Willer

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INTRODUCTION

HIS article is condensed from a much larger work which I began a number of years ago for the purpose of finding the cause of the large number of different rail sections in use, and with the thought that we might learn something of the rail and its service that would be of advantage in the designing of rolls.

Since the very beginning of man's existence he must, of necessity, have had some means of transporting both himself and material for his use. This at first consisted of what he was able to do by the aid of his body and physical exertion. No doubt the first effort to improve this condition came 'way back in the ages, long before the written history of man, when some primitive man in his efforts to make for himself and mate a home, conceived the plan of placing a round section of a small tree under a stone or other obstruction to lighten the burden of its removal. Thus was made the first step toward the production of the wheel and axle, the basis of all successful land transportation.

The next step was taken by some prehistoric genius who, in an effort to still further lighten his burdens, with infinite patience and labor, produced a pair of rough wheels by either burning or cutting them from the trunk of a large tree and piercing them with holes for an axle. Thus, step by step, improvements have been made from the roller and primitive cart and rough trails of our cave ancestors to the wonderful railroads and palatial cars of today. We have become so accustomed to their use and presence that few stop to consider their origin and history and the influence they have contributed to the progress and happiness of mankind.

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Today we are more in need of transportation facilities than at any other time in the history of the world.

As is well known, all the products of nature do not exist at the place where they are consumed, but must be transported to and from the place of manufacture before they can be used for man's wants. This makes man dependent upon the means of transportation at his command.

This is probably best illustrated by the late Otis Tufton Mason, Curator of the Department of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum, who in one of his reports on primitive travel and transportation describes the first sleeping car by a picture of an Indian woman with a sleeping baby slung upon her back. When we compare this picture with our modern sleeping cars, we have a most vivid and lasting impression of what the rail and railway have accomplished for the welfare of man.

This great advance is the aggregate of many years' thought, labor, ingenuity, and inventive skill of man. And the rail, which is no doubt the most potent factor in this great advance, has passed through many changes in form and methods of manufacture. From the very beginning of railway development, the railway men have never been able to make any great or permanent advance until the rail had first been improved to a point where it would withstand the additional work imposed upon it by the increased speed and traffic. Today the need of still further improvement in the way of heavier sections and improved form is more acute than at any time in its history.

In this brief history of the rail I have not attempted to enter to any great extent into why and how the changes in the form of the rails were made, space not permitting.

There are no doubt many who could have gotten this history up in a much better form than I have done, and my only excuse is, they have not done so.

I am very thankful to the many friends who have so willingly aided me in obtaining the desired information.

GEORGE P. RAIDABAUGH.

AILWAYS as we know them, first came into use about two hundred years before the introduction of the steam locomotive, or about the year 1600. The collieries in the north of England made use of wooden rail tram or wagon ways for the purpose of reducing the labor of hauling coal from the pit's mouth to the place of shipment.

They consisted at first simply of rough pieces of timber imbedded in the roadway in such a manner as to make a tolerably smooth track for the wheels of the carts or wagons. Later sleepers with wooden rails were used, as shown in Fig. 1, R-1.

With this arrangement, the removal of a broken or wornout rail injured the sleeper in consequence of the peg holes

becoming too large. This condition was improved by nailing an upper rail, Fig. 2, R-2, on the lower rail, R-1, so

the upper rail could be frequently renewed without injury to the sleepers, S.