OVERVIEW

OF THE ORGANIZATION OF RAIL-CUTTING WORKSHOPS

ON RUSSIAN RAILWAYS*.

Engineer L. N. Lyubimov.

The question of the most advantageous method of cutting rails constitutes, as is known, one of the rather important items of railway operation. It is especially important for lines of considerable length, where, for various track works, such as the complete replacement of old rails—still serviceable after cutting off their flattened ends—the laying of station tracks and the main track within the limits of signals, the installation of turnouts, the laying of signal, boundary, gradient, verst, and other posts, etc., the cutting of old serviceable rails may be required on a considerable scale. In view of this, I take the liberty in the present overview of presenting a summary of the data on this question which have been worked out partly from personal experience, and partly collected during an official trip on duty from the Siberian Railway, where at the present time it is proposed to organize a rail-cutting workshop to meet the needs of its extensive 3,138-verst track system.

It turns out that some even of the comparatively well-equipped older railways have unfortunately still retained the primitive method of cutting rails with a chisel, i.e., they permit the complete hardening of the ends; others have equipped the section track service with various more or less perfected hand sawing machines; and only comparatively very few carry out the cutting of rails on a broader scale with the aid of machines driven by steam or other power.

§ 1. Hand machines. These machines, very convenient for transport, may usefully be employed only for the comparatively small requirements of the section track service, since the cost of cutting and the time required for it are too great; namely, the sawing off of one end

* From a report on an official trip.

with drilling of holes for bolts ranges from 40 to 50 kopecks, provided the machine is operated by 2 to 5 workers. The shortest time required for the actual cutting of an end is from 12 to 20 minutes.

Machines of this type may be divided into two categories: a) machines with band saws and b) machines with circular saws.

The type of apparatus of the first kind is shown in Drawing 1. It is nothing other than a flat saw with lever transmission, set in motion by two workers. With such a saw it is possible to saw rails lying even in the track, by wedging them in the grip A of the saw with the aid of wooden wedges к к.

b) Machines with circular saws. Among the best machines of this latter type, which have sufficiently well justified their expediency not only on foreign railways but also on ours—for example, on the Southwestern and Riga–Orel lines, where they have been introduced on almost all sections—one may note the mobile sawing machine used on the Riga–Orel Railway, depicted in Drawing 2 and representing a combination of a sawing machine with a drilling machine. This machine is distinguished by the following conveniences:

The rail to be cut is fastened extremely firmly and can be sawn at any angle, while a completely regular, smooth end surface is obtained.

Being connected with the lever P, on which there is a movable weight G constantly pressing on the saw Π, this saw operates, relatively speaking, somewhat faster than systems of the same name, since, thanks to such an arrangement, it cuts through the thinner parts of the rail profile more quickly than the thicker ones.

This machine is operated by five workers: two pairs alternately turn the flywheel M, while one, by means of the movable weight G on the lever P, regulates the pressure of the saw and wets it (from a cylinder-mug not shown in the drawing) with soapy water in order to avoid excessive heating of the teeth. The productivity of such a saw is from two to three ends per hour. The drilling of holes for bolts is performed with the aid of the drill CC. With one disk saw it is possible to cut from 100 to 150 steel rails, depending on their greater or lesser hardness, sharpening its teeth on a special grinding machine only after sawing 10–12 ends.

Practice shows that the best results from sawing can be achieved if the following conditions are observed:

1) The rails to be cut should preferably be fastened in such an inclined position that the saw constantly has to cut, as far as possible, the same cutting plane, as shown in Drawing 2.

2) The rotational motion of the saw must always be directed in the direction indicated on the drawing by the direction of the saw teeth. Fulfillment of this requirement is a necessary condition for the saw to operate without fail.

3) The saw worm must be kept constantly lubricated with lubricating oil of the best quality.

4) When cutting with a new or newly sharpened circular saw, it is best to remove the load $\Gamma$ from the lever, or, still better, the drilling attachment, since both the former and the latter very greatly increase the stress on the saw, as a result of which teeth may easily break out.

5) Before lowering the saw onto the rail to be cut, it must be set in rotation.

6) During cutting, the saw must constantly be poured over with soapy or drilling water.

