One driver told him that a fireman who did not know the route might easily go "over the side" between Corby and Harringworth, unless warned beforehand of the reverse curves; he himself, in his firing days, used to try so to plan his firing that it was unnecessary to add any more coal while passing over this stretch at speed.

Chambers's Technical Dictionary defines a reverse curve as "a curve composed of two arcs, of the same or different radii, with their centres on opposite sides of the curve." In other words, a reverse curve is an "S" curve.

Some slight alterations in alignment were necessary to provide the pier line and the station is approached by severe reverse curves in both directions.

Reverse curve

Meaning

Noun