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chine may be 'inched' along as readily as before and the system
on the whole has proved satisfactory."

SPRINGS.

Although this subject has been thoroughly discussed at previous conventions, considerable information was brought out that was comparatively new and interesting. H. D. Wright, of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, Beech Grove, Ind., made an investigation of spring steel to see what would happen to the steel by resetting and tempering it 20 times in the same way as he would any spring that came into the shop for repairs. He found that a 3% in. x 32 in. x 22 in. plate, which weighed 8 lbs. 81⁄2 ozs. when new, would lose 1 lb. 81⁄2 ozs. in weight and also that the steel gained 0.005 per cent. sulphur, and lost 0.03 per cent. manganese and 0.05 per cent. carbon.

It was also stated that the most economical way of repairing springs would be to have one spring plant on the system located near the general store, so that any new or repaired springs would be directly under the charge of the store department, and requisitions for new material could be easily filled. Vanadium spring steel was mentioned, but as it has not been used to any great extent the information which was brought out was limited.

FRAMES.

There are a large number of shops that use thermit to weld frames. The advantages obtained from thermit were said to be that it was easily made and that by making the weld a little larger than the original section of the frame it would stand up well in service. The proper annealing of the frames before they are put in service was a point that should be carefully considered. It was suggested that the annealing of parts of the frame to relieve strains after welding did not have any beneficial effect and in fact was often times detrimental. Various systems of making welds were discussed. Mr. Wright, of the Big-Four, stated that it was his belief that a large proportion of the frame breakages could be charged to the improper churning of the frames at the risers when they were being cast. It was generally conceded that there is always an element, of danger in a weld, for although an expert welder may make it to the best of his knowledge he is not absolutely sure that it is true.

OTHER BUSINESS.

Other papers were presented on the heat treatment of metal, frogs and crossings, piece work and oxy-acetylene welding.

The following officers were elected for the next year: J. T. McSweeney, Baltimore & Ohio, Baltimore, Md., president; H. E. Gamble, Pennsylvania, Altoona, Pa., first vice-president; T. F. Buckley, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Scranton, Pa., second vice-president, and A. L. Woodworth, Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, Lima, Ohio, secretary-treasurer. tion closed Friday, August 23.

The conven

BRAZILIAN RAILWAY PROGRESS.

The message of the president of Brazil presented to the Brazilian national congress at the opening of its current session reviewed, among other things, the progress made in railway construction in that country during 1911.

The president said in part: The construction of the Madeira-Mamore Railway has been continued with regularity. During the last year 88 miles were opened to traffic, while 15 miles additional are ready to be opened from Villa Murtinho to Lages. As regards the final section, 24 miles long, from Lages to Guajar-Mirim, the terminus of the line, the roadbed is ready, so that by the end of the year the whole line, with a total extent of 218 miles, should be open to traffic. In accordance with the decree of December 4 last, the revision of the route of the Alcobaca-to-Praia da Rainha Railway, now known as the Tocantins Railway, has been proceeded with and the starting point transferred to the city of Cameta. The section between Kilometers 43 and 58 is now ready to be opened to traffic. The build

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ing of the Sao Luiz-to-Caxias Railway has been actively pushed and the sections from Caxias to Codo, 52 miles, and from Rosario to Itapicuru, 34 miles. will shortly be open to traffic. In order to supply the urgent needs of a great part of the highlands of Maranhao, at present served by no railway, the federal railway inspection department was authorized to make definite surveys for a line to start from the most convenient point on the Sao Luiz-to-Caxias Railway and run to the banks of the Tocantins. After due consideration the starting point was fixed at Coroata and the surveys have been commenced. By virtue of the revised contract made with the South American Railway Construction Co. (Ltd.), the lines from Girau to Cratheus, Crato to Joazeiro, and Amarracao to Campo Maior are being surveyed by commissions specially appointed for the service. The company has submitted for the approval of the government the definite surveys of the extension of the Baturite railway to Macapa, together with the Crato and Ico branches, those of the Sobral-to-Therezina railway, and those of the line which will serve the district of Uruburutama, the starting point of which will be at Itapipoca, the total length being 81 miles.

A STUDY OF BROKEN RAILS.

BY C. E. LINDSAY,

Division Engineer, New York Central & Hudson River, Albany, N. Y. An analysis of reports of 229 broken rails on a certain trunk line, where the fracture was complete, showed that 182 of these were on the high speed passenger tracks and 47 on the low speed freight tracks, showing that speed is a very important element. Of these 229 rails, 49 were on the right hand side of the track and 180 on the left hand side. This is a condition that has been noted before, but for which no satisfactory explanation has been found. Sixty were on curved track and 169 on straight track. It would seem that rail breakages on curves would be greater than on tangent, but this does not seem to be the case. There were 184 of 100-lb. section of comparatively recent manufacture, and 45 of 80-lb. section of greater age. As to the cause of these breakages, from the best information obtainable, 17 were due to defective equipment, 149 were due to flaws and 63 to unknown

causes.