The cost of trimming one end, including the drilling of two holes for bolts, is on average 50 kopecks. The price of a sawing machine without the drilling attachment is about 360 rubles; with the latter, about 410 rubles.

The sharpening of dulled saws is carried out on one of the special sharpening machines, the design of which will be described below. The American sawing machine of the Bryant system, shown in drawing 3, also proves very good. It is much lighter than the one just described and is put into operation by two workers. The time required for trimming one end is from 6 to 12 minutes.

The cost of the machine, including one spare saw and a sharpening machine for sharpening, is about 420 rubles.

The machines described may serve not only for trimming rails, but also for sawing bar iron and iron I-beams and double-T beams up to 9 inches high.

§ 2. Mechanical machines. In a large railway enterprise, however, hand machines prove impractical and disadvantageous: first, because of the comparatively slow pace of the work; second, because of the large number of workers’ hands required for moving the rails and for rotating the saw. Thus, with hand and portable machines, mechanical devices for carrying and setting the rails are impossible, and these operations, together with turning the saw, constitute the principal expense, which can be reduced only if the trimming of rail ends is concentrated in one place and performed by steam, gas, or, finally, electric power.

The first experiments in setting up proper rail-trimming workshops belong to the former Kursk-Kiev (now Moscow-Kiev-Voro-

…Railway), which set up a similar workshop at Konotop station, and then the Southwestern Railway, where such a workshop was established (1890) at Kiev station). A detailed description of this workshop was made at the time by Engineer I. Berner**); but, in view of the highly expedient nature of its arrangement and for the sake of completeness of the sketch, I shall allow myself briefly to note the principal foundations of its arrangement in the present sketch as well.

Under sheds (Figs. 4 and 5), covering an area of 50 sq. sazhens, there were arranged: 1) an 8-horsepower locomobile, 2) eight circular saws \(n\), and 3) two drilling machines \(c_1\), \(c_2\) (Fig. 5).

The main driving shaft \(a, a\) was placed in a trench lined with boards; it consisted of four pine logs, nearly 7 vershoks in diameter, iron-bound and connected with one another by iron dowels, in the manner of mill shafts, and was set on five bearings fastened to transverse beams. The part of the shaft receiving motion from the locomobile was sheathed with boards—to a diameter of 16 vershoks.

The sawing machines were arranged in one row on a common wooden frame, composed of beams bolted together, sunk into the ground and connected with the floor decking. The belts to them from the main shaft \(a\), or along the grooves \(ж\), passed through special guide forks, which did not allow the belts to fall off the pulleys of the machines when the latter became non-parallel to the main shaft (at the beginning and end of sawing).

Above each machine, rails \(p\ p\) (Fig. 5) were suspended from the rafters of the shed; along the edges of their bases rolled, on rollers, the suspensions \(c'\), \(c''\), with screw tensioning chains (taken from old cars unfit for service), with hooks \(к\), which served for lifting, feeding, and positioning the rails to be cut under the saws. The rails subject to cutting were stacked at place A and from there, by the suspensions \(c'\), were fed under the saws; then, after the first end had been cut, they passed to the second suspension \(c''\) and rolled along the guide rails \(в, в', в'' \ldots в^{VI}\) (Fig. 4) until meeting a stop that determined the length the rail should have after cutting the second end; for this last purpose, in the guide rails \(в, в'\), holes were made through every foot for inserting stops, beginning at a distance of 15 ft from the plane of the saw, since rails shorter than this length were not sawn off.

The cut rails were stacked, by means of the already mentioned suspensions \(c'\), \(c''\), at places Б′ and Б″ (Fig. 4), and from there, along rollers \(д\), \(д'\), were brought up

*) This workshop was founded chiefly for sawing old Belgian rails, and is now abolished owing to the special conditions of replacing the rails of the main track with a heavier type and the use of rails, still good after replacement, for station tracks without cutting off the ends.

) “Cutting Old Rails.” Article by I. Berner. Engineer, 1890, No. 5.

to the drilling machines C and C₁. Holes 1″ in diameter were drilled according to templates prepared for each type of rail.

