288 LOGGING 



For example, a locomotive having a weight of 80,000 pounds 

 on its drivers should not be operated on less than a 40-pound 

 rail. 



Lumber companies frequently buy or lease second-hand 

 rails from trunk-line railroads. The latter practice is com- 

 mon in some sections, where trunk lines have second-hand 

 steel, which accumulated when a change in the weight of the 

 rails was made on their lines. The lease of steel at low rates 

 serves to encourage the development of the lumber industry 

 along the trunk line because it reduces the lumberman's invest- 

 ment in equipment. 



The price of new rails at steel mills is about $32 per ton. 



Rail Fastenings. — Either angle bars or fish plates are used to 

 strengthen and brace the rails at the joint. 



h 

 Fig. 82. — Forms of Rail Fastenings, a, angle bars. 6, fish plates. 



Angle bars, which are of several patterns, are bolted on each 

 side of the joint with from two to three bolts in each rail head 

 (Fig. 82, a). They are used on main-line logging roads. 



Fish plates, sometimes called "straps, " are plain bars of steel 

 bolted to the rail in the same manner as the angle bars, but 

 usually with not more than two bolts per rail head (Fig. 82, &). 

 They are especially adapted for logging-spur tracks, because they 

 can be put on quicker than angle bars and are equally serviceable 

 for light traffic. 



Standard requirements call for 357 joints per mile. 



Spikes. — Rails are fastened to the crossties by square 

 spikes which vary in length and size with the weight of rail. 

 Four spikes are driven to each tie, one on each side of each 

 rail. 



