Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 180, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1917 — MAKING OVER RAILS [ARTICLE]

MAKING OVER RAILS

Now Systematically Straightened and Restored. PLANT WHERE WORK IS DONE Defects Which Necessitate Removal •nd Replacement Develop in Eight to Fourteen Years—9o Per Cent Renewed. It is not generally known that worn rails are now systematically straightened, the worn ends sawed off, and the whole rail restored to service . condition. A plant In Illinois where this Is done is described In the Railway Maintenance Engineer by John Reiner. All rails in main-line service, Mr. Reiner thinks, will ordinarily develop defects which necessitate removal and replacement in eight to fourteen years. These defects »are battered ends and worn fishings and, in curved track, flangeworn heads on the outside rails and crushed heads on the inside rails. Fully 90 per cent of these removed rails may be fitted for further service by appropriate treatment, Mr. Reiner assures ns. He says In substance: ———- Methods of Reclamation.

, “There are two methods of reclaiming rails quite generally recognized as being efficient —one is to heat and reroll them, reducing the section and theoretically producing a new rail of the original length but of lighter section. The other is to assemble the rails at a centrally located point for inspection, classification, straightening, cropping worn ends, and reboring for splice-bars. “From the writer’s observation the process of rerolling rails after a service period Is successful In that It prolongs 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 a home plant, and unless the recoiling plant Is In fairly close proximity, to the road owning the rails, the cost Is prohibitive. “The desired effect of any method Is Ito 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 Un money cannot, for want of data, be iso defined In all cases. “At the plant under the writer’s Jiirllsdiction the cost per ton for reclaiming rails during 1915 was 49 cents. In the operations of this plant there were reclaimed from scrap condition 5,445 tons, of rails, 2,080 tons of which went (for ordinary track service and 365 tons for the manufacture of frogs. “Estimating the salvage value, of serviceable rails recovered from scrap ®t $9 per ton, the operation of this plant show? a clear demonstrable gain <of 122,005.

s Working on Rails. “Rails passing through the reclaiming plant for resawing are pulled broadside on to the straightening machine (a home-made hydraulic press) by a rope and a belt-drive drum handling from eight to twenty rails at one time. After straightening, the rails ere pulled broadside on to the saw table or carriage by means of a horizontal air-hoist manipulated by the straightener. "After removing the rail from the the chippers remove the fins or burrs raised by the saws and pass it broadside on to the drills, four of which are in-service (two at each end), manned by four men and placed in a staggered position so that four raliend* are drilled fid one time. "Before the rails pass out of the mill to the sawed stock piles a man applies a 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. -*£he rollers leading put of the mill are manned by four men wlio distribute the rails and pile them in stock piles, <or load them on cars direct, as dewired. “Sorting the rails for condition and ■uniform thickness of head is of much vglue Iq obtaining good track results and economy in maintenance cost. .The rails classed as sawed main-track rails are calipered for thickness of head and snake as good track joints as new rails Jf new or unworn joint fastenings are applied. The rails classed as second Equality rails are as safe as main-track rails. They ate 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 calipered the same as the heads of the main-track rails." ' •<- |