Evening star., 1901-10-09
Association of Railway Men Elects
Officers and Adjourns.
GIVEN CHANCE TO See WASHINGTON
Papers on Various Topics Read
and Discussed:
ROAD AND TRACK SUPPLY


of steel rails, the delegates to the nine
teenth convention of the Roadmasters and
Maintenance Of Way Association today
brought their business sessions to a close.
In the afternoon they were driven about
the city and given a ride in the Seeing
Washington" cars. Tomorrow they go to
Mount Vernon. Fort Myer and Arlington.
On Friday the delegates will journey to
Fredericksburg, Va, and Richmond. and
disband in the latter city. The wide inter
est shown by the delegates in the papers
read and the vigorous discussion often pro-
voked have greatly gratified the officers of
the association.
The new roster of officers elected this
morning is as follows: J. o. Walker, Nash
vile, Chattanooga and st. Louis railroad,
president; F. J. Allen, Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy railroad, and James Sweeney,
Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad, vice
presidents; Charles McEpery, Burlington,
Cedar Rapids and Northern railroad, secre-
tary and treasurer; w. j. McClarin, Nor
folk and Western railroad, add1tlonal mem
ber Of the executive committee.
Letters asking for the privilege of enter
tanning the association next year were read
from each Of the following municipalities:
Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie; Detroit. Mich. ;
Cleveland, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo-; Milwaukee,
Wis. The city last named had things all
it's own way and was chosen without no.
table opposition. A sentiment prevailed
that in 1908 the association should convene
In st. Louis and the next year In Boston.
Tamping of Ties.
Discussion of a paper on the tamping OF
ties occupied the time Of the convention
nearly all yesterday afternoon. 1t was sub
mitted by Mr. r. P. Collins on behalf Of
committee appointed at Los Angeles year
ago to examine into the question as exhaus-
%fvHrr Nc. 1t,,,
to the convention, President Meade charac-
teriZed the subject as almost the most i'm
portant one to be discussed by the road
masters. long discussion followed the
being favorable to the decision Of the COM
"Tamping' consists Of packing the
earth exactly under the tie and seems to
be q fully developed art. Much Of the dis
cussion was, Of course, purely technical,
as will be indicated by the following ex-
tract from the report:
Track raised above two inches should
first be shovel tamped that is, the stone
to be pushed under the ties with the show
els. After this has been Thoroughly done
tamping picks should be used in forcing or
packing the stone under the tties. and In
course of one or two days after the track
has been raised the track should be gone
over again and carefully resurfaced and
all ties pick tamped outside and under the
rail; also the joint ties inside for about
eighteen inches; the remainder of Joint ties
be bar tamped. Better results are obtained
in tamping ties on both sides, VIZ: First dig
out and lightly fill ties on side from which
trains approach, then tamp the other side
firmly, tamping reverse side inside of rail
for about fifteen inches. In Hight surfacing
great care should be used; raising bar needs
to be used only in exceptional cases. Most
of the work in taking out 'nips' or low
places should be and can be done with
tamping picks. Too frequent use of bar
Is apt to loosen up track, giving a more
uneven bearing than when the picks are
alone used.
Should BE Pick Tamped.
when placing new ties in stone ballast
they should all be thoroughly pick tamped
the same day they are put in to avoid
bending or kinking OF the rail- An impor-
tant feature on stone ballast track Is that
every tie must be solid, and In all cases
where there is any doubt about joints not
being thoroughly tamped In first going
over they should be given a second tamp-
ing before leaving. With many it Is a
practice when track Is raised more than
an inch to first tamp on the receiving side,
on the outside Of the rail, then tamp the
leaving side in the same manner. On the
inside they first tamp the leaving side and
then the receiving side. Ballast forks are
best adapted for handling stone ballast"
Burned Clay Ballast.
Delegate w. Shea, roadmaster Of the
Minneapolis and st. Paul railroad.
submitted a paper on Burned Clay Bal
last" in the course of which he said:
Screened rock ballast is stronger, with
out doubt, than burnt clay ballast is.
but the clay ballast is handled so much
easier and quicker than the rock that on
the whole / consider 1t better ballast
than rock for a line like ours, where we
have ordinary traffic.
II would say, on ordinary traffic line.
that I would prefer burnt clay ballast to
rock ballast, as l consider that track can
be maintained IN better condition for less
money with clay ballast than with rock
I'VE have gotten the best results from
worn-out stone ballast. We put from six
to eight inches of clay ballast on top of
the stone and 1t makes an ideal track.
With such a system of ballasting as burnt
clay ballast on top OF rock ballast there
need be no limitation upon the service of
your road"
BY tabulated statement submitted with
Mr.. Shea's paper the cost of burnt clay
ballast was shown to be about AZ cents per
cubic yard.
Broken and Square Joints.
Are the best results obtained from the
use Of broken or square Joints. on both
single and double track7" was the subject
Of two papers, one prepared. by Roadmas-
ter L. Bradley Of the Atchfson, Topeka
and Santa Fe road and the other by +. J.
Allen. roadmaster OF the Chicago BurlinG-
ton and Quincy. Both declared for broken
joints. The former epitomfzed his paper
In the following paragraph:
The broken Joints are great advantage
in laying rail. either on old or new track.
as 1t Is not necessary to be particular to
the inch. as 1t Is In laying square joints.
This saves both time and money, which is
the first consideration in railroad work.
also find track easier held In line and sur
face, especially on baliasted track"
Mr.. Aliens conclusions were:
For the past ten years We have had rail
laid both ways on our double tracks and
we find that where We have broken joints
we have better track at all times. We
also find 1t true that 1t Is easier and less
expensive to keep the track laid broken
joints In good shape than the squase joints.
From the experience we have had for the
past ten years we are very much IN favor
of rail laid broken joints We believe from
our experience that we can 4makeAour rail
wear longer and keep 1t In sbetfer shape at
less expense than we can with rail laid
square. Under suchsconditipss we are con-
tinuing the practices sands do mot see at the
present time any reason why we should
change to square Joints.
Length of Raaas.
The last paper considered ~ ,thes cenven-
tton concerned ''The Use Of Fortysfive-fook