The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-30

He has had manufactured and laid Sec
tons of rail weighing 100 pounds to the
yard. Ii is his idea that on rails such
as these, trains might be made to increase
their speed until the much talked-of limit
Of 1G0-miles-an-hour might be reached.
A person unacquainted with the action
of steel when heavy weights are put upon
1t will be very apt to AK what difference
the weight of track would make in the
speed of a train. 1t IS in answer to just
such n question as that and also for SCI
entific demonstration that Mr. Dudley in
vented his stremmatograph. This instru-
ment is intended to be attached TO the
track itself and is SO sensitive in opera
ton that il viii record exactly how hard
each wheel of the train presses down on
the track when the locomotive and cars
pass along. BY means of the stremmato-
graph it is found that no rail can bear
the passage Of train over II and yet re-
main absolutely rigid, II seems that rail-
road tracks move around under the pass
age of a heavy train. For instance the
tracks bend down under the weight of each
wheel and, comparatively speaking, bulge
up between the front and rear wheels Of
each car until the section of rail under
the train undulates to a really remarkable
extent. All kinds OF stresses are set up
in the fiber Of the steel. At one instant a
small section Of rail may be compressed
many thousands Of pounds; next instant
that same part will be subjected to a state
OF tension, which, measured by thousands
of pounds, may be even greater than the
compression. This process Is repeated
over and over again as the train passes
along The train even pushes the track
up in front Of the forward wheels of the
locomotive; that Is, the track rises IN front
of the wheels just as water does before
the PROV of boat. There are other phe-
nomena peculiar to tracks which add to
the quota of rail peculiarities. But one can
easily see how they all assist in retarding
the speed Of a train. Now, according to
the acknowledgement which was tried on
trains running first on 65-pound rails and
then on S0-pound rails, the adverse condi-
ton was much worse on the former than
on the latter. In short the 65-pound rails
were much more flexible and allowed the
train to make a greater series OF depres-
sions In them than was possible with the
more rigid s0-pound rail. For comparison,
a somewhat analogous condition confronts
two aerial performers one Of whom walks
slack wire, the other the tight rope. 1t
Is much easier TO do the latter trick. Such
a comparison may seem overdrawn, but
just such condition exists in minutia in
railway tracks of the weights mentioned,
The rigdify OF the track Is then a para
mount requirement, and this Is what Mr..
Dudley seeks to prove with his instru-
ment. Just how much a big locomotive
will push heavy track down below It's
ordinary level may be judged from the
following: On special section Of 95-
pound rails laid on the Boston and Albany
Railroad, the depression made by a 100-ton
locomotive was measured. The driving
wheels OF this engine carried $500 pounds
per pair, but locomotives with much great
er weight on the drivers are ia use. The
depression under the front truck wheel
Of the engine was 009t of an inch. between
4trtr Of n Af4rt a "a
reaF truck wheel 0.100 Of an inch. IN the
wheel space between the engine truck and