Western Railroad Discussion > Welded Dutchman - PNWR Independence, OR

No photos of some gory death as some of you may have thought. Just a interesting detail in the track of the Portland & Western West Side line in downtown Independence, OR. There is welds at both bars, but the one at right has a bolt hole right in the weld. The other two views are looking each way from the spot. I was just going through my archives and found these photos I hadn't posted before.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/12 01:31 by funnelfan.

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I can't recall seeing a welded Dutchman before. It's kinda funny that at the extreme south end of the same former SP West Side Line at Alpine Jct, you can find Dutchmen very loose between joints. In fact, that is some of the worst trackage I've seen any diesel run on in Oregon. In 1998 I watched engineer Scott Pirie set out a covered hopper on the "run around" track there. I fully expected to videotape the former DRGW GP9 drop on the ground. It didn't though.

I don't see a "dutchman" in the true sense of the word. Looks like the detector car might have found a couple of defects and were angle-bared to stay in business. The one on the right appears to be a failed thermite weld and there might have been existing holes in the rail that didn't fit the hole pattern on the angle bars resulting in a bolt hole through the weld.

A true dutchman is a short piece of loose rail (usually 2-6 inches long) that is contained within the joint bar area..many times with one bolt in each running rail and one (sometimes none and the dutchman "floats"). A dutchman joint needs at least one good joint tie.

Many times the only fix when a rail runs and results in a "pull apart" until you can cut in a longer piece of rail to fill the gap. A common fix here on the OPR Molalla Branch!

Dick Samuels
www.oregonpacificrr.com