Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1915 — TRACK MUST BE SUBSTANTIAL [ARTICLE]

TRACK MUST BE SUBSTANTIAL

Enormous Locomotives and Heavy Train Equipment Call for Raila of Great Strength. As the weight and power of locomotive engines increase, the more substantially must the track be built In older countries two things have restricted the size and power of railroad engines; the existing railroad arches and the strength of the car couplings. In this country the designer of locomotive engines has not had those obstacles to consider, and we have locomotives of enormous power and weight; in fact one has just been built that weighs 370 tons. According to the Engineer, the Pennsylvania Railroad company is now laying rails that weigh 120 pounds to the yard. A section of the rail is divided as follows: head, 41 per cent; web, 22 per cent; and base, 37 per cent. The height is six and one-fourth Inches, and the sides of the head have the steep angle of eight degrees. The rails are ten pounds heavier than the rails that the Lehigh Valley line uses for steep gradients and sharp curves. —Youth’s Companion.