The motive power was an 8-horsepower locomotive, and the saw made up to 17 revolutions.

A. The cost of constructing the rail-cutting workshop, in general outline, was as follows:

1. The sheds, covering an area of 50 sq. sazhen and roofed with old roofing iron left over from the repair of old wagon roofs, cost:

2) Channel for the drive shaft, excavation for it, and sheathing with boards—labor with material . . . 150 rub.

3) Timbers for the main frame for the sawing machines and flooring over 20 sq. sazhen, labor and materials . . . 300 “

4) Eight sawing machines at 75 rubles per machine . . . 600 “

Installation of them, belts for them, to the locomotive and to the transmission shaft of the drilling machines . . . 250 “

5) Wooden drive shaft with iron fittings, spikes, bearings, and installation in place . . . 200 “

6) Upper transmission drive for the drilling machines, with installation . . . 200 “

7) Two drilling machines at 100 rubles each . . . 200 “

8) Eight guide rails with 16 pendants, not counting the cost of the rails . . . 160 “

9) Guide rails with rollers, feeding the cut rails to the drilling machines, not counting the cost of the rails . . . 50 “

10) Installation of the locomotive, water pipeline to it, and various small appliances . . . 240 “

Total cost . . . 3200 “

The 8 h.p. locomotive was to be taken temporarily from stock, and therefore not included in the account. For sawing, round steel saws of 18″ diameter were used, costing 10 rubles.

B. Cost of labor and maintenance of the locomotive and machines.
At the rail-cutting station in Kiev there were, as was said above, a locomotive, eight saws, and two drilling machines. Attached to them were:

For heating the locomotive during 10 hours of work there was consumed \(1/5\) cubic sazhen of firewood, at 16 r. per cubic sazhen, amounting to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 r. 50 k.

For lubrication, cleaning, and minor repairs of the locomotive and machines, about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . — 50 k.

Total expenditure per working day . . . 17 r. —

With an output of from 100 to 120 ends per day, this expenditure amounted to about 16 kopecks for each cut-off end together with the drilling of holes, and, together with the expenditure on saws, it was on average about 19 k.

The rail-cutting workshop, established by the Kursk–Kharkov–Sevastopol Railway at Kharkov station, existed until 1896 and was equipped with 8 sawing and 4 milling machines for drilling holes; it was driven by a seven-horsepower kerosene engine, consuming, over the course of 10 working hours, two poods 10 pounds of kerosene. The staff consisted of 24 laborers (three for each machine) and 1 fitter. The machines were supplied by the Moscow firm of the Bromley brothers. The time required to cut one end of a 20-pound steel English rail (of the Test or Barro works) was about 10 minutes. The cost of cutting one end was about 12 k.

The rail-cutting workshops of the Moscow–Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod railways (see their plans in drawings 6 and 7) were arranged: the first at Kursk station, if I am not mistaken, in 1894, and the second by me personally at the Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod station in 1896. Here (drawing 6): I and II are rail-sawing machines; III, a machine for sharpening saws; IV, a drilling machine; V, a steam engine. On the plan of the Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod workshop (drawing 7): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are rail-cutting machines; 7, 8, and 9 are drilling machines; 10, a machine for sharpening saws; 11, a locomotive. The equipment and the cost of cutting one rail end, including the drilling of two holes for bolts, are shown in the table below:

The daily output of the Moscow workshop is 46 to 50 ends per day:

$$ \frac{46+50}{2}=48 $$

Cost of one end:

$$ \frac{8{,}45}{48}=17{,}5\ \text{kop.} $$

The daily output of the Kursk workshop is on average 45 ends per day.

Cost of one end:

$$ \frac{7{,}745}{45}=17{,}2\ \text{kop.} $$

From the above calculation it is evident that the cost of one rail end, both in the Moscow and in the Kursk rail-cutting workshops, is the same; but the output of the Moscow workshop was comparatively small, which, as it turned out, depended mainly on certain non-constructive details of all the workshop equipment, the machines and the transmission, which had been installed by the Moscow firm of the Bromley Brothers.

The reasons that affected the low productivity of the Moscow workshop will be evident from the following comparison:

In view of the foregoing, in order to put the work in the Moscow workshop in order, it was proposed that the following work be carried out in it:

1) Rebuild the sawing machines and the transmission in accordance with the remarks made above.
2) Replace the saws with saws of the specified mark.
3) Lower the foundation of the machines, making through longitudinal openings in the walls of the building at a height of 0.01 above the heads of the rails.
4) Replace the drilling machines.
5) Leave one sawing machine as a reserve in case of breakdown, operating with only 5 saws.

In addition, it became clear that, as regards proper care of the locomotive, the rail-cutting machinist should be subordinated to the local Head of the Traction section, while in all other respects (machines, fuel, etc.) he should remain subordinate to the local Head of the Track section (in Kursk, the machinist servicing the locomotive is from the depot).

At present, some of the improvements listed have been implemented, and the productivity of the workshop has increased somewhat, although not to the extent that would undoubtedly have occurred if the saw foundations had been lowered to ground level, which has not yet been done.

Among other rail-cutting workshops carrying out the cutting of rails on a comparatively broad scale, one may mention the workshop of the Libavo-Romenskaya Railway at Bakhmach station, attached to the workshops of the Traction Service. The motive power is a horizontal 10-horsepower engine. The number of sawing machines is four. There are also four drilling machines. The cost of cutting one end, including drilling the holes, is 22 kopecks.

The rail-cutting workshop of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway is arranged at Minyar station and began operations at the end of 1898.

Its premises consist of an unheated building with an area of \(4.93 \times 11.00 = 54.23\) square sazhens.

This building was constructed by the railway administration by its own resources and cost 2,500 rubles, including the foundations for the machines (0.40 sazhens above ground) and two open platforms for loading and unloading rails, measuring \(50 \times 5.00\) square sazhens.

This building is equipped with:

1. A kerosene engine of 8 horsepower;
2. Four double drilling machines for rails;
3. Four circular saws for rails; and
4. A machine for turning the saws.

All this equipment was manufactured and installed on site by the same Bromley Brothers works in Moscow for a wholesale sum of 6,500 rubles, this sum...

the amount, apart from the above-mentioned items; the main shaft with belt transmission, 8 spare circular saws, and 4 emery wheels for setting the saws.

The staff of the workshop consists of a machinist-fitter, a foreman, and 12 permanent workers.

The cost of cutting and drilling one end is expressed, for the present, as 34 kopecks, which sum is made up of the cost of labor for loading and unloading and cutting—0.225 rubles, the cost of material—0.073 rubles, and the cost of repair and renewal of inventory—0.019. This figure, however, the administration of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway does not consider finally established, in view of the comparatively recent commencement of the work.

Cutting one end of a rail is performed: with new saws, depending on the hardness of the rail, in from 17 to 32 minutes; with old saws, from 25 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes.

Drilling the hole, with subsequent milling in order to give it an oval shape, requires from 13 to 17 minutes.

Depending on this, as experience has shown, the productivity of a workshop having 4 machines ranges from 50 to 70 rails (cut at both ends and with holes drilled) in a 12-hour working day.

In addition to the workshops listed, another rail-cutting workshop is currently being arranged: a) on the Nikolaev Railway at St. Petersburg station, in the form of a division under the Track Service workshop, where, in addition to the rail-cutting division, the following divisions are proposed: forging and fitting-assembly (assembly of small building trusses, bridges, strengthening of trusses, etc.); b) on the Siberian Railway, where a rail-cutting workshop with a steam engine is being arranged. For this latter workshop, the rail-cutting and drilling machines have been supplied by the Bromley Brothers firm, and the saw-setting machines by the Moscow firm Pio.

§ 4. Rail-cutting machines. As types of sawing machines brought into operation by mechanical power, one may indicate: a) the sawing machine of the workshop type of the South-Western Railway, and b) the fairly widespread machine of the Bromley Brothers firm.

