The Rail  Part 2

     Solid iron t-rail was developed by Robert Stevens in 1831, who was the President and Engineer of the Camden and Amboy railroad. This design has stood the test of time. A variation of the T-rail is still used today.

     Robert received his experience, working with his father in the steamboat industry.

Popular Science Monthly Volume 12,

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

     In 1831. Robert decided to go to England to have the solid rails manufactured, where he believed was the best rail. He could not find an American mill that could produce the quality product he wanted. It was not until 1846 that the firm of Cooper and Hewitt of Trenton produced them in America.      

     While on the voyage, Robert took a block of wood and whittled the model of the T-rail. A simple job of whittling a great ideal, never knowing it would revolutionize the railroad industry.

     After Robert arrived in London, he placed the order for his solid rails and purchased the locomotive for his new fledging railroad. The figure below is a reproduced copy of the order Robert gave to the English mill. ¹

A reproduced copy of Stevens order

Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

     In May 1832, his company received the first load of 500 rails. The rails were 15 feet long and weighed 36 pounds per yard. They were received in Philadelphia and upon reaching his company, were laid. Soon, the other railroads in the area and then elsewhere in America used the t-tail.

     Stevens’ other inventions helped the T-rail to advance the railroad into the powerhouse of the transportation industry. The other inventions credited to him were, the “hook headed spike” and the “fishplate.”  ¹

Two unused and one heavily corroded w:rail spikes.

Photo by Sean Lamb (User:Slambo), September 3, 2005

File is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

     The stone blocks to run the rails on were very expensive. So, Stevens laid down logs or wooden ties as they were called in America, on ballast or crushed rock to help facilitate drainage and ward off destabilization of the roadbed. ³

      When ties were laid down on the ballast, they were aligned and leveled. Then they laid the rails on the wooden ties and fastened down with the hook headed spike. The wooden ties turned out to be a better choice and are also still used today with only a few slight modifications. ³

Shorter Pennsylvania Railroad fish plate

Velocicaptor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

     The rails were only 15 feet long. The rails were attached together with fish plates he had also invented.   

With the rails being only 15 feet long, the connection would become uneven. When the train passes over the joints it would make a clickety sound. As goes the old saying “Clickety clack, clickety clack… the train goes around the track.”

     An engineer mocked, that in America, “poverty is the mother of all invention.” He said this because Stevens had “Used wooden ties as a temporary substitute for the more expensive stone blocks. He finished off by saying, “They made better roads because they were too poor to make a bad one.” ¹

     Another Stevens invention was the” pilot” or what became known as the forward truck. It is attached to the front of the locomotive. Known also as a cattle catcher, whose job was to push the cattle off the tracks so the train would not derail. Instead, the cattle would become impaled on it, making it extremely hard to detach them. ³

     Robert L. Stevens’ inventions left an indelible mark on the railroad’s history. His inventions can still be seen even today with a few variations. There are no life size monuments of his likeness erected. All one must do is look at the miles of track that peppers our countryside to see the most appropriate monument to one’s life and accomplishments.

     Robert died never having been married. He also never patented any of his inventions.

Sandbox and delivery pipe

By The original uploader was Schorschi2 at German Wikipedia

- Own work (Original text: Eigene Fotografie), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21209462

     In 1836 a plaque of grasshoppers hit Pennsylvania. It was classified as a plaque of biblical proportions. When the locomotives would run over them the locomotive would lose traction. They had a crew to sweep in front of the train. Their efforts were in vain.

     Someone had an epiphany. They used sand under the drive wheels to get enough traction to get the train moving. So, a sandbox was placed right over the drive wheels an spread over the rails. The picture above is a modern-day sandbox. ¹

     A lot of the ideals that were incorporated in 1830’s, although they have been improved on, are still in use today.

 References:

1. The Great Railroad Revolution; The History of Trains in America by Christian Wolmar

2.  The American Railway: It’s Construction, Development, Management, and Trains by Thomas Curtis Clarke
3.  Encyclopedia Britannica at Railroad - Open Saloon, Double-Deck Cars, On-Train Dining Car, and Sleeping Cars | Britannica

Article 7  Working for the Railroad

     The following article are excerpts of a story as told by Mr. John Grosvenor by Frederick W. Kaul and L.A. Rollins for a Federal Writers Project. John tells his story of working for the Central Missouri Railroad.      

