Welded rail joints-- can you feel them?

I have noticed on a few sections of track I ride every day, which are continuous welded rail, I can feel where the welds are. There is a light thump and on one curve the cars almost bounce the way they would have if there were joints there.

So as the welded rail gets worn, do the welds become rougher?

Are you sure that it is continuous welded rail??? Can you see the joints?
Continuous welded rail comes in lengths of over 1500 hundred feet. I don't believe you are riding on ribbon rail if you are feeling the joints. Section rail you wll feel. What kind of engine are you riding on? Are you sure you don't have flat spots on wheels? What are you riding on the subway????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It could be due to a condition caused by earlier jointed rail. Jointed rail is notorious for "low joints," where the repeated pounding of wheels over the joint creates a depression in the ballast down to the subgrade. These would have to be tamped on a periodic basis. It's not uncommon to see the low spots come back over time, even after an upgrade to welded rail. Look at the track... if this is it, you should see a regular pattern of low spots, 39' apart (or whatever the jointed rail length was there) and in a staggered pattern between rails.

bingdude wrote:I have noticed on a few sections of track I ride every day, which are continuous welded rail, I can feel where the welds are. There is a light thump and on one curve the cars almost bounce the way they would have if there were joints there.

So as the welded rail gets worn, do the welds become rougher?

Could be a burn mark, too. Caused by wheelslip. Puts a little flat spot on the rail head.

On occassions you may have a joint where a bad section of rail was removed and temporalily fixed with a joint untill the welders can be scheduled to properly weld the spot. And as Cowford mentioned the wheels striking the joint will cause a slight dip from the pounding.

I get to run on jointed rail. Its ABS TWC territory so track speed is 50 mph. Pretty rare these days. Someday when I am a grumpy old man I can tell some young punk how ''back when I hired out we ran SD40's on jointed rail''. I can see me dating myself already.

Thanks for the input. I suppose that the weld is either harder or softer than the rest of the rail.

This is rail made from sticks welded together. I know there aren't any joints as I looked carefully at that track while riding on an adjacent one. The same rail is quiet throughout the ride. But when we approach this section of a 100 or so yards you get that "baBUMP baBUMP baBUMP" and the cars pitch back and forth slightly. I am guessing we're going about 45 mph.

I'm not in the engine. I am in a passenger car (so much for isolation).

He is correct, in stating the joints he notices in the welded rail. The practice of cutting off the bolt holes, from rail butts, then electrically welding them together, while compressing the joints together, is how welded rail got it's name, and it's start. Ribbon rail, is not the same as welded rail, although the ribbons are welded, when being installed. There is a slight difference, in the composition of the metal in a welded joint, done with an added filler, such as a Cad-Weld. The joint WILL wear slightly differently, although the statement about the roadbed "remembering" where the joints were, is absolutely true. You would have to scarify the roadbed, and reballast each spot, where a joint occured, in order to get the roadbed to "forget" there was a joint there before. All rail started out, in ribbons, and was cut to length, with the butts of jointed rail being heat treated, to make them stronger, in the area of the joint. This area is usually removed, before butt welding the sticks, into ribbons of welded rail. Regards