Setting back and turning rails?

[Peter Fox]

I'm reading a 1949 accident report on the ex-GC line north of Loughborough. From the Railways Archive website:
Report on the Collision which occurred on the 9th January 1949, near Loughborough in the Eastern Region (British Railways)...

The PW work involved was 'turning and setting back' rails, and also 'setting back' separately. I'd be grateful if somebody could enlighten me on both terms.

 

[ComUtoR]

Set back - Stick it in reverse. (in terms of driving trains)

In the context of the report I think that's totally different and refers to PWay work of some description.

 

[furnessvale]

Rails are turned so that a new wearing face is presented to the gauge corner to even out wear and extend the life of the rail. In a similar move, rails are "transposed", ie swapped across the 4ft without turning to achieve the same answer.

Over time, the constant action of train wheels on rails acts like a steel works rolling mill, making jointed rails longer, thus losing the expansion gaps, and long welded rails less stressed. Welded rails need to be restressed but with jointed track you cut out one bolt hole and then pull the affected rails back to a correct joint gap. Keep doing that, rail after rail, and gradually the 5" you cut out disappears and we can all go home (hopefully).

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Rails are turned so that a new wearing face is presented to the gauge corner to even out wear and extend the life of the rail. In a similar move, rails are "transposed", ie swapped across the 4ft without turning to achieve the same answer.

Over time, the constant action of train wheels on rails acts like a steel works rolling mill, making jointed rails longer, thus losing the expansion gaps, and long welded rails less stressed. Welded rails need to be restressed but with jointed track you cut out one bolt hole and then pull the affected rails back to a correct joint gap. Keep doing that, rail after rail, and gradually the 5" you cut out disappears and we can all go home (hopefully).

Fully correct, though modern alternatives for setting back would be pulling back or regulating joints. Also, all rails move downhill under traffic, so you have to keep moving them back up.

 

[eastwestdivide]

'Setting back' could also just mean 'putting back', in the way some people say 'set that down there' as an alternative to 'put that down there'.

 

[Peter Fox]

Aha! Now it all makes sense. Thanks for your clear explanation JL.

 

[furnessvale]

Aha! Now it all makes sense. Thanks for your clear explanation JL.

Glad to be of help.
furnessvale.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

Aha! Now it all makes sense. Thanks for your clear explanation JL.

All furnessvale's own work - my contribution was minor.

 

[edwin_m]

'Setting back' could also just mean 'putting back', in the way some people say 'set that down there' as an alternative to 'put that down there'.

The report mentions "setting back and turning rails" which suggests that setting back in this context was a separate operation and not just putting the rails back after they were turned. One site was mentioned as doing setting back only according to the notices - it states later that rails were turned as well but from the lack of query it seems that setting back on its own happened routinely. There is another clue in the quote that "setting back produced gaps which were as dangerous as turning rails". I hazard a guess that a gap of somewhere around a foot would be pretty much certain to cause derailment but a train might "jump" a shorter one.

I think from all this we can conclude that "setting back" is as described by a previous poster - the re-positioning of rails which involves creating a long gap between sucessive rails during the operation.

It is also used, as mentioned, to describe a short reversal of a train such as might happen after a platform overrun - in fact I believe the DMU buzzer code included one for "set back". But that clearly isn't what is intended here.

 

[eastwestdivide]

The report mentions "setting back and turning rails" which...

Ah, thanks. That word order in the actual report makes more sense for your definition - the OP had put 'turning and setting back', which is why I suggested an alternative interpretation.