      With this article you will be able to see how tracks were laid, their upkeep and repair. Procedures and steps for the train’s safety after the flooding of the tracks. What can happen, such as washouts and destabilization of the roadbed and its seriousness.

     Here is John’s story.

     In 1880, John needed a job to feed his family. He had a homestead but could not make a living off it.

     So, one afternoon, after having dinner at his father’s farm, four miles north of Logan, Kansas. Afterwards, John took off to find a badly needed job. Having walked eighteen miles, it was later in the afternoon when he found a job by finishing digging out a cellar which paid 50 cents in wages. Having brought with him seventy-five cents it gave him a stake to live off of until he found a job and got paid.       

     Before he went to bed that night, he had found a job with the newly completed Central Missouri Pacific Railroad for a dollar a day. He had to furnish his own accommodations, so he found a house to rent. He sent word to his wife that he would be home next Sunday to bring her back with him.

     The work schedule was 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. After having worked that Saturday’s shift, he walked eighteen miles back home. They packed their stuff into a wagon and made their way back to the place he had rented and went to work first thing Monday morning.

Locomotive similar to what would have been used here

Pacific Railroad Locomotive Charles H. Peck 1869

Author unknown Public Domain through Wiki Commons

     The work was hard. When they said ten hours of work, they expected ten big hours as John had classified working there.

  John had acquired his farm through the Homestead Act of 1862. Through it, any person, if they had never borne arms against the United States, could claim up to 160 acres of land for a small filing fee. You had to maintain five years of continuous residence, build a home, and make improvements to the land.

     He had to work on the railroad so he would have a stake to buy food while staying there.

     So, John had worked for the railroad as long as he could and had to go back to his farm to maintain his eligibility. After spending the required time to hold on to his place, John went back to work on the railroad on April 1, 1882, for $1.10 a day.   

Crew laying railroad rack Coats-Fordney Lumber Company, ca. 1921

Clark Kinsey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

     It turned out that 1882 was a very wet year. The section of track that John was assigned was prone to flooding. So much so was that when a big rain came, all hands on that section had to report to work that next morning. As the train came through, the section crews were in front of the train pushing the hand car. Of course, the train would follow just barely creeping along.

     They were checking for soft spots in the ballast roadbed or washouts. Either one would cause the train to derail. When they found either, they would wave the flag, stopping the train so they could repair the track.

Shows several Pennsylvania Railroad engines overturned near railroad tracks

Library Company of Philadelphia, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

No Known Restrictions Flickr Commons

     The above picture shows the devastation of a flood in My 31, 1889 on the Pennsylvania Railroad. One would think that these heavy locomotives would stay put, but flooding takes anything in its path. Even locomotives weigh tons.

      This would go on for miles, where there was one and a half feet of water covering the track.

     They would keep going through the night, using lanterns to see. For three days and three nights they worked, finding over 3 miles of track that had been washed out.   

     They got help and repaired the washed-out tracks. It rained the entire time and in places it was between 1 1/2 feet to over a man's head deep.

Railroad track near Plainfield, IA (photography: Don Becker, USGS)

PDRailroad track near Plainfield, IA (photography: Don Becker, USGS)

U.S. Geological Survey from Reston, VA, USA, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

  To repair the track, the rails had to be jacked up. They used timber, lumber, polls, iron along with anything else needed to fix the track. They would only use light trains and slowly get them through.

     The men did not have any rain gear, so the men remained soaked the entire time. Also, food was in short supply. When they finally got home the men were so completely exhausted.

     They received time and a half for the night work. With the rain continuing the entire month, they received almost double their wages for that month.

     There was an ecological downside to all the rain. Ducks and frogs flooded the area, as well as the rain. John stated that millions of the animals came to the track and stayed. The noise was so deafening that some of the men had trouble with their hearing for weeks.

Stagecoach from Idaho on the Central Pacific Railroad

Bertrand, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Reference:

1. Federal Writers Project by Frederick W. Kaul and L.A. Rollins Hasting, Nebraska, as told by Mr. John Grosvenor of hasting Nebraska “The New Railroad”