Northern ireland jointed track.

[Ironside]

I have read that Northern Ireland's last remaining section of jointed track to be replaced by continuously welded rail.

Would I be right in guessing that there isn't any left in Great Britain now either? I guess that there would be some on heritage railways still, I hope it is used somewhere as l like the feeling and sound of jointed track.

 

[Lrd]

There is loads of jointed track left in Britain.

 

[matchmaker]

There is loads of jointed track left in Britain.

Absolutely. Just one of many examples is the West Highland Line.

 

[IrishDave]

Absolutely. Just one of many examples is the West Highland Line.

There's lots on branch lines in the far-flung regions, but there's even bits and pieces in the south-east - between Wokingham and Guildford on the North Downs line there's bits of jointed track (through Farnborough North, I think?). It felt very odd going over jointed track in a (diverted) Voyager yesterday!

 

[RailProfileUK]

Plenty of it left in the high peak too. I can tell you the exact locations if needed.

cheers

 

[Ploughman]

I would imagine that there will still be plenty of jointed track in Northern Ireland in sidings and any freight routes.
There are some places that CWR cannot be installed in such as tight radius.

 

[Ironside]

Reading elsewhere it seems that jointed track remains in place on lines that are lightly used and there is a low track speed because it is cheaper to install, allthough requires more maintainance. I imagine rail that is at the extremities of the network are more likely to be jointed because of the expense of getting all the machinery in place for continuous rail.

Would I also be right in thinking that Network Rail is likely to replace some jointed track as it seems to be favouring machinery rather than labour intensive methods?

 

[edwin_m]

Probably more a matter of it not being broke so don't fix it.

Any replacement track is pretty much certain to be continuous welded, as seen on the Barnstaple branch for example. In the context of the high cost of replacing the track, laying welded will cost very little more than laying jointed, and gives the benefit of a smoother ride and less maintenance as well as the potential to increase line speeds.

But track won't be replaced unless it deteriorates to the state where maintenance becomes disproportionately expensive (which will happen well before it becomes unsafe) or if the amount or speed of traffic needs to be increased above what the existing track could take. On a minor branch line where trains are relatively few, light and slow, the track can last for many decades.

 

[RailProfileUK]

There will always be jointed track as long as the railway is in use. I know area's in the high peak such as Blackwell mill curve where the radius of the curve is to tight to install CWR. Due to the shape of Bullhead rail it can bend a lot more than CWR as it doesn't really have a foot. We tried to redesign Blackwell mill curve for CWR but there is not enough space on the outside of the curve to create track with a larger radius.

 

[DVD]

Diddley dee diddley da. Diddley dee diddley da. Never been quite sure what causes the sound of jointed track but is so nice !

 

[Monty]

Not only is there quite a lot of jointed track still around, but there is still a considerable amount of bullhead rail knocking about too.

 

[jopsuk]

Platforms 2 & 3 (south end bays, used a lot through the day from Kings Cross and Liverpool Street services) at Cambridge are jointed- they may even (my memory is ropy) be Bullhead. They're certainly pretty ropy...

 

[rebmcr]

Diddley dee diddley da. Diddley dee diddley da. Never been quite sure what causes the sound of jointed track but is so nice !

It's the spacing of the wheels on adjacent pairs of bogies.

 

[Trog]

There will always be jointed track as long as the railway is in use. I know area's in the high peak such as Blackwell mill curve where the radius of the curve is to tight to install CWR. Due to the shape of Bullhead rail it can bend a lot more than CWR as it doesn't really have a foot. We tried to redesign Blackwell mill curve for CWR but there is not enough space on the outside of the curve to create track with a larger radius.

The reason CWR is not used on tight curves is due to the risk of buckling due to compressive stress in the heat of the summer. It has nothing to do with the bend-ability or otherwise of the different rail sections.

 

[AndyPJG]

Not only is there quite a lot of jointed track still around, but there is still a considerable amount of bullhead rail knocking about too.

Bullhead rail on concrete sleepers exists too!

 

[Trog]

Bullhead rail on concrete sleepers exists too!

Bullhead CWR on concrete sleepers also exists.

 

[oddiesjack]

Just to put RailProfileUK's picture of Blackwell Mill curve in context, here it is in Feb 2011, showing the railway cottages, and Tunstead quarry in the distance

/

 

[Ploughman]

Bullhead CWR on concrete sleepers also exists.

And its a sod to stress.

 

[krus_aragon]

Bullhead CWR on concrete sleepers also exists.

Wuh?

Assuming that CWR installations are all relatively modern ones, and bullhead to be an old fashioned style of rail, why would one choose to use bullhead CWR?

 

[Trog]

Wuh?

Assuming that CWR installations are all relatively modern ones, and bullhead to be an old fashioned style of rail, why would one choose to use bullhead CWR?

The sections of this I have seen date back to the 1960's early 1970's when Bullhead was not quite so out of date. Indeed on one site the rails welded up to make the CWR had GWR markings.





Just what you need for the end of your bullhead CWR a 1960's bullhead breather switch.

 

[181]

Although the West Highland line has some CWR these days, it also has some stretches of jointed track which appear to be laid with short rails (45 feet?), identifiable by the continuous 'de-Dum-de-dum de-Dum-de-dum' rhythm from the wheels -- there are a few small sections between Fort William and Mallaig and (assuming it hasn't been relaid in the past few years) at least one between Crianlarich and Oban. Does this indicate that the track in question is very old?

Are there any other examples in the UK? On the other side of the Irish Sea, my recollection of a journey from Limerick Junction to Rosslare in 1997 is that there was a lot of such track, but I don't know if this is still the case.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Last summer it certainly sounded like jointed track under a 153 on the Northern end of HOWL...