Rail laying speed in early 20th century?

Minchandre · Sep 2, 2011

For research purposes, do you know someplace that I could find approximate speeds for rail laying using early 20th century technology? Terrain would be a mix of flat plains, rocky hills, and swamp.

Thanks!

NHBL · Sep 3, 2011

What do you need exactly

Are you after the time from unimproved terain to a functioning line? Or are you refering to putting rail down on already prepared roadbed?

And just as important, how is the quality of the fiished line? The American transcontinental railroad was built with a focus on SPEED, so the line was cheaply made, and had to be rebuilt later-but it was working. Good building takes longer, and more diffucult to build routes, but the trains run better.

Also, what gauge? Narrow gauge rail is much easier to build fast and cheap, but has less capacity. If you build narrow gauge to take full advantage of its strong points, upgrading to a broader gauge can be almost as extreme as building a new line in some places.

mowque · Sep 3, 2011

Minchandre said:
For research purposes, do you know someplace that I could find approximate speeds for rail laying using early 20th century technology? Terrain would be a mix of flat plains, rocky hills, and swamp.

Thanks!

In optimal conditions, they could lay as fast as a man could walk. Churning through some rocky terrain, and you might be measuring feet per day.

Oddball · Sep 3, 2011

mowque said:
In optimal conditions, they could lay as fast as a man could walk.

Are you nuts?

A man walks about 5km/h.

You cannot possibly lay down 5000m of rail in an hour...

mowque · Sep 3, 2011

Oddball said:
Are you nuts? A man walks about 5km/h.

At the very end of the Trans-Continental railway, they were doing it at about that speed (for short distances of course).

Oddball · Sep 3, 2011

mowque said:
At the very end of the Trans-Continental railway, they were doing it at about that speed (for short distances of course).

According to this page:

T[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]he CP had their track laying down to such a science, that Charles Crocker claimed they could lay 10 miles of track in one day. The UP officials scoffed and bet that they couldn't. With a little planning and engineering though, on April 28th 1869, they set the record by laying 10 miles of track in one day.[/FONT]

So about 15km in one specialy prepared day, on what seems to be rather easy terrain.

Btw, did you get my PM the last day?

mowque · Sep 3, 2011

Hey, I said optimal,

And what PM?

Oddball · Sep 3, 2011

mowque said:
Hey, I said optimal,

And what PM?

My answere to you asking about dams...?

Minchandre · Sep 3, 2011

NHBL said:
Are you after the time from unimproved terain to a functioning line? Or are you refering to putting rail down on already prepared roadbed?

And just as important, how is the quality of the fiished line? The American transcontinental railroad was built with a focus on SPEED, so the line was cheaply made, and had to be rebuilt later-but it was working. Good building takes longer, and more diffucult to build routes, but the trains run better.

Also, what gauge? Narrow gauge rail is much easier to build fast and cheap, but has less capacity. If you build narrow gauge to take full advantage of its strong points, upgrading to a broader gauge can be almost as extreme as building a new line in some places.

Time from completely new terrain to a functioning line; standard gauge the whole way (the people involved are both subordinate to the British Empire and have a major hard-on for standardization).

The quality of the finished line...probably the emphasis will be a moderate combination of quality and speed. There's no US-style rush to lay line, but there will be some impetus (and I want an excuse for a big rail reform scandal later!)

Thank you for your attention to detail.