Model Railroading > Rail bar placement

I have a question regarding rail bar placement. I have code 83 flex track on my branch line. I would like to add details west rail bars to simulate jointed sectional rail. How many scale feet do I place the rail bars? Thank you,
Matt

Every 39 feet, scale that is.

And stagger them _._._._
                           ._._._._

They're actually called joint bars or fishplates.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/16 15:09 by CPR_4000.

Perfect thank you!!!

Both inside and outside the rail at each side. Make sure the inside angle bar does not protrude beyond the rail ball.

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CPR_4000 Wrote:

> They're actually called joint bars or fishplates.


Where I grew up on the Northern Pacific in Montana, they were always called angle bars (the term joint bar may occasionally have been used also).  Never hear the term "fishplates" until well into adulthood.

Yeah I just went with the name that details west calls them. Bar thingys that attach rails together and stuff...

The reason for the 39 foot rail lengths is that the most common railcar length was once about 40 feet. The rail length that could not be used was 40 feet, lest it set up harmonic vibrations in passing trains, plus a shorter length could be loaded upon a 40 foot flatcar.

The only place I ever saw them called fishplates was in Model Railroader magazine.

I have heard them called fish plates on the Rocky Mountain Division of the Milwaukee Road in the 1970s. Fishplates account they were long and narrow in shape. Also called angle bars which older rail joiners were a bent piece of steel just wider than 90 degrees with holed punched into one side. They might also be called joiner bars for what they do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/16 22:29 by fbe.

My 1934 American Railway Engineering Association Trackwork Plans manual references the height of the narrow portion of the rail between the between the head (also called ball) of the rail and the base of the rail as the fishing distance.

Clearly, then, a plate which fills in this space would be a fishplate.

-Larry Doyle

Rail is sold by the yard, 36 inches. When 40 foot flatcars were the norm, 39 foot stick rails were usual. Earlier, 33 foot or 30 foot sticks were common for shorter flatcats of 36 feet or 30 feet.

Relay rail (used rail) often had battered ends cut off, so could be shorter.

As you lay rail in corners you will periodically use a shorter rail on the inside to keep the joints staggered.  Something I never thought about until we were rebuilding the Niles Canyon Railway.  So outside of curves are all 39' rails, inside we would use a shorter rail maybe once or twice to compensate.

Thanks for all the kind advice and information on these. This will help tremendously!
Matt

You can throw a short section here or there or even a 86ft section then work out the filler for the 39ft spacings. New rail mostly comes in 86ft sections. 

If you really want to go all out, take a dremel tool with a thin cutoff disk and cut through the rail head (just the rail head and not all the way through) every 39 scale feet. Then take a hammer and chisel and hammer down the joints a little bit (1/64" of a inch will do). After that apply the joint bars on the side they will be view from. Keep the joints staggered, even if it means a short rail length at the end of a curve.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

New rail is rolled in 39' and 40' as well as 78' and 80' lengths.

Typical joint stagger is about 1/3 of a rail length.

TrackGuy

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