The present invention is directed to a rail brace assembly for bracing and securing a rail to a tie plate, and in particular to a rail brace assembly including a brace member which braces the rail against lateral, rotational and vertical movement.
Rail braces are used to brace or buttress railroad rails against side thrust forces exerted by the wheels of rail traffic that would rotate or overturn the rail if not resisted. Side thrust forces of a magnitude sufficient to overturn a rail most commonly occur at curved sections of the rail which are subjected to high speed rail traffic. Rail braces typically utilize nuts and bolts, or resilient spring clips, for securing a brace to the tie plate and for applying a horizontal restraining force to the rail. The use of nuts and bolts presents a problem in that threads can be stripped, nuts can become loose, alignment of bolts in bolt holes can be difficult and time consuming, and wrenches are required for installation. Current boltless braces utilizing spring clips do not provide for vertical retention of the rail other than by the biasing force that is provided by the spring clip itself. As a result, when current boltless braces are utilized a rail can be pulled out of its rail seat during handling, and especially during tamping. The present invention overcomes these problems.