Steel railroad sleepers

A steel railroad sleeper produced by cold forming steel strip and including an open-ended elongate body of inverted channel section having side walls which incline downwardly and outwardly from an upper rail supporting surface and two substantially vertical end plates of greater height than the height of the sleeper body for selectively closing the substantially vertical open ends of the sleeper body, locking tabs protruding from each end edge of the sleeper body and locating lugs provided along each side edge of each end plate and positioned to receive the locking tabs of the sleeper body, the arrangement being such that each end plate can be selectively removed from or attached to the sleeper body by effecting sliding movement between the respective end plate and the sleeper body to remove the tabs from the lugs or vice versa.

A steel railroad sleeper of inverted channel section produced by cold forming strip steel and end plates for selectively closing the open ends thereof, the end plates being detachably connected one to each open end of the sleeper and the sides of the sleeper inclining downwardly and outwardly from an upper rail supporting surface of the sleeper, the central section of the sleeper interior being filled with expanded polyurethane foam.

A railroad sleeper of inverted channel section produced by cold forming steel strip, end plates detachably secured one to each open end of the sleeper to close the same, a rail supported by the upper surface of the sleeper and a spring steel clip which secures the rail to the sleeper, the clip including a first bearing surface for engagement with the upper surface of the sleeper, a second bearing surface for engagement with the underside of the rail supporting surface of the sleeper, and a loop section intermediate the first and second bearing surfaces which, in use, engages the upper surface of a foot flange of the rail, and including tool means for applying a force to the internal surfaces of the loop section of the clip to increase the separation thereof whereby the required engagement of the bearing surfaces with the rail and the loop section of the clip with the rail flange is facilitated after the insertion of insulation material preformed to complement the upper surface of the rail flange between the opposed surfaces of the loop and the rail flange and relaxation of the force applied by the tool.