North British Railways track chairs 3 bolt or 4 ?

[nigelb]

Can some kind person let me know what type of Chair the North British used before the turn of the century in the Morpeth area 

 

Kind regards nigel

[jim.snowdon]

Nigel,

 

Assuming that you mean the last two decades of the 19th century, the answer is almost certainly going to be 4-hole chairs, with outside keys, although inside keys might be a possibility, depending on the precise period in question and the nature of the tracks concerned. Inside keys were not universal, so might or might not have been used by the NB, and if they were, once they decided in favour of outside keying, the changeover would almost certainly have been arranged to give the main running lines priority.

 

Jim

[bécasse]

One fastening inside the rail, two fastenings outside, with a very decided rib between those two fastenings. Keying was outside. I suspect that the fastenings were trenails rather than bolts but I couldn't find a photo that was sufficiently clear to be certain - the difference is unlikely to bother modellers.

 

NBR chairs were very distinctive, quite unlike anything installed post-grouping, although examples could still be found in use on sidings into the 1960s.

 

The NBR also used flat bottom rail on minor branches and it wasn't unknown to find stretches of track with round-topped sleepers, especially in sidings.

Edited August 10, 2017 by bécasse

[jim.snowdon]

There is some useful information relating to the NBR on the Old Permanent Way website - http://www.oldpway.info/opw_drawings.html#NBR_dwgs .

 

Jim