Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910

Transactions of the American
Society of
by Various

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Transactions of the American Society
of
Civil Engineers, Vol. LXX, Dec. 1910, by Various This eBook is for
the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org
Title: Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol.
LXX, Dec. 1910 Final Report of Special Committee on Rail Sections,
Paper No. 1177
Author: Various
Release Date: July 8, 2006 [EBook #18785]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY
OF CIVIL ENGINEERS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sigal Alon and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
INSTITUTED 1852
TRANSACTIONS
Paper No. 1177
FINAL REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON RAIL
SECTIONS.[A]

Your Special Committee on Steel Rails, since their appointment in
1902, have held numerous meetings, not only of their own body, but
also in conference with Committees representing other Societies and
the steel rail makers. The results of their deliberations have been
presented to the Society in their reports presented on--
January 21st, 1903[B] " 18th, 1905 " 17th, 1906 " 16th, 1907 July 9th,
1907 December 6th, 1907 " 18th, 1908 November 30th, 1909
As previously reported to you, the Rail Committee of the American
Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association is also
acting for the American Railway Association; and the latter
organization has guaranteed to it the necessary funds to make
exhaustive tests and observations as to the wear, breakage, etc., etc., of
steel rails. This work is being prosecuted, and will of necessity require
several years.
Your Committee feels that it has nothing to add to the several reports
which it has presented to the Society, particularly as, so far, the several
cardinal principles outlined in them are being practically followed in
the several used and proposed specifications and rail sections.
In view of the foregoing, your Committee would respectfully ask to be
discharged so that the field may be clear if at any future time the

Society should desire to again place the subject in the hands of a
Committee.
JOSEPH T. RICHARDS, C. W. BUCHHOLZ, E. C. CARTER, S. M.
FELTON, ROBERT W. HUNT, JOHN D. ISAACS, RICHARD
MONTFORT, H. G. PROUT, PERCIVAL ROBERTS, JR., GEORGE
E. THACKRAY, EDMUND K. TURNER, Approved in connection
with the attached report: WILLIAM R. WEBSTER.
JUNE, 1910.
PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 1ST, 1910.
I have signed the Report of the A. S. C. E. Rail
Committee,--"Approved in connection with the attached report," as I
feel that the report is too condensed, and assumes that all are familiar
with the Rail situation, especially what has been done by the other
Societies.
The work undertaken by this Committee has been delegated by The
American Railway Association to the Rail Committee of The American
Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association, and it
therefore seems appropriate to give the results of their work, up to date,
to our members in convenient form for reference, especially as our rail
specifications have not been worked to, and they have offered a better
specification that will be worked to, and no doubt largely used by the
members of this Society. The specification is attached to this report.
In presenting this specification to the Annual Meeting at Chicago in
March last, the Committee said:[C]
"A new specification should not be proposed at this time without
careful consideration. So far as we know, no railroad company has
purchased rails under the specifications approved by the American
Railway Association and referred to us; nor do we know of any railway
company that has succeeded in buying rails during the past two years
according to a specification entirely satisfactory to the railroad
company. We believe that all of the specifications under which rails

have been rolled have been compromises on the part of both parties,
with the general result that neither party is entirely satisfied. Our
experience during the year has brought to our attention some defects in
all of the specifications now before us, and acting under the impression
that there is a distinct feeling that we should revise our specifications,
we offer the attached specifications for your consideration. Our
Association has no specification for Open-Hearth Steel Rails, and in
order to comply with the instructions, a specification for Open-Hearth
Steel Rails is included.
"We believe it necessary to submit a sliding scale for the percentages of
carbon and phosphorus, which provides for increasing the carbon as the
phosphorus decreases. The fixing of this scale properly is a matter
requiring care, and we admit that our knowledge on the subject is
limited. The American Railway