Rail tie

“ 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. ”

“ Those interested to maintain the credit of the air-brake or of the track department are not often on the ground when the reporter gets his information, and the temptation is always great to shift the responsibility to the shoulders of the absent. Probably the displacement of the rail will have taken place after the derailment; but rails do sometimes spread. Loose spikes and rotten ties allow the outer edge of the rail-flange to sink into the wood, and the rail to roll outward enough to let the wheels drop. Sound ties are the first safeguard against such accidents. ”

“ The durability of well-treated ties is well established in this country by considerable experience on various railways. In England, France, and Germany the experience is ample, the ties lasting there longer than we can expect them to last here, from the fact that chairs are generally used to hold the rail and distribute the weight to a greater area of wood than is the case with the base of our rails ”

“ A 6-foot gauge was introduced on the Erie Railway and retained long after the standard gauge had become general in the United States. As time passes, however, the 4 foot 81⁄2 inch gauge is becoming more common all over the world. The method of fastening rails to the ties varies. In America hook-headed spikes are almost universally used; the bull-headed rail used in England is wedged into cast-iron chairs which are bolted to the ties; in Europe considerable use is made of bolts; and when steel ties are employed various forms of clamping devices tightened by means of bolts or wedges are used. ”

“ To secure perfect safety in ascending and descending such a tremendous grade, the track is composed of three rails bolted to a trestle of heavy timbers, the centre rail being an immense wrought-iron ladder, with rounds four inches apart, into which the cogs of the locomotive drive-wheel fit, and thus drag the train up the steep as well as control it, with aid of air-brakes, in making the descent. One and a half hours are consumed in making the round trip, and the fare is six dollars, but the view from the summit is so magnificent that it fully justifies the expense. ”

“ As the sleepers under the chair road suffer less from the crushing of the timber, they have a much longer life in the line, and remain serviceable until they are incapacitated from decay. This is a very important item in places where timber sleepers are expensive. The steadiness of the chair prolongs the efficiency of the spikes.
As the actual wearing portion of the rail is the head, or wheel contact surface, a liberal area—consistent with the expected traffic—must be given to that part, whether for a bull-head rail or a flange rail. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ By substituting two long timbers for the ordinary sleepers at the points of the switch rails, as shown on the sketch, a more efficient support is obtained for the switch-box or crank in the case of rod-worked switches, and the working distance from the rails is accurately maintained, irrespective of any packing or pulling of the road. In the sketch a steel bull-head rail is shown on one side, and a steel flange rail on the other, each bolted to an ordinary cast-iron switch chair. ”

“ On shot the locomotive, like an arrow from the bow, the men throwing over the ties until the train was well nigh unloaded, when just as they were close to the curve by which the train arrives at the station, they saw the dreaded cars strike a tie, or something equally of service, and with a desperate plunge rush down the embankment, some fifteen feet, to the little valley, and creek below. ”

“ The centre rail not only aids the train in going round curves, but also adds largely to its safety. Each vehicle is provided with four horizontal pulleys, each of about eight inches diameter, playing around vertical axes fixed upon the frame of the vehicle, and placed two and two at each of its extremities, and on each side of the centre rail. By the tightening of these pulleys, the flanges of the wheels, instead of gliding along the outer rails, press strongly against them, and thus the train is able to overcome curves unaccomplishable by any other means. ”

“ The railroad in its modern form would be impossible if Bessemer and others had not taught the world to make steel cheaply. Iron rails, even under comparatively light loads, wore out and had to be replaced constantly. Steel rails, introduced gradually after 1860, could bear double the load on each wheel, and still outlive many iron rails. The modern rail, simple as it appears, is both in material and in proportions a great feat of engineering, “a beam whose every dimension and curve and angle are exactly suited to the tremendous work it has to do.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ If you have ever walked the railroad tracks [99] (which you certainly must never do unless grown people are with you, for it is a dangerous practise) you know that stepping from tie to tie between the rails is a very uncomfortable way to travel, because the ties are not laid at equal distances apart. First Vi and Laddie had to take a short step and then a long step. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Rails must be made more uniform in quality, and must be free from the imputation of fracture under regular wear. Notwithstanding the great improvements made in the preparation of the steel, and in the rolling, there are still far too many steel rails which break under traffic to allow rail-makers to rest satisfied with their work. Something is still wanting in the manufacture to effectually remove this disposition to fracture. The safe rail, the rail of the future, must be one that may bend and may wear, but will never break under ordinary use in the road. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Steel rails, double the weight of the original iron ones, are used. Wooden sleepers have replaced the stone blocks, and they, in their turn, will probably give way to sleepers of steel. The joints are now made by means of fish-plates, and the most vulnerable part of the rail, the end, is no longer laid on an anvil for a purpose of being smashed to pieces, but the ends of the rails are now almost always over a void, and thereby are not more affected by wear than is any other part of the rail. ”

