rhensley_anderson
May 21st, 2002, 02:23 AM
In e-mails with Maurice, I suggested that he might want to explain what he meant by rail run. Here is his reply. I have added this to the aricle on the RRofMadCty site
Maurice said...
I better explain what I meant by "if the rail would run." When a rail parted for whatever reason, and the weather cooled, the rail shrunk. This involved the rails themselves and in the case of, let's say at fall creek at Emporia, if the rail broke north of the elevator switch the track would run north down the hill. When you replaced the rail with a standard length rail it would be short a few inches. You applied the rail stretcher to both parted rails through the bolt holes. The stretcher had a long 1 1/2" bolt with a ratchet in the middle that you operated with a lining bar. The threading on the bolt was like a turnbuckle. When the rail came together you removed the stretcher. You then replaced the joint bars and trains could run.
LEW
Maurice said...
I better explain what I meant by "if the rail would run." When a rail parted for whatever reason, and the weather cooled, the rail shrunk. This involved the rails themselves and in the case of, let's say at fall creek at Emporia, if the rail broke north of the elevator switch the track would run north down the hill. When you replaced the rail with a standard length rail it would be short a few inches. You applied the rail stretcher to both parted rails through the bolt holes. The stretcher had a long 1 1/2" bolt with a ratchet in the middle that you operated with a lining bar. The threading on the bolt was like a turnbuckle. When the rail came together you removed the stretcher. You then replaced the joint bars and trains could run.
LEW