The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1906-09-19


me Erislt. Are c19se+y .ate 30,
bnS nsri-lneees ciannoe RFes'e9lr
sl4esliil h1ls IIfIIa IN EIot - eathez.
IL Z if-till.iiil HneIzIlals.
sscoreii1z to fa1road men whose
busiIie Il Is 70 look after the tracks,
only about one IN twenty q the
wrecks 8 due 10 sun kinks
aftss like the doctors heart fal-
ufe' " said one track ehgineer A9ter
tie wreck the trick s torn mp and the
ears lie ~ pieces. Then sor1eosody ASKS -
tile eondIuetor or the engineer what did
Il g-her ala not know half the time.
They couldn't know Sometimes am
called npon TO Investigate the cause Of
n wreck. and after the most exhnus-
tive examination ] am forced to say
that cannot md out But at the
scene OF the wreck. when the report
ers come around and ask questions
there Is Always somebody with the
easy nnswer-sun kinks
AOf. course wrecks are caused by the
action OF the SUNS heat upon the
rafls.'' said another track engineer.
at Is very hard to guard against them
absoluteiy. II the rails are laid, say,
In zero weather. about half an inch
Is allowed between them, II they are
laid when the mercury IS Mt 40 or 90
approxiu1ateIy n quarter of an inch
is allowed II they nre put down IN
the hottest part of the summer they
are laid practically end to end
.sAIayfe the calculation that fills the
a,-nonsiar OF most OF the rails VIII not
1T three or four that happen to be near
ono another in a.stretch Of truck Then
n hot summer day comes The track
walker and section gang do not see
that the rails are getting too close TO-
e-ether. It happens also that the bal
iastinaz IS not quite as good rs It ought
to hc at the point where there Is the
most strain. The Fails get together and
EXPAND stIII more. Something has to
give way. and the rails buckle outward.
Maybe the track buckles so much that
a train VIII run or Maybe the next
train is coming so fast that the engi-
neer doesn't notice II in time 1here
are some other mnybes-
"There you have the circumstances
OF .tsyyrecll reaIly due to sun kinks, as
the newspapers. call them You see
the nufll6cr of things that coincide to
bring about the wreck. You must un-
derstand why 1t is, too, that real.
dyed in the wool sun btnlz Is thing Of
rare occurrence
Several years ago 1 was riding on
freight train ana. looking ahead, saw
that the tracks had buckled outward
The train was stopped. and saw
real case OF the sun kinks.
I couldn't find anybody on whom the
blame could be laid. The rails were
spiked and boIted properly, the ballast-
ing seemed to be fairly good. and the
rails a little farther down the line were
properly spaced. It may have happen
ed that somebody's slight miscalcula-
ton as to the responsiveness of one or
two particular rails had caused the
kinks.
..The public doesn't know how close
" the tracks Of a big railroad are
watched. Even down south and out
west railroads have the walkers to In
spect every foot of the track once
day. In addition to that, the section
gangs are bound to go over almost
every foot of the track each day in go
Ing to and from work ON the handcars
The longest section Is not more than
six miles, and on a two or four track
system the sections are very short, and
men are constantly going over them.
Nevertheless wrecks do sometimes
result from the development of sun
kinks, and railroads have experimental
with thirty or forty different types of
anticreepers An anticreeper IS de
signed to reduce to the minimum the
chance OF n track bucklIng on a hot
day. The tracks usually buckle out
ward. and the anticreepers are de-
signed to exert force, In pinch,
against that The anticreeper's heavy
shoulders rest against the side Of a
tie and arc boIted to the rail. When
the tendency comes to buckle, 1t is met
by the combined strength of the anti
creepers, there being two or three to
every rail.
e.But even then" continued the track
engineer the force Of the buckllng
may be so enormous that 1t tears the
anticreepers loose and swings the track
outward New York Times.