“ The steel rails, which are laid in the chairs, are of the single-headed section, 30 feet in length, and weigh 900 lbs., or 90 lbs. per lineal yard. It may be mentioned that over bridges, and for some other special purposes, about 10 miles of rails have been laid upon the London and North-Western Railway which are 60 feet in length.
Each 30 feet rail rests on ten sleepers, and is secured in its place by creosoted oak keys 6 inches long, 33⁄8 inches wide, and 21⁄8 inches thick, driven between the rail and the chair, outside the rail. ”

“ In all cases substantial parapets, with a height of not less than 4 feet 6 inches above rail-level must be provided by an addition to the girders, unless the girders themselves are sufficiently high. On important viaducts where the superstructure is of iron, steel, or timber, substantial outside wheel-guards to be fixed above the level of, and as close to the outer rails as possible, but not so as to be liable to be struck by any part of an engine or train running on the rails. ”

“ I glanced ahead. The switch light was white, the target showed main line plainly, for my headlight shone on it full and clear. What could be the matter with "Her Eyes."
As I turned to enter the cab the roar of [Pg 107] the coming express came down the wind on the frosty air and my eyes fell on the rail ahead. My God, they were full to the siding! It was a stub-rail switch, and the stand had moved the target and the light, but not the rails—the bridle-rod was broken.
I yelled like a mad man, but the brake-man had gone to the caboose for his lunch pail. I ran to the switch. It was useless. ”

“ The comparative narrow flange places the spikes at great disadvantage in point of leverage for holding down, and this weakness is soon made manifest, particularly on curves, where additional crab bolts or other devices are rendered necessary to counteract the tendency of the rail to rock and tilt over sideways. When the head of the rail cannot be kept in its proper position, the gauge becomes widened, and an irregular sinuous motion takes place in the running of the train. ”

“ The fact that narrow gauge locomotives are usually required to surmount much steeper gradients than are generally to be found on standard railways, makes adhesion a question of the first importance. It is very generally supposed that the co-efficient of adhesion between a wheel and a rail is a constant fraction of the insistent weight, varying slightly with the molecular structure of the metals in contact. ”

“ The reason that ordinary railway tracks are an obstruction to common travelling-carriages is, that it is necessary that the rails should be raised above the surface of the ground, because railroad wheels are constructed differently from ordinary wheels in having two circumferences of different diameters, the smaller circumference being intended to rest on the rail (and called the tread) , and the larger circumference running on the side of the rail. ”

“ Fig. 343 shows an arrangement of sleepering largely adopted for steel flange rails 26 feet long, and weighing 79 lbs. per yard. The length of a rail is more a question of convenience of handling, facility of transhipment, and general use, than of actual manufacture. There is no difficulty in rolling rails up to 50 feet in length, or more; but very long rails are extremely ungainly things to move about, and are more exposed to receive permanent bends or kinks in unloading, besides requiring greater spaces at the joints to allow for contraction and expansion. ”

“ Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling.
Locomotive driving-wheels in this country are always made of cast-iron, with steel tires which are heated and put on the wheels and then cooled. They are thus contracted and "shrunk" on the wheel. The tread, that is, the surface which bears on the rail, and the flange of the tire are then turned off in a lathe, shown in Figure 25, on p. 121, made especially for the purpose. For engine-truck, tender, and car-wheels, until within a few years, "chilled" cast-iron wheels have been used almost exclusively on American railroads. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The ties are carried on a common freight car behind, and conveyed by an endless chain over the top of the machinery, laid down in their places on the track, and, when enough are laid, a rail is put down on each side in proper position and spiked down. ”