Fastening rail in railway slide chair assembly

A rail fastening apparatus for fastening an inner stock rail (2) in a railway slide chair assembly comprises a baseplate (100) having on one face thereof a rail seat region (110) on which the inner stock rail (2) sits when the slide chair assembly is in use, a resilient rail fastening clip (7) for restraining such an inner stock rail (2), the clip (7) comprising an elongate member having at one end a toe portion (71) for bearing on the rail (2) and at its other end a heel portion (72), first locating means (101) for locating the rail fastening clip (7) in the apparatus in a first position, which means (101) comprise a first abutment surface (101a), positioned on the baseplate (100) in a second region (120) spaced from the rail seat region (110), against which surface the heel portion (72) of the clip (7) abuts when the apparatus is in use to inhibit withdrawal of the clip (7) from the rail (2), and loading means (9) for vertically deflecting the clip (7) so as to produce a load in the toe portion (71). The loading means (9) comprise a ramp (9) provided adjacent to the rail seat region (110), whereby the clip (7) can be installed in the apparatus by hammer-driving the heel portion (72) of 25 the clip (7) towards the rail seat region (110) until the toe portion (71) slides up the ramp (9) onto the rail (2) and the heel portion (72) comes into contact with the first abutment surface (101a). Second locating means (102) are provided for locating the rail fastening clip (7) in the apparatus in a second position, different from the first, into which the clip can be driven such that the toe portion of the clip sits on the ramp (9) in a pre-load condition in which the clip does not bear on the rail.