@BillYo414 posted:@Number 90 is there some reason they resisted upgrading? Just cost of installing rail while stick rail was still working?
Large railroads are large organizations with groups of people having varying opinions about what is best for the Company. That's why they have System Standards, and each company differs in some things from its competitors. The long 72-foot rails were, in themselves, an example of this. There must have been a desire to test whether stick rail with only half as many rail joints as normal would be less expensive to maintain, than continuous welded rail, which, as has been pointed out, has to have short sections cut out or added in, seasonally. And, when the 72 foot rails were installed in the late 1950's, there were still Section Gangs at intervals, so the bolts could be checked often.
Obviously, continuous welded rail was determined by UPRR's Engineering Department, to be their System Standard. But they were willing to experiment, and that is one of the trademarks of the pre-merger Union Pacific.
