File:The working and management of an English railway (1889) (14738095166).jpg

Identifier: workingmanagemen00find (find matches)
Title: The working and management of an English railway
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Findlay, George, 1829-1893
Subjects: London and North-Western Railway Railroads Railroads and state
Publisher: London : Whittaker & Co. (etc.)
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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unction. The diamond cross-ings are marked B, and the nearest single crossingis marked A. This is a simple double junction ; butwhere the running lines are duplicated, and there arenumerous cross-over-roads and sidings connecting withthe main lines, the arrangement of roads frequentlybecomes extremely complicated. There is one important feature in the formation of awell-constructed permanent way, which is known asthe super-elevation of the outer rail on curves. Anyone who has witnessed the evolutions of a circus riderwill have observed that both horse and rider, in orderto maintain their balance, incline their bodies towardsthe centre of the ring, and the greater the speed, thegreater is their deviation from the perpendicular. Inorder to enable a train to do by mechanical meanswhat the rider does by muscular power—that is, tobalance the centrifugal force of a train running round acurve—it is necessary for the outer rail on a curve tobe raised somewhat above the inner rail, and the
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PERMANENT WAY. 55 smaller the radius—that is the sharper the curve—andthe higher the speed of the trains, the greater must bethe super-elevation. In practice it must be adjustedto the average speed of the fastest trains that arelikely to run over it—that is, the express passengertrains. Railway curves are invariably arcs of circles ofgreater or less radius, except for a short length, wherethey join or leave the straight line. Where the radiusof the curve is uniform, a uniform super-elevation isgiven to the outer rail, but this elevation dies awaygradually to the straight line, where the rails becomelevel. As the super-elevation decreases the radius ofthe curve increases until it becomes infinite, or, in otherwords, until the straight line is reached. If it be asked what is the steepest gradient a railwayshould have, the answer is, The best that can beobtained under all the circumstances ; or, in other words,the nearest to a dead level. There are cases in which thephysical condit

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