Handrail

“ He formulated rules for finding sections of prisms, cylinders, or cylindroids, which enabled workmen to execute handrails with greater facility and from less material than previously. For his improvements in the construction of handrailing the Society of Arts voted him their gold medal in April 1814. ”

“ The very wheels beneath you trundle along in an indistinct fashion, and the engine has a wheeze instead of a whistle. It is as if the railway dictionary had been run over by the cars a number of times, and there was nothing left for the owners but to serve out the fragments to passengers. The brakeman of a train holds, all things considered, the post of honor, because the post of danger. The locomotive talks to him all day, and, as a rule, that is about the only individual with whom he holds much conversation. ”

“ LANDING IN AN OBTUSE ANGLE, THE WREATH TO FORM ITS OWN EASING INTO THE STRAIGHT RAIL.
Fig. 1 is the plan with the risers placed in the springing, and the rail drawn with a radius so as to make the inside falling line nearly a straight line. Draw the centre line of rail to the angle, and bisect it from B. Set off on each side half a tread marked 2 2 and 3 3. Now draw the inside of rail to cut these two lines in 4 and 5; draw through 4 and 5 square to the centre line of rail to meet in O, then O will be the centre and A O the radius. ”

“ Anyone who will stand close to a line of railroad when a train is rushing by at a speed of forty, fifty, or sixty miles an hour must wonder how the engine and cars are kept on the track; and even those familiar with the construction of railroad machinery often express astonishment that the flanges of the wheels, which are merely projecting ribs about 11/8 inches deep and 11⁄4 inches thick, are sufficient to resist the impetus and swaying of a locomotive or car at full speed. ”

“ We now have a kind of rail which conforms to the condition already mentioned, namely, that of being capable of being laid down in front of the wheel of the truck or vehicle, and of being picked up again when the weight has passed over any particular part. The hoop, in fact, constitutes a rolling railway, and the larger it can with convenience be made, the nearer is the approach which it presents to a straight railway track as regards the absence of resistance to the passing of a loaded truck-wheel over it. ”

“ The carriage which sustains the plank or board to be operated upon, may be moved forwards by means of a rack and pinion, by an endless chain, or band, by geared friction rollers, or by any of the devices well known to machinists for advancing a carriage, or materials to be acted upon in machines for various purposes. The plank or board is to be moved on towards the cutting edges of the cutters, or knives, on the planing cylinder, so that its knives or cutters, as they revolve, may meet and cut the plank or board, in a direction contrary to that in which it is made to advance. ”

“ When they come to the curve, in which the outside rail is always set higher than the inside one, and is necessarily longer, the flange presses against it, and that wheel is running on its largest diameter while the opposite wheel is on its smallest diameter. This fact, together with the slipping, enables the outside wheel to go over a greater length of rail than the inside wheel, though both are secured rigidly to the same axle. The train has a tendency to go straight ahead; the outside rail being higher causes it to constantly slip a little. ”

“ A gun-barrel mounted on a carriage with wheels, and moving on a perfectly horizontal railway, is placed at right angles to another short railway, at any convenient distance (suppose fifty feet, or yards) ; on the second railway a light carriage moves freely with any desired velocity, being drawn forward by means of a weight and pulleys: a cord is attached to the front of this carriage, which passes over a pulley at the end of the railroad, and is continued up a high pole or staff over another pulley at the top, at which end the weight is attached. ”

“ The railroad track must be true; there is not room for even the variation of a fraction of an inch in the gauge of the two rails.
In fastening the two long lines of rails, the profession of track-laying rises to almost supreme heights. The men who fasten the rail with angle iron and a single roughly-adjusted bolt in each rail-end are head-strappers and past masters in their art. After them in due season come the back-strappers, finishing that fine work of solidly bolting the rail against the vast strain of a thousand-ton train being shot over it at lightning speed. ”

“ The action of long rigid wheel-base vehicles passing [Pg 54] round sharp curves is detrimental to all the parts brought into contact. Not only is there the constant tendency to mount the rails, and spread the gauge, but the tiny shreds of steel scattered all along close to the rail—particles ground off the rails, or off the wheel-tyres, or both—testify to useless wear, unnecessary friction, and great waste of motive-power. ”

“ The driving-wheels are an important detail of the [Pg 130] construction of the locomotive. They are made in rough castings—of steel for fast passenger engines, and of iron for other forms of motive power—and are then made true in giant lathes. The steel tires are shrunk on the wheels, a work of astounding nicety; and in turn the wheels themselves are heated and shrunk upon the axles—of the best steel that man can forge. To place these wheels upon the axles is hair-line work. A 9-inch hub receives an axle just 8.973 inches—no more, no less—in diameter. ”

“ The wheels will, undoubtedly, be as safely guided in the shallow as in the deeper channels, and the rails will be equally durable with those of greater weight. When rails of this description are sunk into a channel in a rail of stone or wood, the base being wider than their upper sides, the pressure of sand into the seams on each side of the iron, caused by the running of common carriage wheels over them, will effectually confine the iron plates between the jambs of the stone or wood. ”

“ A wheel rests upon a rail on one point, or possibly on a transverse line of which the length is equal to the width of the rail. With a small insistent weight the molecules of the wheel and rail interlock without injury, and adhesion, on the principle of an infinitesimal rack and pinion, is the result. As the weight is increased on the fine bearing area, the molecules become disturbed, and fail to offer so firm a fulcrum. Ultimately they become displaced, and move as rollers between the two surfaces, materially reducing the adhesion. ”

