcontinental railway.

Why are railroads located where they are?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http://www.mikesrails.com/p/norfolk-souther-in-pennsylvania.html&ei=RyFqVLSuM4e3oQSSroGIDA&bvm=bv.79142246,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNF46vY3OaS1fiVW9hXDTGnhufaeYA&ust=1416327785494501

But this can lead to problems

Flooding on the WWRR

1999 and 2003

Hurricane Floyd Tropical Storm Henri

Typical WWRR track

section • Consists of 7X9

industrial grade ties, 8.5 feet long

• Rail can be 85 lb. to 132 lb. in weight

• Single shoulder tie plates

• Spikes 5/8 inch square x 6 inches long

WWRR uses 7X9 inch industrial grade crossties

Additional components seen on the WWRR tracks

• Double shouldered tie plates

• Joint Bars

• Insulated joint bars

• Bonding wires

• Insulated end posts

• Rail anchors

Single shoulder tie plates

Double shouldered tie plates (note rail anchors)

Insulated rail joint

Compromise Joint

Rail Anchors Installed on the base of the rail

bearing against the side of the tie.

Why rail anchors? • To resist longitudinal rail movement.

•Without anchors rail can “run” causing expansion and creepage forces resulting in skewed ties.

•Dynamic forces from rolling wheel wave action will cause rail to run.

•Locomotive tractive forces will cause rail to run.

•Locomotive braking forces will cause rail to run.

•Rails on grades will tend to run downhill.

Rail anchors in use

Spikes

Pandrol e Clip

Pandrol Fast clip

Bolt Clamped Fastener

Gage Bars (J Bars)

Derails

Switches

Or turnouts Page of 44 of the text book

Self guarding frog

Continuous Welded Rail Page 35 of the Text

Thermite Welding

Seldom used siding tracks

Track tools

Track Jacks

String line to measure degree of curvature

A 62 ft. cord. Each inch of space between rail and string equal one degree of curvature.

Types of Railroad Crossties

Concrete

Creosote wood

Steel

Composite railroad ties

Types of railroad truss bridges

WWRR Pratt Through Truss Bridge

Typical WWRR Bridges

Open Deck Beam Span

Steel spans under construction

Steel spans under construction

Shaft Drilling for the supports

36 Inch shaft is drilled into bedrock

The headwalls are also drilled

FRA Track Safety Standards

CFR

Part 213

TRACK INSPECTON

Classes of Track

Class of track The gage must be at least— But not more than—

Excepted track N/A 4′101/4″.

Class 1 track 4′8″ 4′10″.

Class 2 and 3 track 4′8″ 4′93/4″.

Class 4 and 5 track 4′8″ 4′91/2″.

Ok let’s see some track work in action

How WWRR Changes Ties

RCC TIEMASTER

Pike Tie Handler

Hydraulic power feed

Spike Driver and Spike Puller

Remove the Old Tie

Insert The New Tie

Clean Up The Waste

NordcoBallast Regulator

Ready For Tamping

Mark IV Tamper

Mark IV Tamper in action

What a great machine!

Ballast Regulator, Sweeping

Thank You