Fig. 17.—Pole for Breaking Down Edge of Excavation.
With this crew dry sand and loose gravel can readily be loaded. In harder or more tenacious materials from two to six extra men are required, depending upon the kind of material to be excavated, and also upon good management of the contractor or foreman in charge. Wet sand and fairly loose gravel requires only two extra men, whose duty is to break down the overhanging ledges of these materials which cannot be reached by the dipper, and are liable to fall when the machine has advanced, burying it or blocking the pit behind it. The implement used by these men is a pole, [Fig. 17], headed by an iron point, resembling a surveyor's pole. With these poles fairly loose gravel and sand can be readily broken down, sloped at its natural angle, and fed into the pit in front of the steam shovel. In harder materials three to four extra men are usually sufficient, but in very hard or tenacious materials as many as six must be employed. These men break down overhanging material in the face of the bank which cannot be reached by the dipper, bore or drill holes for powder or dynamite when blasting becomes necessary, cut and remove trees, etc.
Fig. 18.
On all but very small pieces of railway work there are also employed a blacksmith and helper, and two to five car repairers. The blacksmith's work consists mostly of repairs about the cars, mainly bent or broken aprons, sideboards, chains, etc. The steam shovel occupies much the smaller part of his time. His accommodation requires a small rough frame shop about 10 by 16 ft. (an old box car body is frequently used), with forge and tools. Another rough frame shed of about the same size is needed for the storage of tools, oils and supplies. The section-men of the respective sections are occasionally called on for the building and maintaining (or taking up) of the various side tracks required during the progress of the work.
Part II.—Steam Shovel Work.
Widening a Cut; Loading on the Main Track.—The simplest and one of the most frequent cases for the application of a steam shovel is the widening of a single track railway cut. The manner of doing this is shown in [Fig. 18]. A switch, A B, is put in the main track just beyond the end of the cut and far enough away to permit the steam shovel (when standing on the side track) to clear cars on the main track. Cars are then placed opposite it on the main track and the machine is ready for excavation.