... that the rails were 24 ft long, but adds that the principal improvement was a change in the profile and weight of the rail to reduce the incidence of fractures together with a corresponding alteration in the design of the chair. This implies that no change was made to the spacing of the sleepers. But the figures don't add up! Based on this evidence, the S& C rail introduced in 1870 and the I. S.& C. rail ntroduced in 1875 appear to have comprised seven sleepers at 3 ft centres bookended by ones with 2 ft 6 ins centres and end projections of 1' 1" to which the fishplates were attached, giving a total length of 25 ft 2 ins, whereas the rails are known to have been 24 ft long. I am not as bothered about the S& C rail, but I would like to know the correct sleeper spacings for the I. S.& C. rail. Can anyone help? My own guess is that the middle seven sleepers were 2 ft 11 ins apart, the ...