Circular 8.2 Maintenance of Way - Track Inspection Operations

Western Washington Short Line
Office of the General Manager
100 Railroad Avenue
Monetesano, Washington

CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8.2                                                                 DATE: January 1, 1955

MAINTENANCE OF WAY

 Track Inspection Operations

BY AUTHORITY OF:


S.B.Clinard
President and General Manager ___________________________________________________________________________________

Inspection of Track

.It is necessary for the officials of a railway to make a general inspection of track at least once a year. When one general inspection is made, it is called the annual inspection of track and will be made in the fall after the summer's work is completed and the track brought up to its best condition in preparation for the winter. 

The inspection party will be made up of the maintenance of way engineers, together with officials from other departments, with either the gen­eral manager or general superintendent. Besides the actual determina­tion of the condition of the track, these inspection trips have a marked educational value. The men of the different divisions, districts, and departments are brought together, giving an excellent opportunity for the discuseion of maintenance of way subjects and for the men to see what and how work is done on territory other than their own. The men of the in­spection party are divided into committees each of which inspects and grades certain features.

The indi­cators inspected include line; surface; joints; spacing of ties; drain­age of banks and ditches·; ballast; station-grounds, policing and fencing; buildings; spikes; and sidings. Each of the five inspectors seated at the desk is responsible for two of these features. Each indicator registers from 0.1 to 9.9. The grading is done per mile and is on a basis of 10 as perfect. 

At each mile-post the supervisor of that division calls the num­ber of the mile-post and the inspectors push the buttons and register the grades for the mile just passed. The grades are copied by a clerk and later the average grade of each section is computed. The car travels at a speed of about 25 miles per hour. Several other railways are using simi­lar inspection-cars. 

Besides the general inspection, it is the duty of the roadmaster and railroad engineer to ride over their territory on fast trains and note the location of rough track. This information will be conveyed to the section men so that the defects will be remedied. The defect will be marked with a small amount of whitewash on the rail at points to which it is desired to call the attention of the trackmen.