Railway yard

“ The work of the yardmaster is more spectacular than that of the dispatcher. To come down to a congested yard among a lot of discouraged men blocked in without room to sidetrack a handcar is like sitting down to a train sheet with most of the trains tied up for orders. ”

“ A short way off in the yard, in a small space clear of the confusing network of lines that cross and recross here and there, running in every direction and connecting the various workshops together, are two old railway coaches dispossessed of their wheels and lodged upon baulks of timber let into the ground. Like the old scrap waggons, they have had their day in active service, and, coming home in fairly good condition, though antiquated in style and useless for passenger traffic, have yet been found convenient as occasional storehouses and shelters. ”

“ Continuing our perambulation of the yard we encounter the shunters, watchmen, carriage finishers, painters, washers-down, and cushion-beaters. The old canal claims a moment’s attention, then we pass on to the ash-wheelers, bricklayers, road-waggon builders, and the wheel-turning shed. Leaving them behind we come to the “field,” where the old broad-gauge vehicles were broken up or converted, and proceed thence into the din of the frame-building shed and study some portion of its life. ”

“ A narrow, crooked access to a busy goods yard is a great impediment to the expeditious working of a heavy traffic; and road waggons conveying long pieces of timber or ironwork along such a route, would be very apt to block the roadway and delay the passage of other vehicles. ”

“ A large quantity is also sold to the workmen, who use it both for firing and for the construction of outhouses.
The shunters of the yard are a hard-working body of men, and they are exposed to many dangers. The hours are long and they must cover many miles during the day by running up and down the lines. It is their duty to transfer the carriages and waggons from road to road and from one workshop to another, to dispose of the old ones brought in for repairs, to lead out the new, and distribute the various stores — iron and steel, coal, coke, and timber — at several points. ”

“ The station-yard itself should, however, be on the level, or as nearly so as possible, for the convenience and safety of marshalling or shunting carriages or waggons. No siding should be laid on such a gradient as would render it possible for vehicles to start into motion during high winds. Carriages and waggons having good oil axle-boxes will start themselves on a gradient of 1 in 300 under the influence of a moderately strong breeze, and a slight push will start them on a gradient of 1 in 400. ”

“ As often as the yardmaster gets together a sufficient number of cars for a common destination to make up a train, he gathers them together, orders a road engine and crew to be ready, and despatches them. In the make up of "through" trains, care has to be exercised to put together cars going to the same point, and to "group" the trains so that as little shifting as possible may be required at any succeeding yard or terminal, where the trains may pass. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Rails weighing 90 pounds per yard are becoming common, and there is clear indication that before very long sections weighing from 100 to 120 pounds, or more, per yard will be brought into use on many lines. There will be no difficulty in making a permanent way strong enough for rolling loads very far in excess of anything in the present practice ”

“ Coming out of the lane along the darkness, with the dark space spreading down to the wind, and the twinkling lights of the station below, the far-off windy chuff of a shunting train, the tiny clink-clink-clink of the wagons blown between the wind, the light of Beldover-edge twinkling upon the blackness of the hill opposite, the glow of the furnaces along the railway to the right, their steps began to falter. ”

“ Doors opened, and people came and went, in the houses on either side; children by the dozen poured out on the pavement to play, and invaded the little strips of garden-ground to recover lost balls and shuttlecocks; streams of people passed backward and forward perpetually; heavy wagons piled high with goods lumbered along the road on their way to, or their way from, the railway station near; all the daily life of the district stirred with its ceaseless activity in every direction but one. ”

“ The object of the guard rails is to restrain the free movement of derailed cars and prevent them from running off the bridge. In thickly settled districts the railway right of way is usually fenced in with fences of timber or wire, or, where a nice appearance is particularly desired, with hedges and walls of stone bearing ornamental iron railings. At grade crossings of highways and in a few other places at which cattle are liable to stray onto the track cattle guards are employed. ”

“ The prairies have a monotony of their own. Your eye searches all round the horizon for the joyous blue peak of a far-off mountain. You cannot even see a tree. The railway itself is tiresome in its straight-lined and dead-level uniformity. A deep cut, a high embankment, a heavy grade, or a sharp curve, would be a relief. The only variety we had was that of the violent motion caused by the displacement of the ties by frost. This was so great at times as to set all the cars dancing, and almost to throw the passengers from their seats. ”

“ The railway from Clyde runs through a queer, wild country of rock and scattered stones; where the only vegetation consists in rare tufts of tussock grass and frequent dabs of pale green moss, which make you think the ground must be turning mouldy from lack of use. There is very little level ground and not much scope for a railroad: the train simply forces its way along, creeping through tunnels, and clinging hardily to the hillsides above steep precipices yawning below. ”

“ At all level crossings of public roads, the gates to be so constructed that they may be closed either across the railway, or across the road at each side of the crossing, and a lodge, or, in the case of a station, a gatekeeper’s box, to be provided, unless the gates are worked from a signal cabin. The gates must not be capable of being opened at the same time for the road and the railway, and must be so hung as not to admit of being opened outwards towards the road. ”

“ And the large white granite station, with iron and glass roof, more resembles an aviary than a railway terminus, the sparrows assembling there in multitudes on the tie-rods, and chattering in almost deafening fashion. In those very considerable intervals between the coming and going of trains one may stand on the platform and not be able to hold a conversation, owing to the sparrows. ”

