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Tie Spacing by Chris Harding

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Tie spacing is somewhat dependent on the amount of rail traffic on the particular
track.  It is also dependent on the period in time when the track was built, and
on the specific railroad being modeled.

Many pictures of civil war era track show ties as much as 3 or more feet
apart.  Rail, at that time, might be 50 pounds per yard for main lines.
Currently, most main line track has ties spaced on centers of 19 to 20
inches and rail in the 130 to 140 pound per yard range.

Branch lines often have rail cascaded down from main lines and of lesser
weights, but usually greater than 100 pounds per yard and sometimes up to
140 pounds.  Yard tracks occasionally have rail weighing less than 100 pounds
but generally they are also greater than 100 pounds.  Industrial sidings may be
considerably lighter with rail as light as 80 pounds and tie spacing of 24
inches or more.

My set of Erie Railroad standards dated May 16, 1929 calls for ties spaced
every 19 3/4" to 20" for main tracks, 22 9/16" for "Running Tracks, Passing
Sidings, Side Tracks used frequently by Road Engines and Main Tracks on
Branches with light traffic."  For "Yards, Storage and Commercial Sidings"
they are spaced every 2'-1 3/4" except under rail joints where they have 17"
to 17 1/2" spacing for all classes of track.

The New York Central standards called for ties 7 inches high, 9 inches wide,
and 8'-6 inches long spaced every 19 1/2 inches for mainline track outside
of third rail territory.  In third rail territory, (between Croton-Harmon and
Grand Central Terminal) every sixth tie was 9'-9 inches long.  The standards
further specify that for main tracks with 39' rails, 3249 ties per mile be
used, but for main tracks with 33' rails, 3200 ties per mile be used.  For
tracks "on minor branches and heavy service yard and side tracks" 2979 and
2880 ties per mile should be used for 39' and 33' respectively, and "for
light service yard and side tracks" 2708 and 2560 ties per mile for the 39' and
33' rail lengths.

For turnouts, the NYC calls for tie spacing of 19 1/2 to 20 inches
depending on the location within the turnout.  In crossovers (2 turnouts connecting
parallel tracks, not a crossing) the ties extending across both tracks could
be as close as 17 inches.  Turnouts for branch lines, sidings, and yard
tracks generally have the same spacing as main line turnouts because the special
tie plates used in turnouts are the same regardless of the class of track.
Sometimes, the weight of rail will affect the length of a turnout by an
amount generally less than a foot, but the tie spacing remain in the sme range.
For longer turnouts such as number 10's, 15's and longer, the tie spacing will
remain in the same range of 19 1/2 to 20 inches.

Models usually use number 8 and smaller turnouts so the dimensions of longer
turnouts aren't usually needed.  (Imagine how long a number 20 crossover
would be in S gauge -- almost 7 feet with 3 inch track centers!)  Turnouts before
about 1970 had tie lengths that varied in 6 inch increments.  Turnouts after
that time no longer have half foot tie lengths, but vary in even foot
increments.  For this reason, the dimensions of modern day turnouts may not
be truly appropriate for "period" pikes.

Probably the single best place to get typical track dimensions is from the
American Railway Engineering and Maintenance Association's drawings.  These
were formerly known as the A.R.E.A. standards, and as far as I know, they
are not copyrighted.  Bear in mind, however, that these are current standards,
not those of 50 or 100 years ago.

Chris Harding

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