jetmorgan Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 On my way home yesterday from the London Fest of Railway Modelling, waiting for my train at Redhill I noticed this fishplate clamped to one of the running rails. there was no track join there and it was only on one side of the track. What is the reason for having a fishplate clamped in this sort of position? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted March 26, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 26, 2017 Could it be for a track circuit connection ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37038 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 It may well be that a fault has been found by the ultrasonics inspection and the rail clamped to prevent failure before weld repair or rail replacement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Often seen around rail 'burns' where a wheel has spun and damaged the rail head, although I can't see any evidence of such when looking on my phone Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
great central Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Often seen around rail 'burns' where a wheel has spun and damaged the rail head, although I can't see any evidence of such when looking on my phone. Edit magnifying the picture there does seem to be some kind of marking on the rail head within the area of the fishplate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheatley Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 37038 has it, pre-emptive repair of something picked up by the ultrasonics team before it propagates into a bigger crack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetmorgan Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Often seen around rail 'burns' where a wheel has spun and damaged the rail head, although I can't see any evidence of such when looking on my phone. Edit magnifying the picture there does seem to be some kind of marking on the rail head within the area of the fishplate Actually yes there was a slight discolouration of the top of the rail. It went from bight shiny metal to a little less bright shiny metal and back to bright shiny metal so i did wonder if that was the situation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trog Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 The lighter patch of metal between the plates may be a previous arc weld repair, in which case the problem may be that not all the original defect was removed and it has continued to grow. Or there may be a crack starting to form between the repair and the metal of the rail. In either case it seems the fault has been detected probably as said earlier by ultra sonics. The clamp plates have then been fitted to support the rail, this will slow the propagation of the crack, giving more time to remove it before it fails, they will also mitigate the effects should the rail fail before the defect can be removed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted March 26, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 26, 2017 Its standard procedure when ultrasonics detect a flaw in the rail to clamp it up and is primarly done in case the defect cuses the rail to break and pose a derailment risk. If the defect cannot be clamped a pretty draconian speed restriction is required to ensure safety. (Note they are also used when a newly made weld has a defect but there is insufficient time within the possession to remake it). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjh Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 On my way home yesterday from the London Fest of Railway Modelling, waiting for my train at Redhill I noticed this fishplate clamped to one of the running rails. there was no track join there and it was only on one side of the track. What is the reason for having a fishplate clamped in this sort of position? Hello, A bit of detective work.... www search on: redhill rail clamp yields, first hit: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/accident-to-a-track-worker-near-redhill 15 Jun 2015 - He was the leader of a team of twelve people who were fitting emergency clamp plates to lengths of rail where cracks had been identified during an earlier inspection. Further searching on rail clamp etc finds pictures of similar devices, the clamp itself, as in your photo, resembles a woodworking G-cRamp. It appears from the illustrations that single-sided application, rather than the expected one-fish-per-side, is more unusual, but presumably the cracking here is so limited. One also expects that this and other emergency "splint" locations are being monitored for further deteriation and that rail replacement is is scheduled in the not long too distant future. Regards, Rodney Hills Surrey, UK Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim.snowdon Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Emergency fishplates, or which there are two types - plain, for use on plain rail, and the bellied type for use around welds - are always applied as a pair to the rail concerned. If the issue is a simple rail defect, as appears to be the case here, only the defective rail will be clamped. Defects due to wheelburn inevitably occur in both rails, so both rails would be clamped. Once fitted, each set, and the rail that is being protected, will be inspected on an enhanced basis until the defect is remedied, usually by cutting out and replacing the rail length.Defective welds can be cut out and remade with a special wide gap weld. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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