Rail Lengths
Rails should be made as long as possible since joints between raillengths are a source of weakness. As manufacturing processes have improved, raillengths have increased. Long rails flex like snakes and there is no problem going around curves.
- (In order of date then length)
- 1830 15 feet (4.6 m) Liverpool and Manchester Railway
- 1850 39 feet (11.9 m) (to suit 40-foot or 12.2-metre gondola wagons)
- 1950 60 feet (18.3 m) (four times 15ft and two time 30ft)
- 2010 853 feet (260 m) Bhilai Steel Plant
Welding of rails into longer lengths was first introduced around 1893.
- 1895 Hans Goldschmidt
- 1935 Charles Cadwell, non-ferrous Thermit welding
Read more about this topic: Rail Profile
Famous quotes containing the words rail and/or lengths:
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