Official Proceedings for the Club Year Volume 10 (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. 1897 Excerpt: ...head and other parts of the rail are all right for further use. Is there anything to offer upon this point? Mr. C. H. Quereau (D. & R. G. R. R.): I have nothing to say on that point. What I have to say is simply negative evidence which was suggested by a remark of the Chairman a few moments ago. There were 66-pound rails on the G., B. & Q. east of Downer's Grove, and a stretch of a few miles of 75-pound rails near Downer's Grove--whether that is the case at present, ' or not, I do not know, but at the time of which I speak that was the case. I was engaged in making some locomotive tests with a dynamometer car, and, at Mr. Delano's suggestion, I determined to ascertain by the diagrams made by the car, whether there was any difference in the amount of power required to haul the train, or a ton of train, on the 66-pound and 75-pound rails. As I said, the evidence was simply negative; in other words, I was unable to determine, by a number of close examinations, that there was any difference in the power required to haul the train over the 66-pound rail and over the 75-pound rail. In this connection it should be stated that there were complications of grade and speed, which, although they could be taken account of on a theoretical basis, may have influenced the results so that we were unable to make any decisive conclusions. Mr. G. W. Rhodes (C, B. & Q. R. R.): It seems to me that this first question: "What is the most economical weight of rail for railroads with heavy traffic?" is not unlike the question of "What is the most economical size of freight cars to use?" We may all have certain ideas as to what is the most economical size of freight cars, but when we want to carry out our ideas, we take good care to see that our neighbo...