IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Bergeron at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th January 1880.
CHARLES BERGERON, of 2, Edinburgh Mansion, Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS."
At the present time railways are now constructed by, in the first instance,
preparing a comparatively level road by the formation of cuttings and embank-
ments, and along the top of the road so formed is deposited a mound of ballast
upon which the aleepers are to rest, the line of ballast so formed is widest at its
base, and its sides incline inwards. In place of thus depositing the ballast upon
the top of the roadway, I form in the roadway a channel of a depth requisite for
receiving the ballast; the sides of this channel I form widest at the top and with
its sides inclining inwards from the top to the bottom, thus the amount of ballast
and width of roadway required to be used is greatly reduced, so diminishing not
only the expense of constructing the roadway, but also the width of the strip of
land which has to be purchased for making it. At the bottom of the trench
cut to receive the ballast I place coarse broken stone, and above this finer material,
such as small gravel. The material is placed into the trench in layers, and is
consolidated by ramming and passing heavy rollers to and fro over it much in
the same way as practised when making an ordinary macadamised road.
For the sleepers I use circular logs of wood, such as may be obtained from
branches or trunks of trees cut to the requisite length. These lengths of wood
are preferably saturated with creosote by forcing creosote into them at one end
under high pressure, and allowing it to escape at their opposite end, so that all the
pores of the wood are filled with the preservative liquid. Across the face of each
sleeper which is to be uppermost two dovetail slots are cut at the requisite distance
apart for receiving the rails, and into each slot two wedges or keys of hard wood,
such as oak, are driven one on either side of the rail; the two opposite faces of
each wedge or key are shaped one to fit against the inclined side of the slot in the
sleeper, and the other against the side of the rail, and it may be also to pass below
and support the foot of the rail, but in all cases the downward pressure of the
rail is taken by the wedge pieces of hard wood, and is by them transmitted to the
sleeper.
To imbed the sleepers into the ballast, the ballast after it has been well compressed
as above described has shallow grooves cut across it to receive the sleepers. When
the sleepers have laid into these grooves they are rammed down into the

page_text: ballast by blows with heavy rammers much in the same way as paving stones are
rammed down into place, the top of the sleeper being at this time protected from
injury by placing over it a metal cap or covering.
The hard wooden keys upon which the rails rest are made preferably of a length
greater than the width of the sleepers, and the sleepers are placed comparatively
close together, say with spaces of about two feet or less between them, thus a very
continuous support is given to the whole length of the rails so that lighter rails
may be used; trains travelling over a line of railway so laid will travel with great
steadiness, and consequently may with safety be driven at higher speeds than
heretofore.