Re: History of the building of the NE SG line.

["Ron BEST" <ronbest@bigpond.com>]

bill johnston <wajohns@tpgi.com.au> wrote in message
375b1e50@dnews.tpgi.com.au">news:375b1e50@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
> Snip
> A couple of questions, for anyone still with me. Was the installation of
the
> fixed points at both ends of the double track, the first installation in
> Victoria or did these beasts exist in the Wodonga area earlier? The fixed
> "points" use a casting on the inside of the converging / diverging rail to
> carry the flanges of the wheels across the gap. Why is this not done
> elsewhere such as the flat tramway crossings or Cane railway/tramway
> crossings? This would avoid the hammer blows, as the wheel drops into the
> gap, that eventually wrecks any such installation? The same method could
be
> also used on point frogs to again reduce the hammer effect and the wearing
of
> the frog. I presume someone will come back and say it is a derailment
hazard
> as the flange may break; but many many wheels have now passed over
Dynon-West
> Footscray and other similar junctions without flange failure.
>
> Bill Johnston

Tramway points and crossings are (sometimes) designed to have the wheel ride
on the flange through the rail crossings. I think Melbourne's tramways use
this idea. I've seen points outside the depot in Adelaide where the bottom
of the groove is shiny. I don't know why Melbourne's  "H" crossings are so
noisy when a W crosses - maybe as the bottom of the groove wears away, the
wheels run on their treads instead of on their flanges.

Rgds

Ron BESDANSKY (formerly Ron BEST)