No tie plates Rene?

No tie plates Rene?

Worth the effort

Nope, no tie plates

They didn't appear until after the Grand Trunk took over, probably in the 20s. There are only occasional tie plates around guard rails visible in all my photos of the Canada Atlantic. Here is a nice photo showing some plain track:

Worth the effort

You're out there like a beacon, Mike!

good progress

I am enjoying seeing your progress. When is the first op session?

"The spikes will drive me crazy!"

That's why they invented Kadee spikers. If it didn't need tie plates I could spike all day :> ) of course if it needed tie plates I'd use flextrack :> ))...DaveB

Joint Bars

I just finished laying joint bars down on all the track on my layout.  It was a bit tedious, but I think it really enhances the look of the track.  I'm excited to see what it looks like all painted and weathered up.

Good luck!  It looks great so far.

First Op Session?

You must be crazy, Brian!  Perhaps you've been driving too many spikes.  Seriously, I'm hoping (vainly?) to be running on the scenicked part of the layout by Christmas.  Op sessions start once the staging yard is operational, so sometime in 2014. 

Of course, there's only one locomotive to run right now.  That one took four years to build, so we might be looking at a fair amount of time before I'm inviting much of a crew over!

Joint Bars

Nice, Matt!  I'm following your blog.  Us small layout proponents have got to stick together!

Small Layout Builders Unite!

Heck yeah!  You know what they say: "It's not the size of the layout that matters, it's how you super detail the track."

Crews

Rene, I'm pretty sure trains in your era ran with a crew of at least five people . . .

Trying Not to Bruise Your Masculinity

They are just being polite. Size does matter! 

Don't you mean: Thank goodness ONLY 4 spikes/tie are necessarry?

"I mean, really, four spikes for every tie!  Is it really necessary?" Hey Matt, it could be worse! Eight spikes per tie was and is pretty common on curves. Sometimes this was original (mostly in tandem with tie-plates, I would suspect), but an additional 1-4  were often added later (particularly on the outside rail of a curve), as ties deteriorated. That way the railroad could squeeze an extra few years of life out of a tie. Further, modern tie plates are designed to accept five spikes. The additional hole is for what is known as a "hold-down" spike, whose function is to prevent lateral movement of the tie plate. Four spikes ain't bad!

Given that Canada Atlantic was lightly constructed, I'm guessing that four spikes/tie on curves was their new construction standard, but you might consider adding a few extra spikes here and there on foreground curves, for effect. Conversely, you would be surprised how many spikes completely work out of their ties. I once encountered a 20 foot stretch of very active SP yard rail that was completely sans spikes! It might save you a little work if you replicate this sort of thing in moderation.

Also, the use of a tie under the joint is interesting. It was a big no-no on most railroads because a tie under a joint tends to take a beating, causing its spikes to work loose and other issues. What I'm wondering is, did CA spike these joint ties with eight spikes?

In all, I applaud your work. Those "subtle" joint bars are worth the effort - they really make a difference. Now, have you ever considered placing some occasional extra-thick ties with notches cut in them to simulate how rail cuts into ties without tieplates? No, wait, I'm getting carried away here!

OOPS

In the above, I mean "Hey Rene!" Sorry about that! Matt is my son-in-law, who was pestering me whilst I was writing my post. My excuse is that I'm old and confused.

Small Layout Builders Unite!

I'm sensing a manifesto, and perhaps a stirring anthem coming on...

Crews

Certainly, I foresee two per train.  I've only been to one op session on a one engine layout, and frankly, as a visitor, I kind of missed the crowd.  The Pembroke Southern will, I think, support two crews of two operators each.

A typical freight train would certainly have had a crew of five, but I think that might be a few too many non-throttle positions.

Don't you mean: Thank goodness ONLY 4 spikes/tie are necessarry?

Shucks, you are right, I did mean that!  You are probably right about the spiking of joint ties, although it's so hard to see the spikes that I've not been able to tell.

The Pembroke Southern was only 6 years old at the time I'm modeling.  I seem to recall that tie-cutting could be encountered after only a year or two, but it's not a heavy traffic line, and so, I'm not sure that it would be expected after only six years.  Having said that, I have thought about it, but can't see exactly how I would do it.  The first priority has to be to get the track running reliably.  Maybe the thing to do is to leave those ties out until the track is up to standard.

As to loose or missing spikes.  I would expect with a section crew inspecting the line virtually every day, those would be rare in 1905.  Does anybody know?

Don't you mean: Thank goodness ONLY 4 spikes/tie are necessarry?

Good point about missing spikes in 1905. If the line was prosperous then, it likely had sufficient section men to adequately patrol the main.

Re tie cutting, tie life is a function of several things, most of which you probably know already. Two big factors are type of wood treatment and type/proper drainage of supporting roadbed. Regarding the latter, a lightly-constructed, thinly-ballasted roadbed can quickly become uneven, causing some rails and ties to pump up and down, particularly at joints (you see this in yards quite allot). Soggy areas not properly drained are particularly prone to this, and the pumping action of the ties brings mud through the roadbed to the surface, causing more instability, and premature tie rot. In these situations, you would see rapid tie cutting. Then, there's your railroad's use of ties to support joints...cutting would have been rapid on these ties, I opine. In some cases, tie cutting was intentional as a quick-fix to level-out short high spots in the track.

I was being half-facetious with the tie-cutting suggestion, but you could do this by adjusting a table saw blade to standard tie height, then cutting notches for the rail in thicker ties. Alternately, you could cut into standard ties and shim them to proper height during installation. You know, I think that I'm going to give this a try to see if the effect is worth all of the extra work.

Another option

You might also consider gluing down thin pieces of wood after laying the track.  That way, it's easy to get the running surface nice and smooth, and you can adjust the placement to exactly suit each individual tie.  If you're really good, you could cut standard pieces to fit between the rails which would do a good job of forcing the gauge to be correct, too.

Tie Cutting

Unfortunately, my experience with cut ties is rather limited, and predates my interest in track, and so I have no photos.  It was along the Waterloo branch on the CNR in Ontario. 

My recollection is that it was uneven: a tie here or there was cut, and was only compromised on one side.  I suspect that once one end is broken, the other end tends to pivot around it for a while until the section crew gets around to replacing the tie.  On the Waterloo branch, that was quite a while, and so there were many busted ties.

Anyone have photos for inspiration?

"once one end is broken"

    Rail cutting into the top of ties is different than broken ties. Tie already in place were sometimes adzed to cut a channel for the rail instead of leveling the roadbed under the tie and sometimes the weight of trains cut into the top of the tie leaving the rail in a channel....DaveBranum