Western Railroad Discussion > Is this a legal bolt pattern on a main track?

After walking on the bike trail out of Garden Plain, KS I noticed this rail with an unusual bolt pattern.  It appears that there are 2 sets of bolt holes that are in touch with each other.  All I can think of why this occurred is that the rail size changed between this and the next rail.  Presumably they did not have the correct joiner plate and this was how the problem was solved. The next rail is missing so no way to confirm this theory. 

So was this legal on a "mainline" branch?  The line ran from Wichita to Kingman, KS.

Cumbres
 

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From the tie condition this was obviously "excepted" or "Class I" track. Excepted has no requirement for anything other than gauge. Class I track requires one bolt in each rail where higher track classes require more stringent standards.

To answer your question; YES this would be legal on a Class I shortline main line as long as one bolt is installed in each rail and the joint bars are not defective.

Dick Samuels
Oregon Pacific Railroad

Dick,

Thank you for the quick reply.  I know in 1989 ATSF considered this as 20 mph trackage.  I found a timetable from 1954 online and it had a daily mixed train that was limited to 30 mph if diesel powered or 25 mph if steam.  A pure passenger train could go 35mph.  Not sure how the FRA trackage regs were in those days but it used to be better trackage.  There hasn't been a train on this section for probably 15yrs although the track is still present.  At the end Central Kansas Railway owned this and they did no maintenance.  everything between Garden Plain and Wichita is abandoned and pulled.  This section was pulled out when the road crossing was paved over. The rail is dated around 1920 and I presume it was relayed from elsewhere at some point.

Thanks!
 

Mark, Is that one of the WATCO branches we road that still had 52# rail in the sidings. Ex Sante Fe.
Steve

        Even if the bolts were in the outer holes and cold weather managed to pull enough to get them in the inner most holes, nothing more than a wide gap at the joint with slow traffic.

Yes it was.  We rode it I believe 2 times from Wichita and several more times out of Kingman.  The siding you are thinking about was at Calista.  I was out there a few years ago and while the main track is still there the small elevator and the siding are both gone including that very light rail.

Cumbres

If you look at the joint bar in the upper right of the photo, it looks like it
is a "Transition" bar, to bolt 2 different sizes of rail together!

The second set of holes were probably punched to fit this transition bar to the rail!

Mike
 

Cumbres Wrote:
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>   The line ran from Wichita to Kingman, KS.
>
> Cumbres
>  

Previously known as the Kingman, Pratt & Western RR further westward (1885) and later known as the Wichita & Western RR (1889) that operated west through the Kansas counties of Pratt and Kiowa where it terminated after competing with the later known Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific RR (1887).  Around 1896 the trackage and stations in these two counties were eliminated back to Pratt.  Now from Pratt eastward the line no longer is passable in south Pratt, as several crossings have been paved over and the grain elevator there uses semi-trucks for movement of grain.  The station in Pratt still stands and is used by a private concern as office and storage facilities.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/21 20:25 by rrman6.

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#4 W&W Annual Report
#5 Pratt Depot Description
#6 Pratt Depot Photo (1950-60)

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There are special "Binocular Bolts" made for this application.

Anyone else notice the tie plate with the rail above it says "santa fe co"? I've never seen that before. 

YoungOldHead Wrote:

> Anyone else notice the tie plate with the rail
> above it says "santa fe co"? I've never seen that
> before. 

They were quite common, and you can still find them around on ex-Santa Fe branchlines and light-duty sidings.  Some even have the "N" backwards:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2316547

2720 Wrote:
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> If you look at the joint bar in the upper right of
> the photo, it looks like it
> is a "Transition" bar, to bolt 2 different sizes
> of rail together!
>
> The second set of holes were probably punched to
> fit this transition bar to the rail!
>
> Mike
>  
Wonder how that joint bar ever bolted up as holes are too close to the angle part drill even scared it no clearance for the nut or bolt to seat.
 

At first I thought it was a photo of the current end-of-track for California's High Speed Rail line under construction. But seriously there were, and probably still are many joints like this is Oregon. One of the worst was at Alpine Junction (near Monroe) where all sorts of mixed-mashed rail sizes were bolted together. There were wooded shims between the bottom of the rails and ties (and rotten ties at that.) Fish plates were broken in two in several places, but the gauge was fairly consistent. It was 10mph restricted trackage, but after watching Engineer Scott Pirie run his Willamette & Pacific GP9 over it several times, I thought even 5-mph maximum would be stretching it.

SP4360 Wrote:
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> There are special "Binocular Bolts" made for this
> application.

I could see that....;-)