. The street railway review . FIG. 2.—JOINT AITER loose a considerable length of time before they are uncovered andbolts tightened. Moreover, the constant hammering of the looseends of the rails on the plates causes a depression on the surface ofthe plate and rail to such an extent that the tightening of the boltsdoes not avail; and the plates first, and very soon the rails them-selves, are in such a condition that a renewal is the only remed;.Even before the ends of the rails and the plates have become dam-aged, the loose joints cause the ends of the rails to droop, and inc
. The street railway review . FIG. 2.—JOINT AITER loose a considerable length of time before they are uncovered andbolts tightened. Moreover, the constant hammering of the looseends of the rails on the plates causes a depression on the surface ofthe plate and rail to such an extent that the tightening of the boltsdoes not avail; and the plates first, and very soon the rails them-selves, are in such a condition that a renewal is the only remed;.Even before the ends of the rails and the plates have become dam-aged, the loose joints cause the ends of the rails to droop, and inconnection with the rolling action of traffic, which elongates theupper surface of tread, bend the entire rail in a vertical curve bvforcing up the spikes or ties in the middle of the rail. This makesthe track a continuous succession of waves, which necessitates, atintervals, the digging up of the entire pavement for the purpose of. lie. 4. PLATES l.\ POSITIIJN. retamping and respiking it. When once these vertical curves areformed the track can never be Restored to good condition. As amatter of fact, rails, after they have been removed for renewal,could in many cases have been used for several years more, as faras the middle part is concerned, were it not for the battered other words, the hfe of the track is mainly dependent upon thelife of its joints. I shall not discuss here the loss involved in themaintenance of the rolling stock and pavement, but anyone takinga ride on old track will feel the effect on himself of low joints. Street railway track construction being a development of thatof the steam roads, the idea prevalent in that branch was neces-sarily embodied in it, although there arc radical differences betweenthe two. The steam railroads, consisting of vast stretches in theopen country, naturally do not require paving. The rails being en-tirely exposed on all sides, and therefore directly influe
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Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectstreetrailroads
