The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-09-18
WRECKS ON THE RAIL
ONLY ONE IN TWENTY is CAUSED
BY SUN KINKS.
Chc Tracks Are closely watched,
but Engineers Cannot Prevent
Spreading Rails In Hot Weather.
Guarding Against BuckIinp.

Guarding Against BucLling.
According to railroad men whose
business It is to look after the tracks,
only about one in twenty of the
wrecks is due to sun kinks.
It's like the doctors heart fail
urc,'" said one track engineer. After
the wreck the track is torn up and the
ears lie in pieces. Then somebody asks
the conductor or the engineer what did
IL. They did not know half the time.
They couldn't know Sometime am
called upon to investigate the cause of
n wreck, and after the most cNhaus-
tive examination | am forced to say
that | cannot find ont. But at the
scene of the wreck, when the report
ers come around and ask questions
there is always somebody with the
easy answcr-sun kinks"
"Of course wrecks are caused Wy the
action OF the suns heat upon the
rails" said another track engineer
ut is very hard to guard against them
absolutely. If the rails are laid, say,
In zero weather. about half an inch
Is allowed between them. IF they are
laid when the mercury is at 40 or 80,
approximately quarter OF an inch
is allowed. If they are put down in
the hottest part of the summer, they
are laid practically end 20 end.
"Maybe the calculation that fills the
expansion of most of the rails VIII not
fit three or -four that happen TO be near
one another In stretch Of track. Then
hot summer day comes. The track
walker and section gang do not sec
that the rails are getting too close To-
gcther. IT happens also that the bal
lasting is not quite as good rs 1t ought
to bc at the point where there is the
most strain. The rails get together and
expand still more. Somcthin" has to
give way. and the rails buckle outward.
Maybe the track buckles so much that
train will run off. Maybe the next
train is coming so fast that the eAgi-
ncer doesn't notice 1t in time. There
are some other mayhcs.
"Thcrc you have the circumstances
of wreck really due to sun kinks, rs
the newspapers call them. You see
the number OF things that coincide u
bring about the wreck. You must un,
derstand why it is, too. that a real
dyed in the WOO sun kinll is n thing OF
rare occurrence.
Several years ago | was riding on =
freight train ami, looking ahead, saw
that the tracks had bucklcd outward
The train was stopped. and saw 4
real case of the sun kinks.
II couldn't find anybody on whom III,
blame could he laid. The rails were
spiked and boltcd properly, the ballast
ing seemed TO be fairly good. and th;
rails little farther down the line wrrt
properly spaced. 1t may have happen
ed that somebody's slight miscalcula
tion as to the cSpanslvcncss of ore oi
two particular rails had caused thC
kinks.
THE public doesn't know how close
ly the tracks of a big railroad ar
watched Even down south and on
west railroads have the walkers TO in
spcct every foot of the track once
day. In addition to that, the section
gangs are bound to so over almos
every foot OF the track each day In go
Ing to and from work on the handcars
The lolgcst section Is not more thai
six miles, ald on a two or four tract
system the sections are very short, all,
men are constantly going over them
Nevertheless wrecks do sOmctim e
result from the development of 81,
kinks, and railroads have experiments
with thirty or forty different types >
anticrecpCrs An anticreeper Is de
signed to reduce to the minimum IN
chance Of track buckling on Il ho
day. The tracks usually buckle out
ward, and the auticreepers are d;
signed to exert force, in pincl
against that. The antcreepers hcaN,
shoulders rest against the side OF
tie and are bolted to the rail. Whn
the tendency comes to buckle, 1t Is NE
by the colnb.ncd strength of the apt
crcepcrs, there being two or three I
every rail.
But even then" continued the trac
engineer, "the force of the bucklln
may he so enormous that it tears tn
anticrcepers loose and swings the trac
o,,tx,.orI Nn-t. N,rl. 1'ir,ns