Garden Railway Forum

Wooden Rails:

Replica American 1854 wrought iron strap rail

This is mainline track for locomotive haulage, hence the widely-spaced ties:



How the rail was fixed - a method leading to tragedy on the mainline once the spike heads wore through:




Historical wooden railed Bush Trams Down Under

Most (but not all) of these are for draught animal haulage, hence the large number of cheap rough sleepers laid close to make a walkway for their iron-shod hooves:


















Sawmill track for man-haulage

with a smooth walkway for hob-nailed boots:





Strap-rail 2-rail Model Track by Veronika Today

Living in America, Veronika has represented old mainline track not old Bush Tram track - but see the last picture:







Today's uncapped wooden track after four years out of doors:




Recent short track Down Under

Because this late 20C track is for a small Bush Tractor rather than horses, it doesn't need close sleepers:



Plenty more stuff online - for instance google <Strap Iron Rail> and click Images.

David 1/2d

I forget where, but I once saw a woodcut image of the inside of an early passenger car, in which the steel strap rail had come adrift and had lifted up and in the picture it was depicted in the act of tearing through the floor right down the aisle at great speed, with a wake of destruction behind it. In the picture a gentleman was leaping over it. It looked very frightening.

tuppenced, - thank you for this, - I could kiss you for posting all this wonderful information

Annie:114905 wrote:tuppenced, - thank you for this, - I could kiss you for posting all this wonderful information  :D

I'll be right over on the next train, Ma'am!

As it happens I've an invitation to the closure of the 16mm Sunnyfield Railway in NZ. Not yet sure whether to sail from Suez or Vladivostok.

David

Keith S:114904 wrote:the steel strap rail had come adrift and had lifted up and in the picture it was depicted in the act of tearing through the floor right down the aisle at great speed, with a wake of destruction behind it.

It was called a Snakehead, Keith, and here's a rather over-compressed diagram showing how a loose strap could catch on a wheel rim and tear through the floor on one side of a car.



David

Thank you for sharing, this is very interesting...

It almost once could have been used for mainline steam. See

http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/resu ... e=10419778

Both elements of the invention actually were used for mainline, though not necessarily at once and not in Britain (as per the link) - though to be fair this thread isn't about Britain.

In the USA, wooden rails actually were used on mainlines, and elsewhere angled guide wheels were used with iron rails.

David 1/2d

Wooden rails with angled guide wheels were used on the first railway built in Southland NZ. It was not a success.



Lady Barkly replica at Invercargill NZ.

finding this all very interesting very good keep up the work on your line and more pictures