A heavy, profiled steel plate used in pairs to bolt two sections of rail together at a joint. They fit tightly into the recessed sides of the rails to hold the rail heads in perfect alignment. While continuously welded rail is standard on main lines, these plates are used on branch lines, yard tracks, and temporary repair sections.
Heard on the job
We need a trackman out here with a wrench, we've a cracked fishplate on the yard lead.
Insider tip
North American track workers almost exclusively call these joint bars or angle bars, while fishplate is the British term.
Also heard as
- joint bar
- angle bar