Hi There:
Any of you RR experts run into a situation where the old RR map shows a ROW vs Design centerline??ÿ I have a 1923 short line RR map (attached) that seems to show such a situation, however, I can find nothing on the plan to indicate that this was actually the case, nor can I find a distance between the two (though it scales to about 10' between them).?ÿ
Is it possible that they put the two (seemingly centerlines) on the map to delineate different things (like stationing on one, but physical improvements to the other), but intended them to be the same line in reality??ÿ The original deeds offer no help, the tracks were removed decades ago, and only short portions of the berm are even still visible (its near a river and most of it got buried by the Mt. St. Helens 1980 volcanic mudflow and/or sand when they dredged the river after the mudflow).?ÿ?ÿ
Have any of you seen similar situations on old rail centerlines??ÿ Thanks!
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Paul
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It does look like the track alignment is not centered in the right of way. My guess is that was to allow for a doubling up of the tracks at a future time. I see nothing in the way of tying the 2 together. But since the tracks are long gone does it matter? I do see a few ties of the centerline to to section lines. Which may be as good as its going to get.
Rest easy that once you establish and document your solution everybody who follows you will just be happy to have something to follow.?ÿ
It looks most of the main line is a single track that is offset from the ROW Centerline alignment. However, at Sta 890+00 a Passing Track begins and the alignment appears to be centered between two sets of tracks until 938+00
Yes, it's common on Right of Ways, I've seen it for both RR and HWY right of ways. It's something to always be wary of cause sometimes it's not very well explained on the plans.
There will often be a design centerline for construction separate from the ROW centerline and for RR it's almost a requirement because usually the ROW is based on simple curves and the tracks are constructed with spirals.
Often, they will offset the track for room to add additional tracks to the system and since the ROW's are normally a degree or 1/2 degree curves while the tracks will also be a degree or 1/2 degree along with a spiral it causes the shift to make the tracks be differing offsets from the ROW CL. The tangents for many tracks are centered on the ROW while the PS and ST are shifted along the tangent to accommodate the spiral, the simple curve connecting the spiral will usually be the same degree of curve as the simple curve defining the ROW.?ÿ?ÿ
I'm doing one now where there are two parallel tracks and it seems neither one is along the centerline of the ROW. Honestly, I would really like to have my ROW drawings look like the one you have, at least I would know about where the centerline should be.?ÿ
@mightymoe Thanks.?ÿ Yes - the deeds for the ROW reference simple curves, while the track map shows spirals.?ÿ Would make sense that the lines aren't the same.?ÿ That's what has been bugging me, in trying to come up with a good location for this thing.?ÿ?ÿ
On a side note, those are the cleanest RR plans I've ever seen!
Have you recovered any ROW monuments?
I've always been surprised how many are still out there. If you can find even a couple it might answer many of your questions.?ÿ
On one section of an old abandoned spur where they removed the rails in WW2 for scrap, I was able to recover the PC and Pt in the raised bed. They were rails set vertically with an "x" scribed in them. Doubt I would have found them if the rails were still in, to much mag signal.
Have you recovered any ROW monuments?
I've always been surprised how many are still out there. If you can find even a couple it might answer many of your questions
Perhaps you missed the bit about the Mount St. Helens mudflow.?ÿ This really was destruction on a biblical level.?ÿ ?ÿ
