From the patent, it looks like it's all
about the cross section of the rail, not any special composition.
US2260211A
- Torsion-resisting rail - Google Patents
It also looks like Google's OCR program had problems figuring out
some of the letters.
Gerry Michael
On 4/26/2025 5:39 PM, zephyr98072 via groups.io wrote:
Leo:
I can't answer that question, because I never studied or
understood the metallurgical side of rail. I am attaching an
advertisement that CB&Q made on TR rail, but it only talks
about the physical dimension changes. I think I read somewhere
that the Q's experiment with TR rail did include changes to the
properties of the steel in order to produce stronger rail, but I
can't find it. I will add that TR rail did appear to wear quite
well in service.
While we are on the subject of rail, specifically TR rail, I
will make another comment. Earl Currie made reference to the
fact, in some of his books, and at seminars he presented at BRHS
meetings, that CB&Q had very few miles of welded rail. With
all due respect, that is not true. CB&Q actually had about
360 miles of new CWR, and over 60 miles of second-hand CWR, and
another 16 miles of new CWR was laid in 1970 by BN using 136#
CWR ordered by the Q. They also had about 390 miles of
112#TR-78' rails and about 160 miles of 129#TR-78' rails. While
the 78' rail was not considered CWR, it did eliminate half of
the joints, so that 550 miles of TR rail in 78' lengths did
contribute greatly to reduced joint maintenance.
I have a list of all of the CWR and 78' rail taken from
alignment charts, so it is unofficial, but still pretty
accurate. I can provide this to Dave Lotz if he needs any
further information for what he plans to put in the Bulletin.
Glen Haug
Glen,
Your vast detailed knowledge of all
things Q always amazes me.
Going even deeper into the subject of
rail do you know if there were improvements/ differences in
these various rail designations as to chemical contents and
attributes? By this I mean the percent of things like
copper,magnesium,etc in the steel which improved characteristics
of hardness, resistance to wear and degree of brittleness,etc ?
Dealt with this type of stuff with
tank cars and tank plate in my old job so I’m guessing there
were similar improvements in rail. Also deal with chemical
makeup of what goes into a steel in present job.
Thanks,
Leo Phillipp
Dave:
RE is short for AREA, which stood for American Railway
Engineering Association. AREA (now AREMA) sets many standards
for US Railroads, and one of them was standard rail sections.
That is why you will see the letters RE on rail sections such
as 112 RE, 131 RE and 136 RE on alignment charts. You may
also see ARA on small rail sizes such as 90#, and I think ARA
may have been a predecessor to RE.
TR is short for Torsion Resistant. This was strictly a
CB&Q rail, and the Q even had a patent on it. There were
only two rail sizes that I know of: 112 TR and 129 TR. Most
of this rail was laid in 39' sections, but there were also
substantial amounts of 78' rails. I think they started using
TR rail in the early 40's, perhaps mid 40's. The 129 #
section was used as a standard heavy rail section until the Q
adopted 136#RE in (I think) 1961. 129# was also the first
continuous welded rail (CWR) on the Q, although it was only
installed as CWR in the Boysen Tunnel (in 1950).
If you can obtain a copy of CB&Q Standard Plans, compare
the cross-sections of the various rail sizes. TR rails have a
narrower, less pronounced head, and thicker filets at the
interfaces of the head and base with the stem. This was (some
say) good and (some say) bad. Former Q roadmasters always
said TR stood for "tough rail". I once observed (in 1990)
some 129TR west of Burlington that had been laid in the 1950's
as 78' rail, and subsequently "Holland" (in place) welded, and
it looked almost perfect, in spite of what must have been a
phenomenal amount of tonnage by that time. The roadmaster
told me that he wished he had all of his 129# rail back
instead of the 132# that BN had replaced it with.
The bad news: BN was never going to extend the use of TR rail,
because it was no longer standard, and you can't transpose it
(swap the rails) due to curve wear. The Q did not do a lot of
transposing, having a fairly straight railroad. The BN had a
lot of curves where transposing was a precursor to replacing
stick rail with CWR.
Glen Haug
Hello all,
On the Q’s alignment charts I
see abbreviations for the rails laid, TR and RE. Will
someone please instruct me as to what they stand for?
Thanks!
Dave