Height of Track Bed

[boleyd]

I have noticed from the videos of current rail lines, that the track bed appears to be raised on many routes, while feeder lines, or customer track, are at the general ground level. How universal is this practice? Is it just the Southeast region of the USA?

 

[KingConrail76]

I think it depends a lot on the Railroad company, here in the US. Most of the Norfolk Southern (ex-Conrail, ex-PC, ex-PRR) lines here in the mid-atlantic have pretty deep ballast, in the range of 18-24 inches deep. Secondaries and sidings generally 12-18 inches, depending on the needed storm-water drainage, and the regional roads, or small private owner routes have 12 inches or less, sometimes, seemingly, no ballast at all, with tracks buried in mud.

I suspect that CSX here in the mid-atlantic (Virginia north to New York) follows the same practice as NS, on their main lines (ex-NYC, ex-C&O/B&O)

 

[JCitron]

I agree it depends upon the railroad. The Boston and Maine, aka Guilford and Pan Am Railways today, had shallow ballast for most of its mainline. What's interesting is they used little if any ballast at all until around WWII. Prior to that it was only a bit of cinders where needed.

The mainline is to the left where the locomotive is. Note the lack of ballast.

 

[RPearson]

I had uploaded this for another thread but didn't follow thru with that post yet. It's a PRR design standard for track. This one is dated July 1929. The main difference between this one and the 70000-B std of 1957 is the 18 inch depth of stone ballast below the cross tie is listed as maximum depth and a 12 inch minimum depth is added.

PRR 70000-A shows standard dimensions for multitrack roadway using stone ballast.

Bob Pearson

 

[RHKluckhohn]

It comes down to economics. The engineer (civil) asks "What are the minimum $$ needed for safe operation and minimum maintenance?" A heavy train at speed punishes the roadbed much more heavily than the same train at a crawl on a siding, spur or yard.

Ballast spreads the load over a wider area, promotes drainage and helps keep the track in place, so most permanent trackage will have some sort of ballast, even if it's just dirt. Temporary track such as logging lines and repair bypasses usually will have none. In steam days, cinders were cheap and plentiful so were often used.

You should note that sidings and yard tracks are typically lower than the main, conforming to the drainage plan, and have less and lighter ballast, and often lighter rail.

Happily there are plenty of varieties of track available in Trainz so it is easy to model all that.

:B~)

 

[JCitron]

It comes down to economics. The engineer (civil) asks "What are the minimum $$ needed for safe operation and minimum maintenance?" A heavy train at speed punishes the roadbed much more heavily than the same train at a crawl on a siding, spur or yard.

Ballast spreads the load over a wider area, promotes drainage and helps keep the track in place, so most permanent trackage will have some sort of ballast, even if it's just dirt. Temporary track such as logging lines and repair bypasses usually will have none. In steam days, cinders were cheap and plentiful so were often used.

You should note that sidings and yard tracks are typically lower than the main, conforming to the drainage plan, and have less and lighter ballast, and often lighter rail.

Happily there are plenty of varieties of track available in Trainz so it is easy to model all that.

:B~)

I only wish there was an easier way to blend old rusty track with mainline tracks better. That has always been an issue for us because of how the track is constructed.

During my railfanning trips, I came across various old sidings that are ancient 85 lb. and 100 lb. rail while the mainline is 140 and up. The track leading off the main was 140 lb., some rusty track that transition to the older smaller track through specially-designed fishplates. As you noted, the sidings too were much lower as well and usually covered in weeds.

 

[frogpipe]

There are trackside items that will simulate a fade from shiny to rusty on the DLS. Not entirely prototypical but not too bad as it masks the sharp line between the two.

Try a dls search on "rusty" limited to trackside as I cant recall the name ATM.

 

[KingConrail76]

There are trackside items that will simulate a fade from shiny to rusty on the DLS. Not entirely prototypical but not too bad as it masks the sharp line between the two.

Try a dls search on "rusty" limited to trackside as I cant recall the name ATM.

Some use the name/tag "transition" ..DLS search "transition" brings up half a dozen by Samplaire and others.

 

[frogpipe]

Much better.

 

[JCitron]

Thanks... I'll look for those and see what I come up with. The start contrast between the two track-types is annoying.