NEB&W Guide to Railroad ClearancesThis file is open to website members only
Last Update: 2009-05-24
The hobby uses a height of 22 scale feet, which on the prototype was high enough for a brakeman to stand on top of a box car. (Clearances less than that required a tell-tale to warn of low clearances.) Twenty-two feet also allows for catenary and in modern times, for double-stacks (I think).
In modern times there are various sorts of plate clearances, Plate B, Plate C, etc. In 1953, there was only Plate B, which allowed for unrestricted for interchange, with a height from top of rails of 15 ft. 1 in. (and width of 10 ft. 8