Q rail given at retirements

[NW Mailing List]

Abram

Very interesting.  I always thought the only rail that used cast chairs and wooden keys was "bullhead" rail that was symmetrical. This allowed it to be turned over after the top surface became too worn and needed to be replaced. 

You are a great storehouse of information. Thank you fir the excellent pictures. 

Sent from my digital telegraph key
Jim Stapleton


> On Jun 20, 2019, at 10:16, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> A story...
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> 
> 
> The Venerable William H. (Bill) Harman, circa 1940-hire telegrapher on the Radford Division, related the following to me more than 40 years ago.  After the big 1972 Hurricane Agnes, there was a washout somewhere on the east slope of the Allegheny Mountain, and in the clean-up the MW Department found a length of U-Rail, of some few feet in length.  Bill gave me a number for an estimate of the length, but I do not recall that number.  Somewhere around 8 feet, I think.
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> Bill called Mr. Claytor, whom he knew, and Claytor had the piece of rail taken to Roanoke and sawed into chunks.
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> I am attaching some photos of U-rail in my own collection, but none of the pieces are from the N&W.
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> Also attached is a photo of a sliver of "Chair Rail," found on the PRR Main Line east of Johnstown, Pa, after a wash-out, and a drawing of how Chair Rail was used an early "stone sleepers" (before wooden cross ties.)
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> And finally, since we are in the afterglow of the 150th anniversary of Promontory, there is a photo of 60 pound wrought iron rail originally laid on the Central Pacific portion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Pequops Summit, Nevada, about 160 or so miles west of Promontory.  This rail was rolled at the Waterman & Beaver mill in Danville, Pa, and floated from Philadelphia, around Cape Horn, and up to Sacramento, from which point it was hauled by the Central Pacific eastward to the head of construction.
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> 
>   -- abram burnett
> 
> curmudgeon, pro tem
> 
> 
> ===========================================
>                   Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
> Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
> ==========================================
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