The first of these is shown in drawings 8a and 8b and is arranged as follows: on an I-beam section of iron beam A, 1300 mm long, three iron cams k, k′, and k″ with copper bushings are fastened, through which pass the rollers v, v′; on the end of this shaft projecting beyond the frame is mounted pulley III, 300 mm in diameter, and on the other end, between cams k′ and k″, a steel worm u is fitted and wedged with keys, meshing with gear 3, seated on

common with the saw: the axis O. R is the handle attached to the frame, and G is a movable weight for pressing the saw onto the rail being cut. Since, when a rail is being placed under it, the saw must be raised, and when sawing must be lowered, the frame is furnished with three trunnions Ts, the middle one of which is screwed to the frame, and the two outer ones to the chair L; through all three passes the axis of rotation of the frame O₁O₂.

The chair L, composed of wooden beams fastened with bolts and angle irons, is attached to the main frame M, on which the machine stands; to it, on both sides, are also screwed the supports P, P, in which the rail to be cut is secured by the clamps H H.

The Broulley rail-cutting machine, as may be seen from drawing 9, has much in common with the machine of the South-Western Railways, differing from the latter only in a somewhat more robust construction. Above the saw is placed a cup with soapy water.

§ 5. Drilling machines. Among hand drilling machines, besides the one mentioned above in the description of the drilling machine of the Riga–Oryol Railway, inseparably connected with such a drilling attachment C (drawing 2), one may point to an extremely convenient portable American machine, shown in drawings 10 and 11.

This machine consists of the frame A, the drilling attachment C C with handles P₁ and P₂, and two hooks K K, by means of which it grips the rail in which holes are to be drilled.

The principal convenience of the machine is that holes may be drilled with it in rails lying in the track without danger of a train’s derailing, since before trains pass the hooks K K and the entire frame are thrown back to the clearance distance, as shown in drawing 11.

Among mechanical drilling machines, mention should be made of the machine of the South-Western workshops (drawings 12a and b) and the machine of the Moscow firm Broulley, shown in drawing 13.

This latter has the important advantage that, having two drills, it permits the simultaneous drilling of two holes for bolts, which in general significantly reduces the cost of the work.

The holes for the bolts are first centered by means of a center punch according to a special template, on which the centers of the holes are marked in strict accordance with the centers of the future bolt holes. A template of the simplest design is shown in drawings 14—15 and consists, as is not difficult to see, of a strip of boiler iron A, with a width equal to the rail web, with a bent end a and two holes b b, situated one from the other at the distance between the centers of the future bolt holes and large enough to admit the point of the center punch. Sometimes such a template is provided with a special—

the handle R. In this form the template is applied to the end of the rail lying under the drilling machine, and the fitter, having marked with its aid the centers of the bolt holes, lowers the drill onto them and sets the latter in motion. The drilling speed for one hole is from 1½ to 3 minutes, depending on the hardness of the rail.

§ 6. Saws. The diameter of the circular saws (Fig. 16) used in cutting rails ranges from 18″ to 30″ (460 mm to 766 mm). It is best, as practice shows, to take some average diameter, 22″–24″. The thickness of the saws is usually 3 mm. The best saws have proved to be those of the French firm Panard and Levasseur. These saws have been introduced in the Kursk and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod rail-cutting workshops and have also been purchased for the Siberian Railway. It should be noted that, in general, iron rails are cut by saws much more difficultly and more slowly than steel rails. The saw, one might say, as it were “binds” in an iron rail. In my own practice there have been cases when a quite freshly sharpened saw, which cut a steel rail in some 5–10 minutes, took from 40 minutes to 1 hour to cut a Demidov iron rail! The same phenomenon is confirmed by the experience of the Riga–Orel and Southwestern Railways.

It is understandable that after cutting a certain number of rail ends, the saws become dull and require sharpening. As the standard for such a number one may take, for iron rails, from 12 to 20 ends, and for steel rails, from 20 to 60 ends.

§ 7. Sharpening machines. For sharpening the dulled ends of saws, sharpening machines of various construction are used, both manual and power-driven. It is better to use the latter, since, owing to the uniform motion of the machine, saws sharpened mechanically have teeth that are all of the same size and equally ground. The grinding wheels are either in the form of single-ribbed emery washers Ш (Fig. 17), or in the form of double-ribbed emery wheels H (Fig. 18). The sharpening machine shown in Figure 17 makes up to 800 revolutions per minute. Water placed in the cup K located above the grinding washer Ш must constantly drip onto the tooth being ground.

