oldpway.info Details of:
The "1895 Strengthening of Permanent Way (English speaking countries) Drawings" are 35 plates from the 1895 International Railway Congress report, Hunt_1895, by W Hunt, on "Strengthening of Permanent Way in View of Increased Speed of Trains (English speaking countries)". This was Report 2 for Section 1 Question I of the 1895 International Railway Congress. The drawings show the plain line permanent way (mostly rail joint, fishplate, rail section, chair, fixings, sleeper spacing and formation) used by a number of British, Colonial and USA railways.
For an explanation of the IRC see IRC_article.
The drawings accompany a written report, Hunt_1895 (Details of report), which analyses how plain line permanent way was designed in 1895, when every company had their own design for all parts of the permanent way. In particular the report considers rails, rail connections, keys and sleepers, and ballast. This report was for English speaking countries; a separate report considered the same question for non-English speaking countries.
The drawings on oldpway are high resolution (600 dpi) scans made from the published IRC report (English version), including plates 32 to 35 from the Addenda. They are from the copy of the report owned by John Arkell, to whom thanks are given.
These drawings are free to copy and use for any purpose, but please credit oldpway as the source.
The files are pdf format. When viewed at 100% size, they are the size of the published drawings. The overall sizes are about 8½" wide by 6" high. The drawings include very small details that are best viewed at 400% size. The scans are currently grey scale (high quality JPEG) images, without borders and labels and without adjusting rotation. They are each about 1MB in size. If any details are unclear at high resolution please contact oldpway so the original drawings and greyscale scans can be examined.
Prints scaled to fit A4 are mostly usable, but A3 is better, and larger prints or zoomed in screen viewing are needed to read small details and dimensions. The scans show a little bleed-through from the backs of the pages. When time permits these drawings may be replaced with black and white scans, to eliminate bleed-through, add borders and reduce file size.
The following table is a duplicate of the list on the oldpway drawings page. It details all the drawings, gives links to view them on-line, and includes the rail weights in lbs per yard. Rails are bull head (BH) except where noted as flat bottomed (FB). Fishplates are normal (extends between head and foot of rail), or wide (extends out and down to bottom of foot of rail), or wrapping (extends down and round under foot of rail), or deep (extends below foot of rail). The page numbers, I/47 to I/77 and I/87 to I/90, are the page numbers in the English version of the 1895 IRC Proceedings. I indicates that this concerns Question I that was considered at the 1895 Congress.
Plate | Page | File | Link | Rail | Description |
1 | I/47 | 1895pw_pl01_CamR | View | 80lbs | Cambrian Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
2 | I/48 | 1895pw_pl02_FR | View | 80½lbs | Furness Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
3 | I/49 | 1895pw_pl03_GER | View | 85lbs | Great Eastern Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
4 | I/50 | 1895pw_pl04_GNR | View | 85lbs | Great Northern Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
5 | I/51 | 1895pw_pl05_GWR | View | 92lbs | Great Western Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
6 | I/52 | 1895pw_pl06_LYR | View | 86lbs | Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
7 | I/53 | 1895pw_pl07_LBSCR | View | 84lbs | London Brighton & South Coast Railway. Joint with deep fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
8 | I/54 | 1895pw_pl08_LNWR | View | 80 & 90lbs | London & North Western Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail sections. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
9 | I/55 | 1895pw_pl09_LSWR | View | 87lbs | London & South Western Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
10 | I/56 | 1895pw_pl10_MSLR | View | 86lbs | Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
11 | I/57 | 1895pw_pl11_MR | View | 85lbs | Midland Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
12 | I/58 | 1895pw_pl12_NER | View | 90lbs | North Eastern Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
13 | I/59 | 1895pw_pl13_SER | View | 82lbs | South Eastern Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
14 | I/60 | 1895pw_pl14_CalR | View | 90lbs | Caledonian Railway. Joint with wrapping fishplate. Rail section. Chair. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
15 | I/61 | 1895pw_pl15_GSWR | View | 90lbs | Glasgow & South Western Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
16 | I/62 | 1895pw_pl16_HR | View | 76½,77 & 80lbs | Highland Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail sections. Chair with key. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
17 | I/63 | 1895pw_pl17_NBR | View | 84lbs | North British Railway. Joint with normal fishplate. Rail section. Formation. |
18 | I/64 | 1895pw_pl18_GNRI_1 | View | 85lbs BH | Great Northern Railway Ireland (sheet 1). Joint with wrapping fishplate. BH rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
19 | I/65 | 1895pw_pl19_GNRI_2 | View | 79lbs FB | Great Northern Railway Ireland (sheet 2). Joint with deep fishplate. FB rail section. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
20 | I/66 | 1895pw_pl20_GSWRI | View | 74lbs FB | Great Southern & Western Railway (Ireland). Joint with wrapping & normal fishplates. FB rail section. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
21 | I/67 | 1895pw_pl21_CORusa | View | 75lbs FB | Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (USA). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail section. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
22 | I/68 | 1895pw_pl22_CBQRusa | View | 75lbs FB | Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad (USA). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail section. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
23 | I/69 | 1895pw_pl23_ICRusa | View | 70 & 75lbs FB | Illinois Central Railroad (USA). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail sections. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
24 | I/70 | 1895pw_pl24_LSMSRusa | View | 71lbs FB | Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad (USA). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail section. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
25 | I/71 | 1895pw_pl25_NYCHRRusa_1 | View | 100lbs FB | New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (USA) (sheet 1). Joint with wide fishplate. |
26 | I/72 | 1895pw_pl26_NYCHRRusa_2 | View | 100lbs FB | New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (USA) (sheet 2). Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
27 | I/73 | 1895pw_pl27_NYCHRRusa_3 | View | 65,70,75,80 & 100lbs FB | New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (USA) (sheet 3). FB rail sections. |
28 | I/74 | 1895pw_pl28_PRusa | View | 65,70 & 85lbs FB | Pennsylvania Railroad (USA). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail sections. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
29 | I/75 | 1895pw_pl29_EIRind | View | 85lbs | East Indian Railway (India). Joint with wide fishplate. Rail section. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. |
30 | I/76 | 1895pw_pl30_NSWGRaus_1 | View | 80lbs BH | New South Wales Government Railways (Australia) (sheet 1). Joint with normal fishplate. BH rail section. Chair with key. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
31 | I/77 | 1895pw_pl31_NSWGRaus_2 | View | 80lbs FB | New South Wales Government Railways (Australia) (sheet 2). Joint with normal & wide fishplates. FB rail section. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |
32 | I/87 | 1895pw_pl32_LTSR | View | 72lbs | London Tilbury & Southend Railway. Joint with deep fishplate. Rail section. Chair with key. Formation. |
33 | I/88 | 1895pw_pl33_ATSFRusa_1 | View | 52,56,61,67,70 & 71lbs FB | Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (USA) (sheet 1). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail sections. |
34 | I/89 | 1895pw_pl34_ATSFRusa_2 | View | 66lbs FB | Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (USA) (sheet 2). Joint with wide fishplate. FB rail section. Formation. |
35 | I/90 | 1895pw_pl35_SARaus | View | 80lbs FB | South Australian Railways (Australia). Joint with deep fishplate. FB rail section. Fixings. Sleeper spacing. Formation. |