Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-06-05
Something About Railroads.

We, on the outside, hear great deal
about ballast for railroads. Now what is
ballast, aud why do they call it 20? Well.
those tons of iron, men, women, cattle aud
merchandise, which daily 60 rushing over
the rail must rest on some firmer founda'
ton than the natural SOIL So, often after
the track is laid and the road seems fin.
ished to the uninitiated eye, the ties, track
and all must be raised again and gravel OF
broken stone deposited underneath to the
depth of from one to two feet. This makes
hard, secure foundation, not given to set.
tie, aud allowing the rain to drain through
those excavations alongside the track
Ballasting on first-class road is always
going on. The essence of railroad safety
is hard and perfectly level track. What
if it settle in one place even a couple Of
inches? There comes bent rail, and
when twenty five tons Of engine and many
more tons of cars rush over it, there is an
unequal strain somewhere. One train
passes, and maybe it cracks; the next, ii
cracks little more; by-and-by there is a
broken rail, train off the track, smash.
up, a coroner's jury investigation over your
insured remains, and all the other concom.
iants of railroad life and death. Such is
ballast. The London collicrs thew their
gravel ballast into the Thames. The rail
road men found it to be just what they
wanted to make road foundations. So
they called it ballast the name answering
for one purpose as well as for the other.
Fast running wears out track in iasttimc.
On a certain road there was double up
and-down track on a grade of forty feet to
the mile. The up trains run slow; the
down trains ran fast the down tracks
wore out one fourth faster than the up.
The outer rail on curve also wears much
faster than the inner one. Passenger To-
comotivos running from twenty five to for
ty miles per hour do no not wear out as
fast as those uaed in. hauling freight trains.
Not drawing such heavy lools, the strain
upon the boilers and internal machinery of
the passengers engine is not so great.
Small freight cars are now being pre-
icrrcl to large ones. They arc more casi-
ly and chcaply loaded, more conveniently
handled at stations, carry more freight in
proportion and in case of accident stand
s,mashin. better than large ones. Th"
slower (rci ght trains arc run, the less wear
on the rails. Rails wear ont at the joiuts
first. American iron for rails is now pre-
frrrcd to English. Col. Wilmot Of the
Royal Engineers, in testing the English
iron, found none which would bear strain
of $4,000 pounds to the square inch. Maj
Wade, Of the United States. got tests aver
aging from 10000 to 45,0 900 pounds to
the square inch Bothwcrc testing metal
for ordnance purposes. The American
cast iron wheel drove the English wrought
iron wheels from the railway of Canada.
The English make better roads than we ;
but our rolling stock, especially the loco
motives. is superior.
A rail lasts about five years. The po-
tent causes of its destruction are lamina-
ton and splitting. Locomotives hung on
imperfect and rigid springs, hammer it to
pieces. Steel rails arc in England coming
into general use. The director of ono Of
the principal Pennsylvania roads rcn,arks
that the first railway talent we possess
openly avows that the only salvation of
our railway system will be found in the use
of steel metal for our rails
There should be on every mile of rail
road 2,400 cross ties. Broken axlos and
wheels as well as most other accidents to
the running machinery occur from the
shock occasioned by passing from full
bearing on cross tic over the vacant space
between them. Some railroad men alvo.
cate continuous bearing of timber under
meath the rail, doing away with cross ties.
One hundred dollars worth of car, rail or
locomotive will wear out to the amount of
fifteen dollars yearly.