“ That every engine should have just in advance of each of its front wheels a powerful framing, supporting a strong piece of plate-iron, descending within an inch or two of the upper face of the rail. These iron plates should be fixed at an angle of 45° with the line of rail, and also at the same angle with respect to the horizon. Their shape would be something like that of ploughshares, and their effect would be to pitch any obstacle obliquely off the rail unless its heavier portion were between the rails. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that when the pivoted arms are set in the forward or backward position, and one of the wheels of a train or vehicle has passed on to the rail over the rocking-bar, the latter cannot be changed or raised and pulled over to the opposite extremity so long as any one of the wheels of the train or vehicles remain over the rocking-bar. ”

“ As they near the ground ready hands grasp the bar of steel, steady it in its descent, and guide it into its correct position. The gauge is brought into play dexterously, and before one can realize what has happened the men are spiking the pair of rails to the sleepers, have slipped the bolts into the fish-plates connecting the new rail with its fellow already in position, and the track-layer has moved slowly forward some 13 or 16 feet over a new unit of track, meanwhile disgorging further sleepers from the mouth of the trough. ”

“ Now here you can see that locomotive wheel, or one like it, with its tyre in place, waiting for the time when it can be fitted in place in the locomotive being built on the right. When the time comes for this loco to have its wheels put on, it will be swung in the air, the wheels will be arranged in place underneath it, and it will slowly be lowered on to them. Just as important as the work of building locomotives is that of keeping them in repair. Routine examinations of locomotives and coaches keep up the railway’s safety standards. ”

“ On our home and continental lines, the modern express locomotive, with a four-wheel bogie truck in front, is a much longer vehicle than its predecessors, and its total weight is distributed over a greater wheel-base; but the actual weight placed upon the driving-wheels, or on the coupled wheels, is now very much in excess of former practice, and must be taken into consideration when working out the details of girders and cross-girders of under-line bridges. ”

“ In an ordinary railroad the functions of the iron or steel rails are twofold, first to carry the weight of the load, and second to guide the engine, carriage or truck in the right direction. Now the latter purpose—in the case of a rail-track never used for high speeds, especially in going round curves—might be served by the adoption of a very much lighter weight of rail, if only the carrying of the load could be otherwise provided for. ”

“ When chairs are used to support the rails they must be secured to the sleepers, at least partially, by iron spikes or bolts. With flat-bottomed rails, when there are no chairs, or with bridge rails, the fastenings at the joints, and at some intermediate places, to consist of fang or other through-bolts; and such rails, on curves with radii of 15 chains or less, to be tied to gauge by iron or steel ties at suitable intervals. ”

“ A good fitting chair—especially when keyed on the inside—provides a most effectual support to the rail both vertically and laterally, and maintains the rail to accurate gauge. By giving proper clearance space at the tops of the chair-jaws, a bull-head rail can be taken out by simply driving out the wooden keys, and a new rail inserted without in any way disturbing the chairs or spikes. To change a flange rail necessitates the slackening and removal of a large number of the spikes and crab bolts. ”

“ Just what the cyclist does for his wheel with his little spoonshaped brake, the men in charge of the locomotive did for that unwieldy mass of iron, for had it once got beyond control on a sharp down-grade, nothing could have saved the horses or anything else that happened to be in the way. ”

“ To the ends of the girders are attached large roller wheels which travel round a solid iron or steel roller-path laid down along the circumference. These modern turn-tables are generally worked on the balancing principle, by bringing the engine and tender to a stand in such a position on the rails that the greater portion of the weight is thrown on to the cup-shaped steel centre, so that a small force applied to the long outrigged hand-levers at the ends is sufficient to turn one of the heaviest locomotives. ”

“ The writer has had long mileages of each description of permanent way under his charge, both at home and abroad, for many years, and the result of his experience has shown that, although a fairly good road may be made with flange rails, still, for constant, heavy, fast traffic, the bull-head rail with cast-iron chairs makes a much stronger, more durable, and better permanent way than any flange railroad. ”

“ At T, is a small roller, merely for preventing the ground rope from coming up among the machinery. At the head of the railway, and under the tackle-board, is a wheel and pinion Z, with a crank for tightening the ground rope. The fixed machinery at the head, for hardening or tempering the strands, is similar to that on the carriage, with the exception of the ground-rope geer, which is unnecessary. ”

“ Why, just put a little light hand-rail from a post on either side, and let one who is strong of head walk over, resting his hand on the rail; he does not need the rail for himself but he uses it just to show how it may be a help, and so the timid and the dizzy-headed follow and feel confidence, and reach the other side in safety. ”

“ Timber sleepers intended for the flange railroad should have the rail-seats grooved by machinery to ensure perfect accuracy in the position of the grooves, and in the angle or inclination of the rail-seats. Fig. 340 is a side view of part of a sleeper grooved to receive a flange rail. The presence of the grooves materially facilitate the laying of the rails to gauge, but must not be allowed to interfere with the constant use of the platelayer’s gauge. ”

“ Another somewhat curious point in connection with adhesion is the slip of the driving wheels, which is naturally in the direction of causing a greater number of revolutions of the wheels than would be due to the length of rail travelled over. Occasionally, however, I have, in experimenting, noticed that fewer revolutions are made than would suffice to travel the distance as measured on a centre line between the rails. ”

“ And second, the means of movement must be such, that when the block E has been advanced to its forward position, so as to grasp the rail and press it against the block D, the machinery shall hold E rigidly in position, not allowing it to be forced at all out of its position, otherwise the heavy blows necessary to weld the iron would destroy the shape of the rail. ”

“ The engine and car merely rest upon and are kept in place by the two outer rails, while the power is applied to the middle one, which we have just called a rail, but is, more properly speaking, a little ladder of steel cogs, into which the corresponding teeth of the locomotive’s driving-wheel play—a firm hold being thus secured. ”