The Portland daily press., 1898-10-29
RAIL S TRAVEL WITH TRAINS.
The Well Known Phenomenon Under In
vestisatfon by Engineers.
(From the Albany Press. J

tHrom the Albany Press.
The railroad men of lbany are discus
sing at present the subject OF creeping
rails. They regard it as a curious fact
about modern railroading, but SO far
there is little knowledge ohtaiDable about
it. The matter is one which concerns
practical road builders quite as much as
those interested only IN the theory of the
thing 1t was up for discussion at the re-
cent convention of the New England
Roadm asters' Association, and it is to be
brought up before the Roadmasters' As
ISOLATION of America at its meeting in
Denver this month.
Engineer Irwin had some comments to
make upon the subject. 81 noticed a
writer in recent issue of the Railway
A ge who discussed the meter at some
length. Is appears that it has not yet
been determined whether the movement
of the rails is with OF against the direc-
tion of heaviest travel, but there Is no
doubt that there is movement. some
lines of considerable amount. Well au-
thenticatsd instances are given OF creep
ing in both directions, and some OF them
are quite remarkable
Reference is made to a rail on pile
trestle at Galveston which travelled nine
feet per month. One on the St. Louis
bridge is mentioned The bridge has
Use of five feet In its length Of 1850 feet,
aud the railroad tracks require constant
attention. In the latter half of 1893 the
creeping on the east and west approaches
averaged sixty feet per month on each
side, and on the bridge structure it varied
from eleven inches to twelve feet three
inches per month for the six months. The
creeping of the extreme south rail was
only two inches more in July than in De-
cember, while on the north rail the differ
ence between the two months was twelve
feet two inches in favor Of July. The d.
rection of the movement was with the
track, but this does not account for the
fact that in the case of one track the outer
rail, and in the other the inner rail does
the most oreeping."
AS to the general direction of rail
movement, aside from specific instances,
Assistant Chatham of the chief engi-
reer's Office, said: Heavy loads pulling
constantly in one direction have ten
dency to drive the rails in the opposite
direction. The Railway Commissioners OF
New South Wales. after making an in
vestigation, reported three cases. In one
case it was stated that the rails on q
double-t track road travelled both together
in the direction of the traffic; in another
on a double road the outer rail on the
down line moved in the direction of the
traffic, while the rail near the way be
tionary; and in still another case, also
double road, the rail nearest the middle
way moved more than the outer rail, but
in the direction of the traffic
"The committee of the New England
Roadmasters' Association reported that
1t was well known fact that rails move
or creep in the direction trains run on
tine track on double track, and on single
track rails move in the direction of the
heaviest traffic. In fast about the only
safe deduction to be drawn in the present
state of knowledge is that rails do move. ="
The reasons for the creeping Of rails
have not been determined any more def.
nitely than the direction of the
movements. Inquiries among the engi-
nsers and section men resulted in the
gathering of many suggestions. In brief
they come to these:
That rails have in many places de-
cided tendency 20 creep or travel along
the track, owing to the wave motion,
the unbalanced traffic in one direction,
the action of braked wheels, the contrac-
tion and expansion due to the changes in
the temperature. This creeping is more
especially troublesome. as rule. on steep
grades, Cd bridges. and on swamp road
beds, but may develop at any place.
OF the reasons given the undulatory
movement of the rails given them by pas.
sing trains seems to be the principal one.
In perfectly rigid track there would be
no creeping. During the undulatory
movement referred to the tracks are free
to assume new position in the direction
of the greatest force, or In that Of the
least resistance.
The momentum of the train may carry