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Toronto Street Railway

Transferring a discussion about horsecar track in Toronto from a personal talk page. TheTrolleyPole (talk) 21:02, 8 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. In your recent edit to Horsecar you described "the wheels of most horse-drawn wagons and carriages to ride smoothly on the lower, inside base of the rails through muddy unpaved streets" on the Toronto Street Railway. Can you clarify this please. Was the street railway being used as a plateway rather than by edge rails? Regards, Martin of Sheffield (talk) 22:29, 7 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The reference cited in the main article (Toronto Street Railway#Track gauge) says:

One of the terms of these agreements was that the track gauge was to accommodate wagons. As horse car rail was step rail, the horse cars, equipped with iron wheels with flanges on the inside, ran on the outer, or upper step of the rail. Wagon wheels naturally did not have a flange. They were made of wood, with an iron tire. Wagons would use the inner, or lower step of the rail. The upper step of the rail guided the wagons on the track. In order to accommodate this arrangement, the track gauge had to be 4 feet, 11 inches. As the streets themselves were not paved, this arrangement permitted wagons carrying heavy loads a stable roadbed.

So the track had "edge rails" for flanged horsecars, and a "lower step" for non-rail wagons. @Martin of Sheffield: Does this address your question? TheTrolleyPole (talk) 23:31, 7 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, thanks. That clarifies the situation, it is a rare use of step rail and as such particularly notable. It's also significant that the plateway therefore had outside flanges whereas normal practice was inside flanges. I've had a go at clarifying the operation at Horsecar, please feel free to amend as you see fit. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 09:17, 8 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Related section: Plateway#Combined plate and rail as modified by Martin of Sheffield. TheTrolleyPole (talk) 21:07, 8 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]