Fishplate dimensions

[corneliuslundie]

I thought it would be easy to find out but apparently not.

How long were typical pre-grouping 4-hole fishplates?

Jonathan

[Dave John]

The ones used by the Caledonian Railway were 1' 6"  long. 

 

I can't say whether or not that is typical. 

[t-b-g]

There are many different drawings of fishplates for different companies here:

 

https://www.oldpway.info/opw_drawings.html

 

There is a decent chance that you will find one correct for the actual company you are interested in.

 

Edit to add that the 1905 GWR type is 1ft 8ins long, as I spotted the GWR interest!

 

https://www.oldpway.info/drawings/1905jt_d18_GWR.pdf

 

It really is a superb resource for modelling track properly.

Edited October 31, 2022 by t-b-g
add content

[kitpw]

1' 6" is the size I've used for GWR trackwork (to suit date of 1927).  With a sleeper centre to centre at railjoints of 2' 1" and chairs of width 7 1/2" (at base), 1' 6" just fits into the chair to chair gap.  if I remember it right, t-b-g's reference above is where the dimension came from.

 

 

 

[t-b-g]

14 minutes ago, kitpw said:

1' 6" is the size I've used for GWR trackwork (to suit date of 1927).  With a sleeper centre to centre at railjoints of 2' 1" and chairs of width 7 1/2" (at base), 1' 6" just fits into the chair to chair gap.  if I remember it right, t-b-g's reference above is where the dimension came from.

 

 

 

 

You had me looking again with that post as I saw 1ft 8ins on the drawing.

 

Looking at the plan view, we are both correct. It looks as if the fishplate outside the rail is 1ft 6ins but the one on the inside is 1ft 8ins.

 

I had never spotted that before.

Edited October 31, 2022 by t-b-g
correction

[kitpw]

28 minutes ago, t-b-g said:

You had me looking again with that post as I saw 1ft 8ins on the drawing

...and me... and checking back, I see I had never spotted the 1' 8" dimension!  I also had a look through GWR Switch & Crossing Practice (David J Smith) which gives the same dimensions for 4 hole plates - 18" on the outside and 20" on the inside with the wider plate bearing on the jaws of the chairs either side (so better accuracy required for sleeper spacing at rail joints than I usually manage!).  Smith also adds that the GWR introduced 2 hole plates in 1935 for use with 95R BS rail: these were 9" long (GWR also tried 10" plates at some point around 1935) but continued with 18"/20" for crossing work and sharper curves. 

 

  

Edited October 31, 2022 by kitpw

[Trog]

GWR two hole fishplate still in use on a running line in the early 2000's.

[Siberian Snooper]

Up until recently there was 10 panels of track in use on the ESR just west of Cranmore, main to shed crossover.

 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

Note on the photos above how close together the end sleepers under each rail are.

 

I don't think there's many 2-hole fishplates left on running lines, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them on a little used siding in a yard, especially one that is no longer connected to system.

 

 

[Trog]

I believe that the LNER also used three hole fishplates, but I have never seen one.