Background information:
Fixed brake shoes are easy to overlook and it doesn't help that they are rarely used these days. Usually they are only seen in workshops and industrial areas that are closed to the public. They are a lot smaller than a regular bumper and are therefore only intended for stopping very slow rolling stock. An unbraked wagon or bogie, for example, that does not go faster than 10 km/h on site. We should not confuse fixed brake shoes with the better known brake shoes. After all, fixed brake shoes are fixed to the rail and cannot be moved. In situations with street tracks, it is recommended to have the fixed brake shoe in a striking color so that drivers of road vehicles see them in good time and do not drive over them. This could cause damage to the road vehicle. Yet most fixed brake shoes that we have ever seen are colored rusty brown. Sometimes because of the respectable age they have reached, but sometimes also because they have never been painted and rust just as quickly as the rails.
Architectural details:
Fixed brake shoes are made of different types of steel depending on their age. The older ones are riveted to the rail, newer ones are sometimes simply welded to the head of the rail. Most fixed brake shoes have one curved side with which a wheel can be accommodated over a larger surface. They are located in places where you might also expect a bumper bar, but where a bumper bar would take up too much space and where the speed of rolling stock or rolling objects is a maximum of 10 km/h. They do well in a loading/unloading place and workshop where access to the wagon must be as free as possible, but also where axels and bogies are stored.
