Templot Club Archive 2007-2020
|
|||
| author | remove search highlighting | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
posted: 11 Aug 2008 02:43 from: GeoffJones
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
A question for our historians, but nothing to do with Templot  I recently moved to the village of Pontesbury in Shropshire and walking the dog along the old railway track near Pontesbury station I have noticed the remains of an old sign supported by a steel post shaped as shown in the attached rough sketch. The apex is slightly sloped to one side, suggesting either design or wear from wheels. The base is about 150mm across. Is this a piece of very old rail (possibly narrow gauge) or just some sort of heavy angle iron used for such purposes. It does seem pretty hefty for simply supporting a sign. I haven't had time to find out much about the line yet but I do know that it was a single line branch of the Shrewsbury and Welshpool Joint Railway and the principal traffic was lead from the mines at Snailbeach which was brought down to Pontesbury station on a 2ft 4 1/2in narrow gauge line. Any ideas? Regards Geoff |
||
| Attachment: attach_331_520_railsection.png 274 | |||
|
posted: 11 Aug 2008 03:09 from: John Lewis
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
It looks a bit like a Barlow rail. | ||
|
posted: 11 Aug 2008 22:51 from: Richard Spratt
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Looks similar to a piece of rail that I have that has a GWR boundary boss cast on one end. The same width, total height 80mm. Looking in GW Way, Slinn, my rail looks like 68 or 72lb Bridge rail. The main difference to your example is that the sides are near vertical. Barlow rail was nearly 12" wide at the base, so I doubt it's Barlow. |
||
|
posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:53 from: George Harris
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
There is a considerable quantity of this type of rail in the Forest of Dean. I was told that it was used on secondary lines and sidings in broad gauge days whereas the Barlow rail was used on the original GW main lines. Many companies built lines to be compatible with / connect up with the GW broad gauge. It can be found in fences alongside the river Wye near Symonds Yat and all along the old Forest of Dean Central Railway, where a bridge can still be found with a deck made from Barlow rail. Some of the remaining private coal adits also are railed in this type of rail which looks very old and pitted. ATB George Harris |
||
| Attachment: attach_332_520_opt_0001.JPG 217 | |||
|
posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:54 from: George Harris
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
First image shows smaller rail and the second shows the Barlow rail in the bridge. George |
||
| Attachment: attach_333_520_opt_0001_1.JPG 219 | |||
|
posted: 13 Aug 2008 16:50 from: GeoffJones
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Thank you everyone. It certainly isn't Barlow rail; it's much too small. I measured it a bit more carefully and it is 165mm accross the flange and 75mm high. It is very like the rail that Richard describes and George shows in his first photo. My rough sketch was very rough and the sides are near vertical: I have atached a photo that I took yesterday that shows this. I think it is possible that it came from the old Snailbeach Railway. Col. Stephens took it over in 1923 and re-laid much of the main line with 45lb rail according to the Col. Stephens Museum web site. If this type of rail was used previously there would have been plenty of it lying around to use for signs or whatever. I don't suppose the GW carted scrap like this around the country to use in this way. The line was GW/LNW joint and presumably GW/LMS joint after 1923. I have plenty of book buying and reading to do over the winter to find out more about the local railways. Geoff |
||
| Attachment: attach_334_520_Old_Rail_Pontesbury.JPG 230 | |||
|
posted: 13 Aug 2008 17:18 from: John Lewis
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
The bottom photo looks like the slice of bridge rail I have. Mine is about 150 mm wide across the foot, the tall section is about 60 mm wide, it is about 72 mm high. The "tunnel" in the middle is about 25 mm wide and 50 mm tall. John |
||
|
posted: 13 Aug 2008 23:14 from: George Harris
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
This image shows the bridge rail in use outside a mine at Howbeach, FoD. It carries small hand pushed tubs to a waste tip behind the trees to the right. It was taken April 2007. The mine is in occasional use. It is the remaining one of about 7 in this area most of which have now been capped off to prevent folk taken an unpleasant fall. I wonder if Templot allows for angular joins  The rail is 'nailed' straight to the ground!George. |
||
| Attachment: attach_335_520_opt_0001.JPG 210 | |||
|
posted: 15 Aug 2008 23:36 from: richard_t
click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
I came across some of this rail as a fence post near the old Ashendon Junction, on the old ex GWR-GC joint (I think  ) |
||
| Please read this important note about copyright: Unless stated otherwise, all the files submitted to this web site are copyright and the property of the respective contributor. You are welcome to use them for your own personal non-commercial purposes, and in your messages on this web site. If you want to publish any of this material elsewhere or use it commercially, you must first obtain the owner's permission to do so. |