Re: D&RGrail profile

Loggerhead Wrote:
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> Does anyone have good info on the rail profiles
> used by the D&RGW in the late 1800's. I've seen
> ref to 30Lb/yd through 70Lb/yd

Well, they started with 30 lb (cast) iron rail in 1871, some was still around, as relay, for many a year. On rail charts I've seen this and also 30 lb wrought iron. Some 30 pound (steel?) rail lasted right up to the end on sidings and in yard trackage (Ouray and the RGS, for 2 places). As traffic rose and engines got heavier they used steel in weights such as 35, 40, 45, and ( by the 1880's) 52 lb. Lots of 40 lb laid in the early 1880's. By the mid to late 1880's 52 lb was being laid.

Once the conversion started(1887) the D&RG standard main-line rail weight was 65 lb (ISTR seeing that RGW went with 70 lb). In 1896 D&RG started relaying 3-rail & Standard gauge mains with 85 lb rail. For comparison, the brand new CM used 60 lb from the Springs to Basalt and something lighter (56? My offspring is visiting and asleep in the library right now so I can't check) west of there. At that time some standard gauge roads where still tottering along on 50 lb rail.

I know that a lot of 65 & 85 lb was relayed on the 3' gauge lines after it was replaced on the broad gauge. I suspect that a lot more of this (and possibly some of the 52 and 70 lb) laid from 1898 or so up through the 1920's was relay but no notation made. No way of knowing at this remove, unless The Doctor comes by and gives me a lift to 1948 or so!

hank