Markings on the side of rail?

regarding the Elmira branch, the north-south (former PRR) part of the OMID is mostly 130 PS. And as Gordon says, it is not the same section as other similar weight rail.

I have an old track chart of the Elmira branch it's not complete and only shows Horseheads north to Newark. It does show three short sections
of 152lb rail.
mp2-4 listed as 52-51c probably still there 152lb installed 1951 just north of HO.
mp10-13 52-50f
mp42 52-53c
don't know what the c or f means
A little oddity the miles are listed in feet as 5332,5299,5302 etc.
Charles

RSD15 wrote:....A little oddity the miles are listed in feet as 5332,5299,5302 etc.
Charles

It's the same along the CSX Chicago line - at least for the portion of the 1998 track chart I have. Mileposts are generally randomly spaced by 50 - 100+ ft in excess of one mile.

A few exceptions however exist. Examples:

MP's 392 and 393 (West Bergen) are only 4,282 ft apart
MP's 393/394 and 394/395 are both spaced 5,279 ft - ALMOST dead on

----

Possible explanations for these discrepancies:

1 - Errors by the original surveyors the when the section was laid out (it began as the Tonawanda RR in the early 1830's). However consistent errors of this magnitude seem a bit unlikely - even with the rudimentary surveying technology available then.
2 - Deliberate understatement of route mileage by the original builders to cheat construction contractors.
3 - Deliberate understatement by RR management to reduce property taxes.

Just my guesses however.

...FB

This was brought to my attention years ago when asking about the same thing after noting that the Mile Posts did not click in with our digital trip odometers on the Sperry Cars when doing inspections. There were two trip odometers one starts out at 0.0 the other only records after hitting each mile. The first trip changes 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, miles ect until it hits 1 mile then the 2ed trip records it while the 1st trip restarts it's self at .0 miles the 2ed one only tells us how many miles we traveled. This was how we keeped track of the exact location of each defect. Lets say the defect was picked off at 14.45 it means the defect was located at 14.45 miles on the trip odometer we could then stop and back the car up until we reached that spot then get out and do the visual and equipment inspection. Our CSX Rep (Former CR/PC Guy) at the time told us that a Railroad Mile can be as long or as short as they want or need it to be between Junctions, Yards, and Towers and other important locations and so forth.

NYC and PRR were also known to record miles only from the inside of curves as well so if the curve was more than a mile and half but the curve was 1 mile exact starting from the start to end of the curve then it was counted as 1 mile. They also did a lot of rounding up and rounding down on mile posts as well if City A was line was 1.4 miles long they might say it's only 2 mile long. If a Line was cut back for some reason and lets say it was scaled back to 1.1. miles they would say it's 1 mile long or something like that. All this was explained to us by some of the old timers in the MOW department during the CR/CSX merger that were still kicking around 13 years ago when I my self was working for Sperry at the time.

Here are the markings on new CWR set out around MP 386 (Churchville) in mid-October 2012. Note the rail was rolled by Lucchini - a large Italian steel firm.

Incidentally Gruppo Lucchini is 60% owned by Severstal - a RUSSIAN steel and mining company. It's a sad commentary on the demise of the American steel industry.



More rail drop photos are posted here: http://farmallbob.rrpicturearchives.net ... x?id=84302

...FB

Can anyone tell me what the "VT" in the markings on that 136 means?

Track Tester wrote:Can anyone tell me what the "VT" in the markings on that 136 means?

VT means vacuum treated.

Essentially a partial vacuum is applied to the steel while it is still molten. This removes much of the dissolve gases from the melt - especially hydrogen. This improves the steel's toughness and fatigue resistance.

You may also see rail marked with "CC" which means controlled cooled. Here the steel is cooled at a carefully controlled rate which which also improves the finished steel's properties.

...FB

Of course Severstal owns the former Rouge Steel mill just south of Detroit, MI though they don't produce rail there.

Track Tester wrote:Can anyone tell me what the "VT" in the markings on that 136 means?

The 136 might mean 136 pound rail?

scharnhorst wrote:

Track Tester wrote:Can anyone tell me what the "VT" in the markings on that 136 means?

The 136 might mean 136 pound rail?

Correct

I know this is an old thread, but it looks like the only one I have found so far related to Rail Manufacturer codes.

Anyone seen a "Manufacturer" code of USA ?
Found on a rail in Coahuilla, Mexico.