The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-09

large 10 he vanked out with the long
cared stump-pullers. the hobo" turns
wodma and levels the lords OF the for
est with the ak.
WORK OF THE GRADERS
After his gang come the g-aders. The
shovel Is not used much in these days
for grading a railroad befi. Wheeled
scrapers and steam shovels. huge plows
and grading machines, such as are used
In the earth sections on the sanitary
canal, are the tools employed by railroad
contractors. With this machinery fewer
men can do more work than the shovel
gangs that used to make a level way
for the rails. In the days when the
shovel was the implement of construc-
ton a large gang OF Italians had been
brought direct from Castle Garden, New
York. to the contractors camp in Kan
sas. They had been promised $3.50 a
day. A few weeks after their arrival
their wages were cut 10 per cent. They
appeared to accept the cut cheerfully,
but the next morning when they
marched out OF camp TO go TO work the
foreman noticed that every Italian car
ried a shovel with an inch of the metal
cut off. The shovel nad DeeG just ten
inches long. and the Italians a met
the cut of 10 per cent, not by a strike,
but by a reduction of just 10 per cent.
in the working efficiency Of their shov-
els.
on some railroads the entire construc-
ton Of the road, including track-lay-
ing, depots, water tanks and bridges, is
done by contract. On other roads the
clearing and grading are let by contract,
the road being divided into sections
varying from twenty-five to forty miles,
and the railroad lays its own track. One
of the quickest pieces of track-laying
ever done in this country, and that
means in the world. was done by the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad
on its lines west of the Missouri river.
w. K. McFarlin had charge of the work.
and his men averaged two and
fourth miles of track every day, includ-
ing Sunday. The biggest days work
laid three and o~ne-fourth miles OF track.
1t is claimed that eleven miles of track
have been laid in one day, but in that
case the ties and rails were laid on the
ground from cars. on a parallel rack.
This cannot be done when the track is
branching u into a new country.
The methods of handling earth and
rock are varied. according to circum-
stances. Twenty-Five years ago no tools
were used or known except carts. wheel
barrows, spades and fimsy wooden drag
scrapers. These are still the implements
employed in England and continental
Europe, with the addition Of clumsy
dump cars, the deficiencies being sup
piled by brute force, interminable time
and plenty Of money. But in America
the railroads stretched out so long, and
the money had to be spread on so thin,
and the impotence of the companies to
have their lines completed quickly was
so great that constant improvements in
tools n methods were made. Proba-
bly, the most useful tool the railroad
builder now has is called a wheel
scraper II consist of a steel box. open
on top and in front and holding about
half q cubic yard, hung between two
wheels in such a manner that it can be
let down to the ground by means of a
lever operated behind the machine. With
the box resting on the groud it is
dragged along the ground by a team
until filed with earth that has been
previously loosened by plows- When the
bowl is full the lever is pressed down
and the load raised into position to be
easily hauled without the expense and
trouble OF shoveling by hand. The Gus
tom is to put all material from cuttings
into the adjacent fills wherever practical
bic, and these wheel scrapers are very
useful and economical in this kind of
work when the length of the haul does
not exceed about 500 feet. For short dis
tances-100 feet or l~ess-smaller scrapes,
dragged over the ground by horses, are
used A large and complicated grader
Is extensively and economically used. 1t
Is drawn by twelve horses, carries a
pillow hat throws up the furrow on an
endless belt. by which the earth is con-
veyed sidewise and upward and dumped
eighteen feet from the excavation, either
into an or into wagons.
When the work is heavy it is attacked
with steam ShOvelS and small cars run
ming on narrow-gauge tracks. The
material for the railroad bed is Dor
rowed' when taken from bitches along
side and placed in an embankment,
wasted" when thrown aside from a cut
ting and hauled" when taken from a
cutting and used in an adjoining en-
bankment.
Before and during this process of
grading the engineers set out stakes
zach 100 feet along the center line and
ut each side of the cuts and fills, marked
with the height or depth, and, as the
work nears completion, grade stakes"
are set. OF which are marked the ex-
act levels of the roadbed.
COincident with the grading of a rail-
road bed the bridges and culverts of
wood. steel and stone are carried for
ward so the work of track laying may
proceed uninterruptedly. Great piles of
rails. ties. spikes. spices and supplies
are collected at a convenient point along
the line and the nucleus of a track-lay-
Ing rang gathered in This nucleus
grows quickly when the work begins, for
lucIt ID a GLASS VI NdHucItIS vi lit
face of the earth who will do no other
work than this, and as soon as the rails
commence to creep out from a town
they swarm I'm droves. on foot. on
freight-car trucks Inc any other non-
paying manner of transportation
Though wild and rough, these men are
preferable to n other for this particu-
lar employment, as it requires both skill
and very hard labor.
Ahead of the track layers stretches
the new grade: back of them are the
steel rails ready for the locomotive. AS
they move along they complete what the
locating engineer began, and when they
have passed all hat remains to be done
IS to put on the final touches and erect
depots n water tanks. The track lay
ing gang may nave fifty and it may
ave 140 men. If fifty men are in the
ang IL is divided about as follows:
Twelve "iron-car' men. twelve spikers,
twelve topmen to handle ties and rails
on the cars. eight men putting in ties
and six liners" The iron men are the
leaders of the gang. One of them is
given a name which probably is respon-
sible for the title bestowed upon a small
ward politician. for he is called a "heel-
er," and he is the leader of the iron men.
His CHEEKY drop 'er" is followed by
the clang Of the rail as il falls into
place, and so expert are the iron men
that they can drop a rail on the ties