http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/foru ... post342058





these are in Utica NY but exactly where? and Trolley or regular railroad..

someone is asking on the MRR forums

My guess is not railroad track. The grade up the hill in the distance is pretty big for a railroad but not so much for an electric car. Note that the rail is not the standard "grooved" girder rail, but the "L" shaped rail with the rail "flange" jutting from the gauge side of the rail about 1.5 to 2 inches. This allowed for the paving blocks or bricks seen on the left side of the photo to be set between the rails. This piece of the rail created a clear flangeway preventing the blocks or bricks from migrating towards the rail. Streetcar companies had a real problem with "things" getting into the flangeway, including the paving bricks/blocks and breaking a wheel flange, especially in the early days when streetcar wheels were mostly cast iron with chilled rims.

Twin city Lines used 90# T rail for most straight sections of track including in the two downtowns. Regular "grooved" girder rail was used on special work, e.g., in intersections and junctions. Twin City Lines used granite paving blocks in the beginning and butted them up against the gauge side of the rail. But the blocks that went up against the rail had the upper edge that went against the rail cut and trimmed to create the flangeways. We don't know why Twin City Rapid Transit did that.

The distinction is blurry, since some Utica, N.Y. trolleys also had 3rd rail shoes so they could continue their run on the New York, West Shore & Buffalo RR (New York Central System) outside of town. In May, 1910, one of those cars was run all the way to Detroit, Mich. and Louisville, Ky., using the Big 4 (also NYC System) bridge over the Ohio River.

It very definitely is streetcar track under construction. The rail section is a "jaybird" rail, a section first rolled for street railway use by the Johnson Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania; which later evolved into the Lorain Steel Company. See this website for more of the history of the Johnson and Lorain companies.

http://faculty.upj.pitt.edu/jalexander/ ... rchive.htm

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.