Springs Branch
Established Member
Forecasts of ongoing hot weather reminded me that some lengths of running rail are now painted white to reduce the temperature by a few degrees to help avoid buckling etc.
In similar vein, I read some years ago (possibly in Modern Railways) that the points at certain junctions had been painted gold by BR / Railtrack / whoever was in charge of infrastructure at the time.
These switches were all at important junction, whose correct functioning would be critical to reliable operation of a wide part of the network - the idea being to focus the attention of track maintenance and engineering staff on these particular items of "gold-plated" equipment.
IIRC, one set of gold-painted points was at Woking, at the junction between the Portsmouth and Basingstoke lines.
Anyone know where else this stunt was tried?
And what was the approximate time period when it was done and how long it lasted?
(searching Google and within this Forum didn't throw up any clues)
In similar vein, I read some years ago (possibly in Modern Railways) that the points at certain junctions had been painted gold by BR / Railtrack / whoever was in charge of infrastructure at the time.
These switches were all at important junction, whose correct functioning would be critical to reliable operation of a wide part of the network - the idea being to focus the attention of track maintenance and engineering staff on these particular items of "gold-plated" equipment.
IIRC, one set of gold-painted points was at Woking, at the junction between the Portsmouth and Basingstoke lines.
Anyone know where else this stunt was tried?
And what was the approximate time period when it was done and how long it lasted?
(searching Google and within this Forum didn't throw up any clues)