What is Fishplate?
[[File:Fishplate UK 2006.jpg|thumb|250px|Fishplate on the [[Bluebell Railway]]]] In [[railway|rail]] [[terminology]], a '''fishplate''', '''splice bar''' or '''joint bar''' is a metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a [[rail tracks|track]]. The name is derived from ''fish'', a wooden bar with a curved profile used to strengthen a ship's mast.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|year=1989|edition=Second|chapter=Fish <sup>2</sup>}}</ref> The top and bottom edges are tapered inwards so the device wedges itself between the top and bottom of the rail when it is bolted into place.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morgan|first=C. D. |title=The Engineer's Year-Book for 1946|editor=Pendred, Loughan|publisher=Morgan Brothers|location=London|year=1946|edition=52|page=2015|chapter=Permanent way}}</ref> In [[rail transport modelling]], a fishplate is often a small [[copper]] or [[nickel silver]] plate that slips onto both rails to provide the functions of maintaining alignment and electrical continuity. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Rail infrastructure]] {{transport-stub}}