and the screw turned round and downwards by means of an iron bar lever used as a spanner or wrench to the nut shown on the sketch. The same tool is also serviceable for straightening rails which have become crooked or kinked. Large and more comprehensive machines are used for bending rails in large quantities or setting them to exact curvature, but, being heavy and cumbersome, they are rarely taken away from the store-yards.
Strong steel shovels of the form shown in [Fig. 372] are the most suitable for platelayers’ general use when working with gravel, sand, or broken stones.
For driving iron spikes and wooden keys in cast-iron chairs a long-handled hammer is the most convenient for work, and its long swinging action produces considerable force without much actual labour.
Road-gauges, nut-wrenches, short straight-edges, spirit-levels, ratchet-drills, augurs, and cold setts of well-tempered steel for cutting rails, are all required by the men engaged in laying permanent way.
The following summaries give the estimated cost of materials alone for one mile of steel bull-head rail and steel flange rail permanent way of different weights. The 90-lb. steel bull-head rail is at present the heaviest of that section laid down to any extent on our home railways, and the chairs and fastenings are made heavy to correspond to the rail and the traffic for which it is intended. As the rails in the summaries become lighter, the weights of the chairs and fastenings are decreased. As yet there are not many samples of the 100-lb. steel flange rail; but in those places where it has been laid down it has been supported with a liberal supply of sleepers, to obtain increased bearing surface. With a 5½-inch flange, and a rectangular sleeper 10 inches wide, the bearing surface on the wood is only about 55 square inches, as compared with about 100 square inches, the bearing surface of a large cast-iron chair for a heavy bull-head rail. As previously explained, a small bearing surface on a sleeper tends to the cutting down into the wood, and rendering the sleeper unsafe and useless even before it has become unserviceable from decay: hence the reason for ample bearing surface on the sleeper. The last two summaries refer to 3-foot narrow-gauge lines. In more than one instance the 45-lb. rails first laid down have been found much too light for the engines required to work the traffic, and when
making extensions of the system 65-lb. rails have been adopted. Indeed, when taking into consideration the weight of most of the narrow-gauge engines, generally from 24 to 28 tons in working order, and their short wheel-base, it would appear that a 65-lb. rail is the minimum which should be used both for stability and economy in maintenance.
The summaries are prepared from examples in actual use, and represent the number and weight of sleepers, chairs, and fastenings in each instance. Even with the same weight of rail, the practice differs on various lines as to the weights of the chairs and fastenings; and the selections have been made to show a fair average. On some railways the chairs are secured partly by tree-nails and partly by spikes, or crab bolts; on others only spikes are used. The prices put down are the estimated values of the materials delivered into the Permanent Way Stores of our own home railways, and are exclusive of all costs of freight, carriage, or distribution to the site of laying down. The prices are only comparative, and fluctuate up or down according to the current value of the raw materials from which the various items are manufactured. Lighter rails and smaller fastenings cost more per ton than those of a heavier type, as they involve more labour and workmanship.
Steel Bull-head Rails (90 lbs. per Yard). | ||||||||||
| Weight per mile of single line. | Price. | Amount. | ||||||||
| tons. | cwt. | qrs. | lbs. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Steel bull-head rails, 90 lbs. per yard (30-ft. lengths) | 141 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 707 | 2 | 6 |
| Steel fish-plates (deep), 41 lbs. per pair | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 43 | 17 | 6 |
| Fish-bolts and nuts | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 0 |
| 2112 creosoted sleepers, 9 ft. × 10 in. × 5 in. | — | 0 | 3 | 10 | 404 | 16 | 0 | |||
| 4224 cast-iron chairs, each 50 lbs. | 94 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 330 | 0 | 1 |
| 8448 iron cup-headed spikes | 3 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 15 | 0 |
| 8448 tree-nails, at per 1000 | — | 3 | 10 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 4 | |||
| 4224 oak keys, at per 1000 | — | 5 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 5 | |||
| £ | 1589 | 10 | 10 | |||||||
Steel Bull-head Rails (90 lbs. per Yard). | ||||
| Weight per mile of single line. | ||||
| tons. | cwt. | qrs. | lbs. | |
| Steel bull-head rails, 90 lbs. per yard (30-ft. lengths) | 141 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Steel fish-plates (deep), 41 lbs. per pair | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Fish-bolts and nuts | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2112 creosoted sleepers, 9 ft. × 10 in. × 5 in. | — | |||
| 4224 cast-iron chairs, each 50 lbs. | 94 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 8448 iron cup-headed spikes | 3 | 15 | 2 | 0 |
| 8448 tree-nails, at per 1000 | — | |||
| 4224 oak keys, at per 1000 | — | |||
| Price. | Amount. | |||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Steel bull-head rails, 90 lbs. per yard (30-ft. lengths) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 707 | 2 | 6 |
| Steel fish-plates (deep), 41 lbs. per pair | 6 | 15 | 0 | 43 | 17 | 6 |
| Fish-bolts and nuts | 12 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 0 |
| 2112 creosoted sleepers, 9 ft. × 10 in. × 5 in. | 0 | 3 | 10 | 404 | 16 | 0 |
| 4224 cast-iron chairs, each 50 lbs. | 3 | 10 | 0 | 330 | 0 | 1 |
| 8448 iron cup-headed spikes | 10 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 15 | 0 |
| 8448 tree-nails, at per 1000 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 4 |
| 4224 oak keys, at per 1000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 5 |
| £ | 1589 | 10 | 10 | |||