Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1917-08-10

be fitted for further service by apprO-
pirate treatment, Mr.. Reiner assures
US. He says in substances:
Methods of Reclamation.
"There are two methods of reclaim
Ing rails quite generally recognized as
being efficient-One is to heat and re-
roll them, reducing the section and the
oretically producing a new rail of the
original length but Of lighter section.
The other is to assemble the rails at
centrally located point for inspection.
classification, Strengthening, cropping
worn ends, and reboring for splice-bars.
'From the writer's observation the
process of rerolling rails after a serv-
ice period is successful in that it pro-
longs their ultimate life over that of
simply cropping battered and worn
ends. The process, of course, is much
more costly than simply cropping the
ends at home plant, and unless the
rerolling plant is in fairly close prox-
unity to the road owning the rails, the
cost is prohibitive.
"The desired effect Of any method is
to get the largest possible return from
the rails recovered, either in money or
in service, which latter ultimately
means money, but the value of which
in money cannot, for want of data, be
so defined in all cases.
"At the plant under the writer's jur-
isdiction the cost per ton for reclaim
ing rails during 1915 was 40 cents. In
the operations Of this plant there were
reclaimed from scrap condition 2,445
tons of rails, 2,080 tons of which went
for ordinary track service and 1865 tons
for the manufacture of frogs.
Estimating the salvage value of
serviceable rails recovered from scrap
at SO per ton, the operation Of this
plant shows clear demonstrable gain
of $22OO5.
Working on Rails.
"Rails passing through the reclaim
ing plant for resawing are pulled
broadside on to the Strengthening ma
chine Ga homemade hydraulic press)
by rope and q belt-drive drum hand
ling from eight to twenty rails at one
time. After Strengthening, the rails
are pulled broadside on to the saw
table or carriage by means of hori-
zontal air-hoist manipulated by the
straightener.
"After removing the rail from the
saw-table, the clippers remove the fins
or burrs raised by the saws and pass It
broadside on to the drills, four of
which are in service 1.-TWO at each end),
manned by four men and placed in a
staggered position so that four rail-
ends are drilled at one time.
Before the rails pass out of the mill
to the sawed stock piles a man applies
template to the head of each rail
marked by the sawyers as a main
track or second quality rail to classify
them according to depth or thickness
The rollers leading out Of the mill are
manned by four men who distribute
the rails and pile them in stock piles
or load them on cars direct, as de-
sired.
"Sorting the rails for condition and
uniform thickness of head is of much
value in obtaining good track results
and economy in maintenance cost. The
rails classed as sawed main-track rails
are calipered for thickness of head and
make as good track joints as new rails
If new or unworn joint fastenings are
applied. The rails classed as second
quality rails are as safe as main-track
rails. They are more or less worn, but
will give good service in branch-line
main track. The ends will match up to
an even surface as the heads are cali
pered the same as the heads Of the
main-track rails"