Railway Engineering and Maintenance Volume 12, No. 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt: ...enable this committee to base any conclusion as to units pressures allowable. The sub-committee on the prevention of water pockets had on hand a large amount of correspondence not as yet thoroughly digested. It has been deemed advisable to delay drawing conclusions until the efficacy of the remedies adopted have been clearly demonstrated. The committee hopes to be able to conclude this subject next year. The committee reported that the data it had gathered was not in shape to be presented as finished work, and its report was accepted as a progress report. Committee II--on Ballast The report on ballast was presented by committee II, of which Mr. H. E. Hale was chairman. The report is briefly presented in what follows: The question of efficiency of stone ballast is largely covered and determined by the "physical tests of stone for ballast," which was thoroughly investigated by the committee several years ago and the tests which were approved by the association are specified in the manual. The committee in its discussions has felt that the old specifications for gravel ballast, "30 to 35 per cent sand," was not sufficient and that some further specifications as to the proportion of various sizes of gravel should be made. Stretches of track have been selected where the results from the use of the ballast were known, and samples of the ballast have been tested to determine the per cent of various sizes of gravel used in the ballast. The committee recommends that other ballast materials should be in the following order of efficiency: Stone, broken slag (not granulated), gravel, chatts, burnt clay or gumbo, cinders. The efficiency of gravel for ballast, in the opinion of the committee is much improved by washing, because washing removes clay, d...