Railway switch heel block

In a railway switch heel block structure including a stock rail, a fixed closure rail, a movable switch point rail and a heel block;

• the heel block having a first pair of flat joint bars adjacent and substantially parallel to the outside of the webs of said rails and a second pair of flat joint bars adjacent and substantially parallel to the inside of the webs of said rails , with an upper surface of said joint bars bearing against the underside of the head of said rails and a lower surface of said joint bars bearing against the base flange of said rails, the webs of said rails being formed with bolt holes and said joint bars being formed with transversely aligned bolt holes to register with the bolt holes through said webs;
• the improvement comprising:
• a preassembled integral heel block unit having pipe separator thimbles fixed to said second pair of flat joint bars and extending completely therethrough, and clamp bolts extending through said separator thimbles and said first and second pairs of flat joint bars and said rail webs for clamping said flat joint bars and said rails in a rigid structure.