3D Animation How Railroad Tracks Really Work!

There’s a lot more going on underneath that train!

Railroad tracks are taken for granted when actually they are fairly complex in their arrangement and function!

Here we have a short education video of how the steel rails interact with each other. This clip shows how one rail system switches to the other and the parts involved to make it happen.

Some of the nomenclature may be different when comparing the U.S. version compared to theEuropean version (ie. crossing nose vs frogs), the rail functions are still the same everywhere.

Frogs is an old U.S. railroad term that applies to the jumping action taking place when the wheels go over the gap from a rail to the nose or point of the crossing. Sort of like a frog jumping!

Similarly, points vs. switches, they are both points whereby the train is switch from one track to another! They provide the same function.

Let us know if you worked on a railroad or have watched these switches actually change in action. We would love to hear about your experience!