An analysis of 240 partial rail fractures showed 118 on the high speed passenger tracks and 122 on the low speed freight tracks. The 118 above referred to were of 100-lb. section of modern manufacture and of these 25 were damaged by equipment, 14 removed on account of mashed head, 4 removed because of split web, one was broken at the joint, 29 had split heads and 45 were base failures-principally half moon pieces out of the base. Of the broken bases 34 were over the tie. The fractures in the low speed tracks were due to miscllaneous causes, and were in 80-lb. rail of older manufacture, 26 of them being base failures and 17 of these on the tie. The large percentage of base failures occuring on the tie may possibly indicate that the material is not strong enough or the section is not big enough, or the strain is too great under the conditions of the support on the tie to which the rail is exposed.

It is interesting to know that of the 229 complete fractures one was discovered by an outsider, 169 by automatic signals, 55 by trackmen, one by a signalman and three by train crews. Twentyeight of these complete fractures in automatic signal territory did not affect the signal because the fracture was of such a location or character that the track circuit was not broken. Of the 240 partial fractures 232 were discovered by trackmen, one by a signalman, six by other employees and one by an outsider. These statistics speak very highly for the close scrutiny of the rail by railway employees, to the efficiency of the track circuit as a very important and helpful adjunct in safeguarding broken rails, and the fact that no accident resulted from any of the breakages gives well deserved testimony to the efficiency of the track forces.

Oregon-Washington Structure Having Two Decks, Railway and Highway, and Three Piers, Cost $1,715,000.

The Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company has about completed its new lift bridge across the Willamette river at Portland, Ore., the plans for which were described in the Railway Age Gazette of July 14, 1911. This bridge, when finished, will have cost $1,715,000, and is located about 700 ft. up stream from the present bridge which it is to replace. The structure provides for two decks, a lower deck for a double track railway, and an upper deck for street railway and highway traffic.

The channel is crossed by three spans, two fixed spans of

for the movable span weighing 866 tons each. For the lower, or railway deck, there are eight counter-weights, four on a side; the four weighing 212 tons.

The maximum vertical clearance for both decks will be 164 ft. above low water. The maximum independent clearance of the railway deck will be 72 ft. above low water. This clearance given by the railway deck will be sufficient to allow the passage of nearly all river traffic without disturbing the position of the upper span for highway service. River traffic under the old bridge requires as many as 134 openings in 24

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287 ft. each, flared at the shore ends to provide for curvature of the railway tracks, and a center vertical lift span 220 ft. long. At the east end is a highway viaduct approach 305 ft. long, and on the west end a highway approach 512 ft. long.

The vertical lift span provides for a railway deck having an independent vertical lift movement of 46 ft. This feature is accomplished by supporting the railway floor system and lateral truss on hanger posts from the upper movable span. Each hanger is connected to four cables, and is constrained to move vertically inside the corresponding vertical posts of the upper movable span.

Both the railway deck and upper movable span are counterbalanced with concrete weights; there are two of these weights

Gallows Frame Placing 24-Ton Upper Sheave.

hours, with an average of about 70 openings per day for the entire year.

The tonnage in the new bridge is as follows:

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Elevation of Willamette River Bridge; Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. 287-uk

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Raising Steel to Upper Tramway.

spans and the lower members of the towers. Their heaviest lift was a 29-ton upper floor beam.

The fixed spans were erected on falsework, using double bents, with 22 piles. Raising and placing the truss members and lower floor was accomplished by a scow derrick, with 110-ft. sheer legs, constructed from four piles. A 54-ton top chord section was placed with this.

It was decided to erect the vertical lift span and railway deck at a sufficient elevation to allow the unrestricted passage of

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river traffic so as to make this part of the erection as independent as possible of river conditions. A clearance of 116 ft. above low water was decided on. At the adjacent ends of the two fixed spans four wooden cantilever brackets were constructed; these were framed on scows and hoisted into place with the floating sheer leg derrick. Their bases rested on the piers, and their tops were anchored to the fixed spans with four 22-in. rods for each bracket. On top of these brackets were placed four 120-ft. Howe trusses weighing 40 tons each.

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VOL. 53, No. 9.

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These were raised into place by using the two skid derricks rigged with 110-ft. booms. The iron for this falsework was taken from scrap of old spans removed from the company's line several years ago.

