Rail Support (sleeper/tie)
Main article: Railroad tieA railroad tie (also called a cross-tie in North American usage, or a railway sleeper outside North America) is a rectangular object on which the rails are supported and fixed. The tie has two main roles: to transfer the loads from the rails to the track ballast and the ground underneath, and to hold the rails to the correct width apart (to maintain the rail gauge). They are generally laid transverse (perpendicular) to the rails.
Read more about this topic: Track (rail Transport)
Famous quotes containing the words rail and/or support:
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Puffing as you climb, you are a brown woodcut
stooped over the thin rail and the wornout tread.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“American families, however, without exception, experience a double message in our society, one that claims a commitment to families and stresses the importance of raising bright, stable, productive citizens, yet remains so bound by an ideal of “rugged individualism” that parents receive little support in their task from the public or private sectors.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)