Railway points, railway points operating apparatus and railway track crossing

A railway points operating apparatus for a railway points arrangement comprising at least first and second pairs of longitudinally-extending, parallel-spaced static stock rails defining respectively a first route and a second route and a pair of longitudinally extending switch rails movable between a first position to select the first route and a second position to select the second route, wherein the railway points operating apparatus comprises:

• an actuator arrangement for moving the switch rails transversely and vertically about an arc between the first and second positions so that the switch rails are raised and lowered relative to the stock rails during said transverse movement;
• a locking arrangement for preventing transverse horizontal movement of the switch rails from the first and second positions;
• and
• a support member having an upper surface on which the switch rails are mounted in a spaced relationship, the actuator arrangement being arranged to move the support member about said arc to move the switch rails between the first and second positions, the support member having a lower surface and a plurality of transversely spaced recesses provided on said lower surface.

A railway track crossing comprising:

• a fixed crossing nose formed by a pair of diverging rails;
• a pair of independently movable rails each having a wing rail section provided on each side of the fixed crossing nose, each rail being movable transversely from a closed position in which the wing rail section contacts the crossing nose to an open position in which the wing rail section is spaced from the crossing nose to form a groove that allows the passage of a wheel flange between the crossing nose and the wing rail section;
• and
• an actuator arrangement which is operable to move a selected one of the movable rails from the closed position to the open position, each movable rail being arranged to adopt the closed position in the absence of any force applied to it by the actuator arrangement due to the inherent stiffness and natural bend of the movable rail;
• wherein:
• each movable rail includes a first mating feature;
• the railway track crossing includes a locking element, positioned beneath each movable rail, which includes a second mating feature;
• and
• the first mating feature cooperates with the second mating feature to lock the movable rail in the closed position when the movable rail is loaded by the wheels of rolling stock passing through the railway track crossing.