Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-10
THE NEW STEEL RAIL
Conclusions of a Committee of
Experts.
SEVERE TESTS ADOPTED
Agreement Reached by the Manu-
facturers.
WEIGHT NOT TO BE CHANGED
Wear Greatest on the Eastbound
Tracks With Curves and
Down Grade.
WEIGHT NOT TO BE CHANGED
RY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star a
Chicago Record Herald.

Chicago Record Herald.
PHILADELPHIA, May 9. 1905
| Last winter there was a serious agita-
ton concerning the Improvement of rail-
way iron. which was caused by several
disastrous accidents due to defective rails.
A meeting of railroad presidents and
managers was called by Judge E. Fl. Gary
at the office of the United States Steel
Corporation. and committee of experts.
both theoretical and practical men. was
appointed to investigate the subject and
report what changes in the chemical COM
position of the metal and methods of
manufacture We're necessary to produce
! perfect rail or at least to secure the
greatest possible Improvement upon the
rail now generally in use.
| At the same time the Pennsylvania
company, which is always pioneer in
| improvements and anxious to maintain
/ its position as having the standard railway
! of the world. undertook an exhaustive ex-
animation of the subject on its own &C
! count. The inquiry. which has recently
been concluded, has been of an exception
| ally thorough character; it has covered
| the entire science and practice or the
manufa cture of rails. and although impor-
tant results have already been obtained
the work of investigation will be con-
tinued.
The Pennsylvania company has recently
placed an order for 10000 tons CT lt0-
pound and SJ-pound rails under the new
specfications-jO per cent going to the
steel trust, 20 per cent to the Cambria
iron works at Johnstown. 20 per cent to
the Pennsylvania of Harrisburg and 10
PEI cent to the Lackawanna Steel Com
pany of Buffalo. This is not a large order
for the Pennsylvania company. but 1t Will
furnish occupation for d great many men,
In 1907 the company bought 114,OOO tons
of new rails.
A Better Rail Demanded.
General conditions have made it de-
sirable to develop. if possible, rail which
will reduce the expense of maintenance
and provide Increased resistance against
the growing requirements of the service
Railway men differ as to the proper
method of manufacture and as to the
chemical composition of the metal. MI
Hartman insists upon what is known as
the "open-hearth process in preference
to the ..Bessemer process" believing that
it makes a much safer rail because II
gives more thorough treatment OF the
ore and eliminates the sulphur and phoS-
phCrus which account for the br1ttleness CT
the steel He has recently placed large
order with the Tennessee Steel and Iron
Company for rails of the same compost
ton as that adopted by the pennsylvania
company but insists that they snail be
is a growing preference for this method
and a gradual decrease in the manufac-
ture of Bessemer steel rails. At Gary
Ind, the new town that is being built by
the steel trust the entire plant is con-
structed for the "open-hearth process"
An incidental purpose of the Pennsyl-
vania company is to secure uniformity
Of the rails upon all its lines east and
west of Pittsburg. This plan has been
under consideration and the company has
been carrying it out for several years
The proportion of accidents on the Penn
| sylvana railway due to broken or de
fective rails is insignificant compared
with the enormous traffic passing over
its tracks. but it is not surprising that
few rails should fail.
Few Defective Rails Found.
During the year 1901 there were re-
moved from the main running tracks OF
the Pennsylvania railroad east OF Pltts-
burg and Erie 67o defective rails, very
large portion OF them being removed from
the tracks before they broke. In other
words. they were rails that were not
properly holding up under the traffic and
were what is commonly known as mash.
| ing" on account of loads passing over
them This represents 466 rails removed
| from track on account of defects iof
every 1000 coo. 900 tons of freight moved
one mile. For the year 1909 there were
| removed 1,747 defective rails, or 80 rails
per 900 OCO 900 tons moved one mile Dur
| ing the year 1901 the total tonnage pass
| ing over the Pennsylvania tracks east of
| Pittsburg and Erie was 14,4Io.OD0Oo
| During 1905 there was total tonnage of
| 19,3S7 100000, or an increase of II
per cent. The passenger train mileage
had also increased during that same
period % per cent 1t is remarkable that
| such an enormous tonnage carried by
| large proportion of steel cars weighing
| 10000 pounds each and loaded to "a maxi
do 1, fal
SO SAFELY and has developed 50 small
| proportion of defective rails.
The officials of the Pennsylvania system
assert that during the last twenty-five
years there has been scarcely one acct
dent to passenger tran on their tracks
between New York and Pittsburg that
| could be attributed TO broken OF de-
fective rail.
The Experiments.
The series of experiments referred to,
which are probably unprecedented in their
completeness and in the Importance of
the scientific data which they are supply
ing: is conducted by a special commit
tee. composed of officials o. the Pennsyl-
yania lines both east and west of Pitts
burg as follows:
Theodore n. Ely. chief Of motive power:
A c. Shand, chief engineer: L. r. collin
ger, engineer maintenance of way; A. w.
Gibbs, general superintendent motive
power: c. b. Dudley. chemist: T. H. John
son. consulting engineer; Robert Trim
BILE, chief engineer maintenance OF way:
w. c. Cushing, chief engineer mainte-
nance Of way: J. c. Bland. engineer of
bridges D. F. Crawford, general superir-
tendent motive power.
After thorough investigat' on this COM
mittee made a report which has been
adopted. and. in accordance with its rec
concentrations, new specifications have
been prepared by Mr.. Shand. chief engi-
neer of the company. setting forth ID
the chemical composition of the rails here
after to be purchased by the Pennsylvania
system: CD the process of manufactures;
60 the mechanical requirements: % the
methods of tests and inspection
The most important feature of the new
specifications places on the manufacturer
q greater responsibility for the character
of the rail produced. The company recog-
nizes that it is merely purchaser and
not a manufacturer. and therefore con-
siderable latitude is allowed the manu-
facturer as to the process used. SO long
as the result is sound rail- The COM
mittee has devised tests of a character SO
exacting that the interests of the manu-
facturers will require them to discard all