For erecting the towers and sheaves a gallows frame 152 ft. high was framed and raised into place on top of the Howe truss falsework. This was anchored back to the truss and hinged at the base so as to allow sufficient rotation to place any member of the towers. The heaviest lift for this frame was a 42-ton tower post section. Steel for these towers was loaded on cars and spotted directly beneath on the railway deck. By leaving out the stringers of two panels of the upper floor system, sufficient clearance was obtained to allow the passage of this material.

The members of the lift span were placed by a two-bent 96ft. high traveler. Steel was delivered to this traveler by a creeper car running on a three-pile tramway supported on the upper deck of the east span and viaduct. Cars were spotted underneath the viaduct and the upper derrick hoisted material from these cars to the creeper car.

Simultaneously with the construction of lift span, its conThe crete counter-weights were cast in place on falsework. forms for these counter-weights rested on sand boxes 18 in. deep and were set 18 in. above their proper position. This allowed sufficient play both for stretch of the ropes and ease in connecting the cables. As soon as the lift span was riveted the sand was allowed to run out of these boxes, thus swinging the lift span directly on the counter-weights and allowing the removal of the falsework.

The lower or railway deck is at present under construction. This will be erected on barges, a floor beam and two hangers being first riveted up and then raised to position. The concrete counter-weights for this deck are cast separately for each panel point and are at present supported on falsework on the upper deck. As soon as a panel point is in place it can be connected to its cables and supported by the counterweight. The intention is to place all these hanger posts with floor beams first, and then fill in with the stringers and lower lateral truss. The contract for the sub-structure was awarded to the Union Bridge & Construction Company of Kansas City, Mo., and represents about 30,000 cu. yds. of concrete. The channel piers were sunk by the open caisson method. They were landed on cement gravel 123 ft. below low water. The six dredging wells were excavated 10 ft. deeper than the cutting edge. Concrete was deposited under water in bottom dump buckets.

This work was executed by Waddell & Herrington, engineers and patentees, of Kansas City, Mo., under the direction of John D. Isaacs, consulting engineer, Harriman Lines, and George W. Boschke, chief engineer, and George T. Forsythe, bridge engineer of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company.

PIPE LINES IN ROUMANIA.-The production of petroleum has increased so in Roumania that certain railway lines are so occupied with carrying it that they have little capacity for anything else. The manager of the state railways, therefore, asked authority to lay pipe lines for the oil, and he was granted the sum of $3,500,000 for that purpose.

RAILWAY TAXATION IN SPAIN.-For a number of years none of the lines in Spain paid any interest on the capital invested, but recently they have been paying an average rate of interest of 4 per cent. The tax levied by the government on the railways is 5 per cent. of the freight receipts, 25 per cent. on ordinary passenger tickets and 1 Oper cent. on reduced passenger tickets if the reduction exceeds 25 per cent. This involves payment of heavy taxes by all the lines, one line having paid to the government in 1911 over $4,000,000, including free transportation, which the Spanish railways are compelled under their concession to grant.-Consular Report.

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PENNSYLVANIA SPEED LIMIT POST.

Speed limit posts are to be set up at curves along the Pennsylvania Railroad throughout the length of the main line from New York to Pittsburgh. Each curve over which the limit of speed is 45 miles an hour or less will have a signal at the entrance of the curve indicating caution; and another, indicating "proceed," at the point beyond the curve where regular speed may be resumed. The signal to be used is of the semaphore type, like that which has been used for the same purpose on the Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh for some years past, and its style is shown in the illustration. It is familiarly called the "coon tail" signal, the transverse stripes on the blade being alternately black and yellow. The main body of the blade is yellow. On both signals the arm is fixed and motionless; at 45

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Standard Reduce Speed Board; Pennsylvania Railroad.

deg. from the horizontal for caution and straight down for proceed. There is no light for a night indication.

The drawing herewith shows the caution signal, the parts for both signals being identical. The post is 13 ft. long, 3 in. in diameter, and made of galvanized iron pipe. The concrete foundation, 2 ft. square, is usually 3 ft. 6 in. in depth. The metal disk, to which the wooden arm is fastened, is made of No. 18 gage sheet steel, and the supporting strap is of wrought iron 1⁄2 in. thick, 2 in. wide and 1234 in. long. The strap is fastened to the post by a U bolt. The wooden blade is 3 ft. 7 in. long, and its back side is painted black.

CHINESE MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION.-The new Chinese republic has selected as minister of transportation, Dr. Alfred Sze, in Chinese, "Sheh-Chai-chi." He was educated and apparently named in the United States, and is said to be the leading spirit in the Chinese cabinet.

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