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plural fishplates
(rail transport) A metal bar that is bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track. quotations examples
The train, minus the three abandoned trucks, again proceeded at a slow pace, with a pump trolley doing pilot ahead ; this was very necessary as a great many sleepers were found to have been burnt underneath the fishplates.
1901, George Gipps, The Fighting in North China (up to the Fall of Tientsin City), Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, page 40
third-person singular simple present fishplates, present participle fishplating, simple past and past participle fishplated
(transitive, rail transport) To connect (rails) together using a fishplate. quotations examples
One section of the line will consist of 60 ft. lengths of rail welded together on site to form fully continuous rails; another will be of 300 ft. lengths, flash butt-welded in Dinsdale Rail Welding Depot and fishplated together on site; [...].
1959 November, “Talking of Trains: Widening north of York”, in Trains Illustrated, page 518