Old track closeups

[deemery]

How were those BFRs moved into position?  I'm thinking trains of oxen hauling sleds during the winter.

I'll have to see if I can find a spot to add one on my railroad.

dave

[jbvb]

If they were quarried on Cape Anne, Scott Jewell (and his Boston Docks & Rocks layout) are a fountain of information.  He's picked up the knack of identifying granite to its source quarry by color, texture and inclusions. He says all the B&M granite abutments he's looked at closely came from Rock Of Ages in Barre, VT.

The stones in Newbury could have arrived by gundalow ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundalow or see the reproductions aground in Dover or afloat in Portsmouth) or by the already-extant Eastern RR.  The stone blocks for Seashore's culverts could have been quarried far away and delivered on flat cars from the then-active coal wharf in Cape Porpoise harbor, or in the rock cut 1/4 mile closer to Biddeford.  Either way, RRs greatly simplified moving heavy items. Before RRs there were various schemes for lifting blocks up under pairs of large, stoutly-built wheels & axles and hauling with oxen I expect this looked a lot like how Ft. Ticonderoga's cannon were brought to Dorchester in 1776.

[KentuckySouthern]

Cool stuff, especially the granite stone work.

[jbvb]

Thanks, Karl.

2015 photos of old Maine Central track in the westerly siding at Crawfords, NH (top of Crawford Notch grade, originally Portland & Ogdensburg, then MEC Mountain Division, now Conway Scenic).



The westerly siding turnout is on a curve. Looking closely, you can see it straightens out for a few feet through the switch points.  The switchstand is a post-WWII Racor product. The black back-side of a flanger warning sign is almost invisible on the opposite side a little farther away.



The frog looks like about #10-12, pretty sharp for a main line. This and the curved turnout show they needed all the length they could get for reassembling trains that had been doubled up the 2.2% grade from Bartlett, NH.



Two sidings parallel the main line through Crawfords. CSRR hasn't used the westmost much, if at all, so the track has been untouched for decades.  This is a Miller Joint, distinguished by the three part joint bar on the field side (as opposed to in the gauge). A steel channel against the web of the rails holds a wood block, then a more conventional toed (L-shape cross section) joint bar.  I think it was supposed to be more resilient but section gangs hated the extra work when the wood rotted.



When two different weights of rail meet, a compromise joint bar is required.  This one is an old pattern. Its cast-in marks show 85 AS (left) and 80 AS (right). AS is short for American Society of Civil Engineers, which developed standards for many lighter-weight rail sections still in use.

[jbvb]

The Ramapo #17 switchstand was widely used in the first half of the 20th century, at least in the Northeast.  This one was installed by the MEC in Bartlett, NH, possibly before WWI. It's on the lead to the former roundhouse, whose turntable was removed when the MEC started using 2-6-6-2 helpers on the Crawford Notch grade.These articulateds were the B&M's last gasp of steam through the Hoosac Tunnel, before electrification in 1911.

[jbvb]

Here's a different compromise bar pattern, but definitely from the era where RRs would invest manufacturing cost to avoid confusion on the job site.  85 lb. A pattern left, a B&M custom 75 lb. section right. In the open air part of the museum in Wakefield, NH.



A Low Ramapo switchstand on a single-direction derail protecting main line moves from loose cars on an industrial spur in Hampton, NH.



A 100 lb. rail industrial switch added to an 85 lb. main track long after passenger service ended. The spur is built on the roadbed of the pre-1937 Westbound track, also in Hampton.



Its High Ramapo switchstand never got a signal circuit contactor, but there is a spigot above the target for a switch lantern.

[Rick]

James, thanks for all the pictures and explanations about what's going on.
I was going to ask how the rail was bent, but then you posted the manual rail bender.
What powers it and there has to be something stronger than that piece of wood to provide a stop.
Frog must be an off the shelf item.

[jbvb]

Last but not least, our Western-Cullen-Hayes manual rail bender:

Volunteer Charlie's right hand (at left of my picture) is resting on the carrying handle of the mechanical jack (with remains of orange paint) that actually bends the rail. Its lever goes into the round hole in the crank projecting left out of the jack's body. The lever is steel, about 3 feet long. Ten 120-degree swings on the handle moves the head maybe 1/4".  There's a calibrated scale on the bigger cylinder that's pushing on the main casting.

RR rail is elastic enough that we have to overbend, then see how much of the distance actually set vs. springing back.

[jbvb]

In the picture above, the chunk of 4x4 the jack is resting on just supports the casting when there's no tension on it.  We also use it to slide the jack casting along the rail and ties to the next bending location.



Usually we apply the jack at 10-14" intervals.  The actual bending fulcrum is the big double-flanged hook the boot is resting on. The bend will be made between the jack (rear) and the big hook. Center of the curve we're bending here will be to the right in this picture.

[Rick]

James, thanks for that last picture.
It shows the process better.

[jbvb]

You're welcome, Rick.

Many B&M switches in bi-directional CTC territory (here Winchester MA about 1980) had an extra switch timber to accommodate all the gadgets:



This switch's point position contactor is the black rounded object on the closest switch timber. In my modeling era, the B&M painted them silver. The modern Racor switchstand (black) is on the two regular headblocks left of the contactor. The remote unlock mechanism is farthest left.  A train crew can only throw the switch if the Train Director in Winchester Tower releases the lock. Multiple CTC circuits are carried in a cable visible between line poles on the RH side.

And for those sensitive to RR safety, yes, I'm not safe standing in the gauge with my back to a potential train. In my defense, I could see a double-red STOP indication on the signal bridge in the distance. So a train behind me would be preparing to stop short of the signal.



A little farther from Boston at Milepost 9, we see the same 3 timbers: switchstand behind the milepost, but using the two real headblocks. The point position contactor mounted on the extra timber, and the remote unlock box on the distant headblock.  The switch frog on the left end of the crossover looks like it might be self-closing (also known as a sprung frog). Harder to tell about the RH end of the crossover.  The guardrail point visible just this side of the underpass is pretty short, but that's all they had room for.

[Jerry]

Thanks James.  I may have to read it again to understand but it's really interesting.

Jerry