Office of the General Manager
100 Railroad Avenue
Monetesano, Washington
CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8 DATE: January 1, 1955
BY AUTHORITY OF:
S.B.Clinard
President and General Manager ___________________________________________________________________________________
Let us now consider the keeping of this enormous track-mileage in a safe operating condition. This work of keeping in repair the track and its accompanying structures in properly called "Maintenance of Way and Structures," but is quite commonly abbreviated to "Maintenance of Way." Some idea can be had of the vast amount of work required and the importance of this work of maintenance, from the fact that almost one-third of all railway employees are on the work of maintenance of way and structures. The track is the fundamental part of this great railway system and it can easily be seen that the work of constantly maintaining this track in a safe operating condition is very important and requires unusual judgment, skill executive ability, and excellent organization.
Organization
The Assistant Engineer reports to the Division Engineer. He is generally held responsible for the keeping of all plans and records up to date, and the furnishing of lines and levels for all engineering work on the division, when asked for by the various supervisors. He is assisted by the necessary draughtsmen, instrumentmen, rodmen, chainmen, etc.
The Supervisor of Bridges and Buildings has direct charge of the maintenance of bridges, trestles, culverts, turntables, abutments, retaining walls, tunnels, docks, buildings, scales, water and fuel stations, etc.
The Supervisor of Track or Roadmaster
is responsible for the maintenance of the roadbed, track, fences,
right-of-way and station-grounds. He manages the work of track
supervisors.
Track-supervisors is responsible for the safe condition and proper maintenance of track, roadway, right-of-way, station-grounds and driveways. They must make temporary repairs of such defects as may endanger or delay the movement of trains, and promptly report defective conditions to the Division Engineer.
The Section forman has charge of the actual work of track maintenance, and reports to the Roadmaster. He alone is directly responsible for the efficiency of the work done on the track. He should be capable of outlining the season's work in advance, and should follow his program in carrying out the work. As a part of his duties he must make daily inspection of all track on the section, must see that all waterways are kept open, fences repaired, farm-crossing gates closed, cattle-guards repaired, switches free from snow and ice, and that rail bond-wires are not interfered with. Track-walkers, Track-watchmen and Crossing-watchmen generally report to the section-foreman.
Organization of the Section Forces.-System is essential in maintenance work in order to secure good track at a minimum cost. The expenses for track maintenance are about three times as great as for maintenance of structures.
The territory covered by a railway is divided into districts or divisions each of which is further subdivided and each subdh·ision placed in charge of a roadmaster or supervisor of track. Each subdivision is in turn subdivided into sections. The section-foreman is in charge of the section and is assigned a force of men varying in number according to the location and length of the section, density of traffic, equipment of track, season of the year, etc. The length of section is often fixed arbitrarily. The proper way, however, is to determine an average unit of one man's work by carefully observing gangs at work; then, by observing the time different gangs require to do different kinds of work, fix the lepgth of section on a basis of equivalent mileage. The following equivalents have been used wit excellent results on the New York Central:
Fifteen turnouts = 1 mile of main track
One crossing frog = one turnout
One single slip-switch = three turnouts.
One double slip-switch = four turnouts
On most railways the winter forces consist of from 0.3 to 0.5 of a man per equivalent mile and the summer forces from 0.8 of a man to 1 man per equivalent mile, and it is usual to have each gang look after from 5 to 8 miles of track. On most railways the winter forces consist of from 0.3 to 0.5 of a man per equivalent mile and the summer forces from 0.8 of a man to 1 man per equivalent mile, and it is usual to have each gang look after from 5 to 8 miles of track.
The Extra Gang.-It is the practice to renew ballast, relay rails, clean ditches, etc., with extra. or floating gangs. The extra gang is constantly on the move and the men are paid for the time they are being transported from place to place; hence the efficiency of the extra gang is low, probably not much above 25 per cent. The size of the gang is from 15 to 40 men. Without excellent organization more than 40 men cannot work efficiently because of interference and lack of proper supervision. Two foremen are necessary for gangs of more than 25 men and each foreman should have an assistant.
Specific Information
8.1 Maintenance of Way - Company Supply Operations
8.2 Maintenance of Way - Track Inspection Operations
8.3 Maintenance of Way - Ballast Operations
8.4 Maintenance of Way - Tie Renewal Operations
8.5 Maintenance of Way - Rail Renewal Operations
8.6 Maintenance of Way - Catenary Operations
8.7 Maintenance of Way - Weed Spraying Operations
8.8 Maintenance of Way - Ditching Operations
8.9 Maintenance of Way - Metal Scrap Operations
8.10 Maintenance of Way - Log Salvage Operations
8.11 Maintenance of Way - Fire Train Operations
8.12 Maintenance of Way - Snow Train Operations
8.13 Maintenance of Way - Outfit Train Operations
8.14 Maintenance of Way - Wreck Train Operations
8.15 Maintenance of Way - Bridge Operations
8.16 Maintenance of Way - Painting Operations
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