Abstract: There is disclosed a trolley which runs along unfastened rails of a track, in which each rail is positioned between a respective one of two pairs of housings on each sleeper, the trolley moving from sleeper to sleeper in order to complete permanent fastening of the rails to the sleepers. The trolley has a pair of rail-clip driving apparatus on each side, one associated with each rail, of which each comprise a pair of magazines for storing e-shaped clips, and a clip driver for each magazine which drives a lowermost clip in a stack of clips in the magazine into a sleeper housing. Each apparatus includes a longitudinally displaceable support tube on which the magazines are mounted, the tube moving one way or the other depending upon which magazine first comes into cooperation with its respective housing in order to bring the other magazine into cooperation with its housing.

Abstract: An anchoring device for use in anchoring a railway rail-fastening clip to a foundation for a railway rail has a head part, which anchors the clip and is to lie above the foundation, and a tail part which is to lie in the foundation and is in the form of a single vertical rod. At least one vane, to resist turning of the device about its vertical axis, has its upper extremity joined to the bottom of the head part and has one of its sides joined to the upper portion of the tail part, the vane having a vertical length and a horizontal width greater than its horizontal thickness. At least one projection, below the vane or vanes, projects laterally from the tail part and has a horizontal or nearly horizontal top, the projection or projections serving to resist vertical forces tending to pull the anchoring device vertically upwardly out of the foundation.

Abstract: A railway spike consists of a bar folded to form first and second legs. Proceeding upwardly from the nose, formed by the two ends of the bar, firstly there is a first portion in which the legs are straight and parallel, then a second portion in which they diverge, then a third portion in which they converge, then a fourth portion in which they diverge again and finally a fifth portion which includes the uppermost part of the spike. When the first leg is on the left, no part of the fourth or fifth portion of the spike is further to the left than is the leftmost part of the first leg in the second and third portions. The spike may pass through a hole in a baseplate on which a rail stands, a resilient clip having a portion which bears downwardly on a flange at the bottom of the rail and having a further portion which presses upwardly on a flat surface at the bottom of the plate.

Abstract: A rail clip consists of a bent rod having, proceeding from a first end of the rod to the other end, a first portion which is straight, a second portion which is a reverse bend, a third portion beside the first portion, a fourth portion which is a reverse bend and finally a fifth portion beside the first portion. When the clip is in a defined position a section of the fourth portion lies vertically above and crosswise over the axis of the first portion and when the clip is viewed from above the third and fifth portions appear to be on opposite sides of the first portion. On the under-side of the third portion is a step having a rising face which faces away from the first end of the rod. This face co-operates with a stop on a seat for the third portion of the clip, to prevent unauthorized removal of the clip.

Abstract: Apparatus for performing operations on a railway track, comprising an automatically actuated rail adjusting mechanism with parts to engage opposite edges of a flange of a flanged rail for adjusting the relative positions of a rail and a sleeper vertically and for adjusting the position of a rail by moving it sideways relative to a sleeper.

Abstract: A metal plate stands on a cross tie above an opening in the tie and a rail clip has a substantially straight leg which is driven into the opening, bears upwardly and is at most 2 mm. below a flat bottom of the plate. Second and third parts of the clip bear downwardly on the upper face of the rail flange and the upper face of the plate, respectively. This assembly may be made from an existing assembly in which a spike had its head overlying the rail flange and holding the rail down, the making of the new assembly including the step of forming the opening in the tie without moving the plate.

Abstract: To hold a railway rail down on a support member, a device is employed having a first part driven into a vertical hole in the support member, a second part having a sideways projection, part of which lies vertically below a part of the support member, to one side of the bottom of the hole, and further parts forming an arch above the support member. A convex portion of the first part co-operates with the wall of the hole during the driving operation to form a pivot about which said device rocks to cause the above-mentioned part of the projection to come under the above-mentioned part of the support member. A portion of a clip is driven under the arch and presses upwardly on it, another portion of the clip bears downwardly on the flange of the rail and a third portion bears downwardly on a fixed surface which, as seen from the rail, is beyond said first portion.

Abstract: A trolley runs along a railway track and a member on it strikes railway clips and removes them from rail-securing positions. The clips are of a kind having a first portion substantially parallel to the rail and driven into a projection beside the rail, a second portion bearing downwardly on the rail flange and a third portion, further from the rail than the first portion, bearing downwardly on an unyielding surface.

Abstract: Part of a red-hot metal rod between the ends of the rod is supported and first and second bending members are displaced, preferably simultaneously, to bend parts of the rod on both sides of said part around respective forming surfaces to produce two U-bends substantially without movement of said part. Then the two end portions of the rod point in substantially opposite directions and overlap without touching one another. Preferably the rod bent in this way, still red-hot, proceeds to another location where it is bent further to produce a railway rail-fastening clip of the desired final shape.

Abstract: A rail clip, for holding down a railway rail, is made by bending a metal rod so that it comprises a substantially straight leg, at one end of which is one end of the rod, the other end of the leg being joined to a part on one side of the leg which is joined to a final part on the other side of the leg, this final part terminating in the other end of the rod, near which, on the under-side, a step in the rod is formed, this having a depth no more than 2 mm. or no more than 1/4 of the thickness of the rod before it was bent. Apparatus for performing a second bending operation on a rod, which in a first bending operation has been given the shape indicated above but without the step, has support surfaces for supporting various parts of the bent rod and two shaping tools between which the final part of the rod is distorted to give it its final shape, including the step.

Abstract: A railway tie plate has at least one rib to locate a railway rail and two arches under which parts of rail clips can be driven parallel to the rib. It can be made by deformation of a conventional tie plate designed for use with fastening devices for holding the rail on to the tie plate other than rail clips which are driven parallel to the rail.

Abstract: A device suitable for use in a railway rail-and-fastening assembly to insulate a rail from a rail clip and from an anchorage for the clip includes an elongate plate-like portion, a portion depending from one side of it and two lugs projecting from the depending portion away from the plate-like portion near opposite ends thereof. In contrast to prior proposals, the device is asymetrical, a flat surface on the top of the plate-like portion having its center nearer one end of that portion than the other end. A ramp surface leads up to the flat surface from said other end. The device is preferably made wholly of glass fibre-reinforced nylon and the thickness of the plate-like portion is preferably at least 5 millimeters.

Abstract: A rail clip is made by bending a metal rod with a length less than 18 times its thickness so that it has a substantially straight leg which lies substantially parallel to a railway rail in use of the clip and portions on both sides of this leg which press on the rail and a fixed surface, respectively. An arch connecting one of these portions to the leg rises at an angle of less than 45.degree. to the horizontal, proceeding along the rod away from the leg.

Abstract: Clips for holding down railway rails are driven into position, for example by driving parallel to the rails, by power-operated apparatus with wheels which run along at least one rail. There may be one or two power-operated devices for driving clips one at a time or two at a time on opposite sides of the same rail or four power-operated devices for driving four clips at a time, one on each side of each rail. The power-operated devices may comprise piston-and-cylinder devices driving levers.

Abstract: A railway rail-fastening clip is made by bending a resilient rod at least 0.8 centimeter thick in a first bending operation to give it first to fifth portions in direct succession, proceeding from one end to the other, the first portion being a substantially straight leg, the second a reverse bend, the third being beside the first and the whole being such that in a particular position, with the first portion horizontal, in a plan view the third and fifth portions appear to be in opposite sides of the axis of the first portion. The whole of that part of the fifth portion which is between the lowest point in the fifth portion, when the bent rod is in said position, and the adjacent end of the rod is pressed in a second bending operation by a first shaping tool against a second shaping tool to make said end upturned.