Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-07-03
PERIL OF JTNSOUND RAIL.
Causes Fourth of All DerniImcnts--
Can he Made sound.

q.
Can He Made sound.
Only Il few days ago broken rail
caused railroud accident which might
easily have resulted in serious loss of life
A passenger train was derailed and by a
miracle the cars came to a standstll just
before pilng over the edge of a bank into
Il swollen river This Is an illustration of
1.-THE peril of the unsound rail.
During the three months ended January
I of the current year 1867 persons were
killed ana 5'3.2 were injured on steam
railroads in the United States. There
Were l>59 collisions and lbs deraiments
Passenger trains were concerned I'm 229 of
the collisions and 19i of the deralments
The property losses reached the total
of $3,4oS 953 and this sum covered only the
damage 70 the rolling stock, etc, belong
ing to the railroads. Calculated at this
rate the railroads would suffer annually
in this manner a loss of substantially Sl4.-
100000, and the public has to pay for this
in the end. The additional sums that
would be Involved in lawsuits and the
payment of damage claims would run the
aggregate yearly drain. due to negligence
or mechanical failures, into many mil
lions Of dollars more.
Broken rails and fractured wheels were
mainly Responsible for the casualties, and
VI an ~ '"o "'IaiIihchtS were
.. 'f w ''' I'VE io""""E OF equip
.r,,' ''' - ~ '','' % t"e uc-
C,a.. "I "r'N'" r"''s'
,l,,,s.,,,, 49,. MINIS "ci' O.,
ments.
-. go ''''''I Nv 'N''"'u ''io"E''
No ,,,,,,,,.s' va VIZ VI SP'"si-
,,,ie,,,a ,, '' - sum '.''"S III
ro .t,, a,a,,., -, '''' i"'''E ram
tho rar ,r,,,. 49, - - "' ""'"'
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snoodi,,,, trait, 1,,,ri.,, cra,,, "''' "
!
"'''''> ITh FOit 80 GREAT y LOAD.
| Perhaps YOU think the car wheels
| run over the whole top surface OF the
! rail but if YOU look at the track Won
| will SCI that only the inner half of tbo.
| rail is worn bright by the passing
| wheels The railroad engineer purposelv.
! tries TO reduce the area of the surface
| in contact between rails and wheels. for
| In this manner no lessons the element
| of friction.
The bearing surface Of the wheel is
| tapered or cone shaped, and for that
reason rubs upon only a fraction Of the
| head Of the rail and in order to keen I,
upon the track the wheel has a narrow
| taperlng flange. which dwindles to a
thickness Of not more than that of the
tip of a sturdy finger. This bit Of steel
stands between you and possible death
But what Of the rail that must carry
the burden of the speeding trains and
| hold up under the unbalancing loads
which it has to support UNION one
shoulder at n time
ran is technically divided into
three part3-the head. the web or SHINE
and the foot The web OF the heaviest
rams al service thoae Weighing !" pounds
more man nan
az ''," o''',N' ""' 'V0""se VI It's helsht
'''' - "'1'S us '"au upon
" Spr"", II IL no'nih'!y more
:. VA i"'. upon
IN,
., "9.' e'''''''y tn' ''du IL mas 10 near
&c e'''~"' CIV uirtcIiy III inc
wv. rs ''o'.uins aN'7' nut II mas peen
| '''' 'I' '"'' ~ NOT "r'sht-
a. "''is ."' '''u
80, 'n' ii'"eI
,a,,... ''''9 ''pS'u'N 'o"u az
"a 49, CIV "'9"N
.',.I,,. N''''uHN "'"'eiI"
r.. IL, ...,.t
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49,, a,,,.,S. anu ""'''
a. a. .'' 'a'N 10 0''ne
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49,, ' '"' P'9o Vi VI 0'N
To- coo+ a.. Iii.
oos.i,., - ,Io,.'a '"7 N't " '+
tha ',''.o ,u,,t, w. '"' 10 osp.o'''''
cop,ott,,,, ,,,,,h ,o,,,. ,.,, 80. -
NOR stro,,,.a 80 ,,raat ta.,, '''''''' nam