RailEI – The Railway “Everything” Institution?
Yes, we need a name change. Permanent way is no longer a term used in the industry and it means/always meant only track.
But PWI is not now, and it should never be …
VOTE!
The PWI is holding a vote for a proposed name change.
If you are a member of the Institution, vote!
If you are curious, here are my two pence on the matter (seatbelts, please) …
If you travel by train you know …
Digging for the origin of the concept of virtual transition, I found a legal document from 1915 and, as I was travelling by train, I understood that it is a fact of common sense …
On the shoulders of giants
A non-railway-related story about coins, giants, curvature equivalence, lion’s claws and apples, presenting also the strange optical connection between Isaac Newton and the railway rules for turnout bending.
The tangent method of bending turnouts
A (bit) more accurate alternative method to calculate the equivalent radius for bending turnouts is based on the tangent defined by the crossing angle…
The versine formula and its limitations
Where the author eloquently discusses the versine formula and the accuracy loss implied by ignoring a historically insignificant term of its equation, demonstrates an easily replicable CAD check of this inaccuracy, and reveals the EXACT versine formula.
One sleeper vs many – you will never guess which is stronger!
An interesting research shows a comparison between the lateral resistance tests undertaken on single sleeper and tests on multiple sleepers.
The results for single sleeper tests show a huge difference between the more complex shaped sleeper and the normal box shape (up to 60% increase in lateral resistance).
But reveals also something else ..
The article I don’t want to write – Virtual Transition forensics
In 1952 the Virtual Transition principle was presented to the Railway Engineering Division of ICE.
Later it became part of the Handbook No 3 Railway Curves.
A railway track blog 