Hi Bill
Her's some stats taken from our WEB site
http://www.southcheshiremes.com/index.htmlThere are 3 rails for the whole length of track, totalling 3/4 mile of steel. There are over 200 fish plates, 2100 tie bars and 4200 spacer tubes. There are 500 holding down bolts into 500 support pillars made from 24 1/2 tons of concrete. There are over 10,000 nuts and bolts in 11,600 holes (or about 250 feet of hole drilled).
The fish plates, tie bars, spacer tubes, bolts etc were made and donated by a local engineering firm.
We have two tracks the shorter is 1/10 of a mile and is for 2 1/2", 3 1/2" and 5", the longer track is 1/4" of a mile and is for 3 1/2" and 5" the gradients of the track are about 1:200.
The support pillars were cast by one of our members Denis Mountford who sadly passed away last year, he ran a small building business and he cast a few pillars when ever he had time or surplus concrete available the hole through their center is so that you can insert a bar and move them around, also with a couple of car jacks on the bar you can adjust the height to level the track if they settle into the ground as happens if we get a wet winter.
Most of the work is done by the members though we do have the students over to cut the hedges or to practice there tree surgery skill out from time to time.
Cheers
Stew