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Old 02-22-2014, 12:00 PM
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Panther Al Panther Al is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stg58fal View Post
Actually, I'd be a lot less worried about the signals and such, and a lot MORE worried about the condition of the ties, ballast, and rails themselves.

Wooden ties generally last 8-10 years, at best, on main line track. Yeah, you'll find places where they've been in the ground for 50 years, but that's on little-used sidings and industry tracks, not main.

I'd also be concerned about jointed rail. ANY rail, really, but moreso jointed than welded.

Depends on how long the track has been out of service, but mainline rail should be in fairly good condition even after two to three years: A lot of the tricky bits - turnouts, and the like - might need some attention, but the bulk of the major mainlines even in the 90's was being converted over to concrete ties and welded 130 pound or higher rail in the US, and nearly all of Europe was converted over on the mains with the same as well. I would still take a gauging party down the tracks to confirm, especially where there might have been tracked vehicle activity on or near tracks, but I would feel reasonably confident to run down the tracks - slowly.
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