When sharpening, care must be taken that only the tips of the teeth touch the washer Ш, and by no means the entire tooth along its whole length. Figure 18 shows a sharpening machine with a double-ribbed emery wheel, supplied by the Moscow firm Pilo. Machines of this kind have been introduced, among other places, at the rail-cutting workshop at the Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod station and have also been purchased for the Siberian Railway. From my personal two-year experience I have formed the conviction of their full suitability. I shall note only that,

although a machine tool of this kind should also be provided with a protective shield, so that the particles flying off during sharpening, in the form of fiery sparks and particles of red-hot emery, cannot injure the worker performing the sharpening; but it is better if the latter, while working, wears special protective spectacles with side eye shields.

If the notch of the saws has become so worn that it can no longer be sharpened, then—if the diameter of the saw still permits it—it must be annealed, the worn notch ground off, the saw widened along its entire circumference by riveting on its edge, the teeth cut so that they have a width somewhat greater than the body of the saw, and the saw then hardened in marmot oil. Depending on its original diameter, each saw can withstand from 5 to 7 such renewals.

In concluding the present outline, I consider it necessary to repeat that, in my opinion, the principal conditions ensuring the correctness, success, and cheapness of the arrangement of rail-cutting workshops should be regarded as the following:

1) The workshop should be arranged in such a place that, on the one side, it would be convenient to unload the rails delivered for cutting and to arrange them in stacks in such a way that the rails can be fed entirely freely from the stacks into the workshop; and, on the other side, there should be an equally convenient place for stacking the cut rails by grade and for their subsequent loading to the places where they are required. Therefore it is useful that:

a) each workshop should have its own separate unloading and loading track, and
b) around it there should be as large and, as far as possible, level an area as possible.

2) The machines for sawing and drilling holes should be located either at floor level or raised only to the very slightest height (0.10–0.12 sazhen) above the workshop floor.

3) One should not chase after cheap rail saws, but should invariably choose the best grades, since, as experience shows, they pay for themselves many times over in comparison with cheaper ones.

4) The management of the workshop should be entrusted to the local Section Chief, with only the engine driver subordinated to him in the matter of the proper and safe maintenance of the engine, to the local Chief of the Traction Section.

Fig. 1.

\(P\)

\(T\)

\(c\)

\(H\)

\(P\)

\(M\)

[[unclear: handwritten initials/abbreviation]] Donetsk

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Visible inscriptions in the drawing: “locomobile”; repeated labels “Ж”; axis/letter designations including \(A\), \(a\), \(Б'\), \(Б''\), \(б\), \(б'\), \(б''\), \(б^{III}\), \(б^{IV}\), \(б^{V}\), \(б^{VI}\), \(б^{VII}\); dimensions including \(49300\), \(5490\), \(6400\), \(3400\), \(19020\), \(7510\), \(64400\), \(300\).

Fig. 5.

Visible inscriptions in the drawing: \(A\); repeated labels “Ж”; letter designations including \(p\), \(c'\), \(c''\), \(k\), \(a\), \(c\), \(c_1\); dimensions including \(2194\), \(4499\).

Drawing 4

Visible labels and inscriptions in the drawing:

• \(A\)
• \(A\)
• \(a\)
• \(a_1\)
• \(1\)
• \(2\)
• \(3\)
• \(4\)
• \(5\)
• \(6\)
• \(10\)
• \(11\)
• “rails” — repeated at several rail lines
• Dimensions visible: \(10{,}41\), \(22{,}41\), \(54{,}0\), \(5{,}40\), \(9{,}88\), \(6{,}45\), \(1{,}36\)

Drawing 6

Visible labels and inscriptions in the drawing:

• \(I\)
• \(II\)
• \(III\)
• \(IV\)
• \(V\)
• \(1\) circled
• “rails” — repeated along the connecting rail lines between the drawings

Drawing 8a.

Drawing 8b.

T. S. Ing. I. Domke

Fig. 6.

Fig. 10.

Fig. 11.

Drawing 12b

Drawing 12a

Fig. 13.

Drawing 15.

Drawing 14.

Drawing 16.

Drawing 17.

Drawing 18.