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point rodding stool bases


Guest oldlugger

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Guest oldlugger

Does anyone know if the (concrete, etc) bases used to support point rodding stools were ever totally exposed from top to bottom or were they always buried in ballast, bar the upper surface? I presume that the ballast was used to help anchor the bases. Does anyone have any photos of these bases in situ in exposed condition (not ones that are waiting to be installed) with the stools and rodding in place?

 

Many thanks

Simon

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The $64,000 question is 'which pattern'; they varied between the Companies/BR Regions? The pics below show a few variants - the top pic shows Western pattern square rodding rollers on what look like 'standard' design stools. The middle pic shows Western rollers on what look very much to be Western pattern stools while the bottom pic shows standard pattern channel rodding rollers on standard pattern stools (and that run was still in process of installation.

 

All of these pics are on the South Devon Railway but as they were installed under the leadership of a former WR S&T man they are reasonably representative although it was usual Western practice to leave no more than the top level section of concrete exposed but this could vary according to ground conditions. The Western almost invariably used special concrete beds with steel plate bolted to it to mount rodding cranks as can be seen in several of the pics. I think Southern practice with channel and later installations of round rodding was not much different from the way the Western did it but I don't have any scanned photos; the aim of course is to ensure that the stool is sufficient secure in the ground so as to not tip when the rodding moves and to stop the rodding lifting or moving out of alignment.

 

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post-6859-0-56852000-1322521217_thumb.jpg

 

post-6859-0-32569500-1322521246_thumb.jpg

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Guest oldlugger

Many thanks Mike and Das for your posts and images! What excellent photos; they are just perfect for what I have in mind. I've been hunting around on Google without success, for proof that the bases were sometimes quite well exposed.

 

All the best

Simon

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The amount of the stool that is exposed all depends on the ground condition. The idea is to have a level rodding run, so each base will vary. Sometimes the ground will need digging away, or building up for this, but the general idea is to have as much of the stool in the ground as is possible to ensure it doesnt move anywhere.

 

Iain

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