“ In a few years the great pastoral estates will have their own railway platforms, within easy distance of the 'shed,' when possibly a tramway thence to the dumping-room will be a recognised and necessary 'improvement.' When that day comes, shearers and washers will arrive by train from the coast-range, or the 'Never Never' country ”

“ The Inland Waterways Commission finds as a reason for the decrease, the relations existing between the railways and the waterways. A railway, they consider, has two classes of advantages. First, those that come from natural conditions. A railroad line can be built in any direction to any part of the country except the extremely mountainous parts, while a river runs only in a single direction. ”

“ A very important item in the construction of a large terminal station is the roof over the lines and platforms. Wrought-iron and steel can now be obtained in so many convenient sections, and at such moderate prices, that timber-framed roofs, except for very small spans, are now rarely used for railway work. ”

“ You pass above lines of railway, which cleave the region with black-breathing fissure. You see the pavements half occupied with the paltriest and most sordid wares; the sign of the pawnbroker is on every hand; the public-houses look and reek more intolerably than in other places. ”

“ From sea level to the summit of the range, the railroad is conspicuous for its heavy grade—about four per cent.—its sharp curves, its cuts and tunnels, but above all for the magnificent scenery everywhere visible. From the car window one may look over precipitous cliffs into yawning abysses far below the track on which the train slowly and carefully winds its way. On the beetling rocks above, in the dark and wild gorge below—what a wealth of vegetation, what luxuriance of growth, what a gorgeous display of vari-colored fruit and flower, of delicate fern and majestic palm! ”

“ Frequently the railway is the first pioneer in opening up a district for settlement, being built to reach a wealthy mine or a petroleum-field, and as the railway penetrates mile after mile into the unoccupied valley, little towns spring up alongside it. In this way the hoarse bray of the railway-engine awakens the sleeping echoes of mountain glen or river valley before the sound of the settler's axe is heard or the smoke of the emigrant's camp-fire seen. ”

“ Yet the “Hanging Bridge” is but one of many engineering wonders to be found on this railway. Go where one will over its 1,800 miles of track among the Rockies, and some striking and daring work confronts one at every turn. Here the railway threads its way through a winding abyss, there it passes over the crown of a towering peak, or toils laboriously up the side of a sheering cliff. No two miles are alike. In all it traverses five yawning canyons, each possessing a strange individuality, and crosses the mountain backbone by which the continent is split in twain by three different passes. ”

“ The system of cast-iron railways is as yet to be considered but in its infancy. It will be found to be an immense improvement on the common road, and also on the wooden railway. It neither presents the friction of the tram-way, nor partakes of the perishable nature of the wooden railway, and, as regards utility, it may be considered as the medium between the navigable canal and the common road. We may therefore hope that as this system develops itself, our roads will be laid out as much as possible on one level, and in connection with the great lines of communication throughout the country. ”

“ But gradually, as people began to return to their farms and sheep-runs, and the agricultural possibilities of the State again seemed worth considering, the numbers of railway-lines began to increase, and during the twenty years which followed 1874 no fewer than 2,498 miles of railway were constructed and opened for traffic, since which only 348 miles of line have been added, chiefly in the wheat-growing districts of the North-West. ”

“ Since the gardens had been seized upon for the railway purposes, a bitter feud of opinion had reigned in the place; the staid old inhabitants mourning and resenting their town's desecration; the younger welcoming the new rail, its station, and its bustle, with all their might and main, as a grateful inbreak on their monotonous life. ”

“ It is one of two shafts that have been made in connection with an extension of the railway southward. It is protected from the intrusion of the public by a hoarding upon the high road, in which a small doorway has been cut for the convenience of some of the workmen who live in that direction. ”

“ In its course up the valley the railway on one side sometimes rises above the level of the carriage-road on the other, sometimes finds itself considerably below it. In climbing the pass, the rail of course never ceases to ascend; while the more humble road bows to the obstacles it encounters, and rises and falls according to the nature of the ground. At last, Nature seems determined to put a stop to the encroachments of steam, and the railroad finds itself directly facing a lateral valley, the bottom of which lies far below it. ”

“ The training-wall is built up of sandy soil, with stone pitched on the face exposed to the action of the river. At the top it is about 20 feet in width, and carries a wide-gauge railway track from end to end, so that should the floods tear a gap in the embankment, the injury can be repaired immediately by dumping spoil into the breach from railway wagons. ”

“ But from the general use to which this public railway is applicable, it may be found advisable to acquire even a greater breadth than twenty feet. The space between the tracks will be made up with stones, broken very small, and blinded or covered with gravel, as in the best description of road-making. The footpath for the drivers may be made with gravel, coal dust, pan ashes, or brick-dust, as may be found most convenient in the district of the railway. ”

“ The sleepers are transverse, three feet apart, to which the outer or ordinary rails are fixed by bolts or nails. The line is fenced off from the portion of the roadway to be used for ordinary horse traffic, (the greater portion of which will disappear on the opening of the railway) by means of substantial posts and rails. The railway, in passing from one side of the roadway to the other, crosses it thirty-three times, one more than half the number of these crossings (seventeen) are on the roadway, where it is practically on the level. ”