Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 202, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1915 — RAILS ALLOWED TO EXPAND [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RAILS ALLOWED TO EXPAND

Scientific Building Provides for the Effect of Heat on the Lengths of Steel. Anyone who is observing will notice, if walking along a railroad track in winter, that the ends of the rails do not meet. There will be a space between the rails of from one-fourth to onejialf inch, according to the length of the rails, character of the

track and climatic conditions. On side tracks the rails will often be found butting together or spaced* one inch apart, all within a few hundred feet. This is simply because the tracks are unimportant and are laid with as little expense as possible. The rails on the main line of a trunk road will be found equally spaced with unending regularity. This is done on account of the expansion of the rails in the hot summer, for if the gap was hot provided when the steel was laid, the heat would cause such a tremendous end pressure that the tracks would assume a grapevine appearance. —World's Advance.