Railroads

3911

Railroads

Newcastle-on-Tyne, with George Stephen-
son's famous 'Puffing Billy* in 1814. The ori-
gin of railroad transportation in the United
States is generally traced to the short line
built at Quincy, Mass., in 1826, for the purpose
of bringing down from the quarry the granite
used for the Bunker Hill Monument. This line
operated by gravity, the loaded cars moving
down hauling the empty cars back by means
of a cable running on a wheel at the top. The
first line to which the term railroad in its
modern sense can be applied was the Balti-
more & Ohio, which was chartered in 1827
and the construction of which was begun in
1828.

After the Civil War, construction was re-
sumed, and a boom period was begun which
lasted from 1867 to the panic of 1873. In 1869
the first transcontinental line, the Union Pa-
cific and the Central Pacific from the Mis-
souri River to San Francisco, was opened, the
two lines meeting at Salt Lake City on May
10 of that year. The decade from 1880 to
1890 was the period of greatest expansion, no
less than 70,000 miles of new lines being built.
The interval from 1884 to the present time
may be termed the conservative era of railroad
building, the enterprises as a whole being
planned to meet legitimate needs of transpor-
tation as the country has developed. In this
time, and more particularly in recent years,
railway development has been intensive rath-
er than extensive. New construction has been
in the form of second, third, or fourth track,
new and more modern and efficient freight
and passenger terminals, new engine-houses
and shops, heavier bridges, realignment proj-
ects for the purpose of eliminating grades and
curvature and installations of signals to im-
prove safety of operation or to effect increase
in trackage capacity. In locating a railroad
line, advantage is taken of favorable water
courses, passes, and other geological forma-
tions to permit reduced grades and the mini-
mum of curvature, and to avoid cutting and
filling as much as possible.

For a single track road a strip of 75 to 100
ft. wide is usual for level country; but where
cuts or fills arc made more than 10 ft. in ver-
tical dimension, this is increased by 25 ft. for
each 2 ft. over 10 ft. Where land cannot be
bought on fair terms, the right of eminent
domain conferred on the railroad by its char-
ter secured from the State, which carries with
it the right of condemnation proceedings, is
employed* and the necessary land is obtained
at a fair valuation of the damages to the land

owner. On the high grade railroad the width
of the roadbed at sub-grade is set at 20 ft.
for a single-track line. For double track, mod-
ern practice is to allow 13 ft. from center to
center of the two tracks, making a total width
at sub-grade of 33 ft. In building a new rail-
road the cross-ties are roughly laid down on
top of the sub-grade and the rails bolted and
spiked, forming a rough and imperfect track,
which, however, is suitable for the passage of
work trains at slow speed. Ballast is then dis-
tributed over the sub-grade by special dump
or ballast cars and shoveled and tamped un-
der the ties. The track is then given additional
lifts until the ballast is distributed uniformly
and firmly with a depth of 12 inches or more
below the bottom of the tie.

Ties.—Timber cross-ties are universally
used on the railroads of the United States,
Oak and pine ties now generally predominate,
white oak, when available, being especially
desirable because of its hardness, elasticity and
resistence to rot. Pine ties, because of their
greater availability, have come into substanti-
ally increased use in recent years. They are
found quite satisfactory when properly pre-
served against rotting by special treatment
and against mechanical wear by the use of
tie-plates.

Rail.—The form of rail used universally
for railroad service in the United States i?
the T-rail, made to standard specifications of
the American Society of Civil Engineers or
the American Railway Association and Am-
erican Railway Engineering Association, al-
though some roads have sections of their own.
Formerly rails were rolled in lengths of 33 ft.,
but in recent years 39 ft. has been adopted
as standard on most railroads, and one trunk-
line railroad is now experimenting with 66-ft.
rail* Rail Joints.—The simplest form of joint
is the common fish plate or angle bar, held to
the rails by four or six bolts. Joints may be
supported or suspended. In the supported
joint the rail ends rest on a joint tie; in the
suspended joint, used by most roads the rail
ends project beyond the shoulder ties and are
supported entirely by the splice bars.

Gauge.—The standard gauge of railroad
track in the United States, i.e.t the distance
between the inside of the heads of the rails, is
4 ft. 8J4 in. Switches.—Where one line of
rails diverges from another, as at a turnout,
a switch and its accompanying frog are pro-
vided to control the direction of passing trains
over the main line or straight track or onto
the diverging line. Switches are Called facing-