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…
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 ..
When a non-compliant alignment is also so compliant …
Long time ago, a good friend of mine, had an interesting design experience. He designed a non-compliant alignment and, after slueing it about 1mm, he turned it into compliant. The magic is described here …
Should we change the Virtual Transition length?
A different kind of article … Antescript Several times, in the last ten years, I started to write articles with this title. The only draft I kept is so convoluted and confusing that I might even decide to publish it. I have a few answers to this question. There is one I hesitate to put…
Measuring the track radius in degrees Celsius
On the shoulders of CWR giants In 1994 UIC (the International Union of Railways) and ERRI (the European Railway Research Institute) set up a committee of specialists – D202 – to develop an international standard code for laying and maintenance of continuous welded rail track. Various research institutions and national railway administrations provided a complex…
snippet – Lateral resistance before and after tamping
Things you find on Spark. In 1972, RTC conducted a series of tests to evaluate the effect on tamping on the track lateral resistance. Their results, published in 1973, have been referenced in numerous other research documents, including the ERRI D202 Reports – the committee that produced UIC Leaflet 720R “Laying and Maintenance of CWR…
snippet – Swiss CRT
It was very nice to find this in a standard. Snippet taken from here.
Hallade’s broken clothoid
I mentioned in a previous article, The Cubic Parabola – a complicated simplification, that the curvature diagram of the Cubic Parabola increases linearly up to a peak point and then drops down. Only that first section of the parabolic curve can be used as an alignment transition. The curvature diagram of the Clothoid is however…
A railway track blog 