METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR WELDING RAILROAD RAILS

Methods are disclosed for gas shielded arc welding steel railroad rails spac ed from each other to define a transverse gap, one of which methods comprises the steps of prov iding an elongated steel barrier plate wedged into the gap at the bottom of the spaced rails and fill ing gap above said steel barrier plate with a molten steel from an advancing filler metal electrode b y a gas shielded electric arc welding process initiated by an arc between the electrode and the barrie r plate. A second method comprises the continuous sequential laying of weld beads in the gap between rail heads along paths extending in laterally opposite directions for the beads to have first ends extending outwardly of an edge of the head in cantilever relationship thereto and which first ends are vertically thicker than second ends of the beads which are spaced from the first ends in the directi on toward the opposite edge of the head.