Re: D&RGrail profile

hank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry to take so long to get back to this, it's
> been a long week.
> I was typing from memory the other day. I can't
> find the source for my memory of them using cast
> iron rails. Something about about being thankful
> it was all finally gone, but I could have read it
> any time in the last 30-50 years! Cast would have
> been cheap though!
> some sources I did have available to check did say
> iron but didn't state cast or wrought.
> sorry for the confusion,
> hank

No worries at all. Similar situation with me quoting the switchers running single-handed--I've seen it quoted in several places throughout the years, but can't remember where or when. Can't be helped.

"Iron" in period sources frequently sees use in reference to most any ferrous metal, including (rarely) bessemer steel from time to time. The confusion continues to the present, where mild steel is today sometimes called "wrought iron," although it's nothing of the sort, and "cast iron" quite often ends up used in reference to any pre-bessemer iron product. If cast rails were used at all by the D&RG, I'd surmise they might've been employed in limited quantity in areas like city yards where speeds are very low and the roadbed/backing typically very packed and firm, or other areas with similar favorable conditions. Cast iron can have decent strength, but its very brittle. It refuses to bend and flex and tends to fracture instead. It wouldn't have been suited to the D&RG's mediocre ties and iffy roadbeds for over-the-road use. I'm not mentally writing it off as "writer error" simply because it isn't hard to imagine the cost-conscious Palmer trying to eke out savings wherever possible. Could've been an error on the part of the writer, too, of course, but the thought is interesting enough that I'll try to keep an eye out for it in future readings.

I find the technology--and attempted solutions to various problems, both the successes and the failures--of that era interesting because that's what built our nation. While something like a Big Boy might get more attention, personally I find it much less interesting than the people and equipment which acted as the pathfinders through the wilderness of generations earlier.