292 LOGGING 



it. The train is then run forward a rail length and the process 

 repeated. When ten sections, or 300 feet of track, have been 

 placed on a flat car, it is switched out by the locomotive and an 

 empty substituted. After loading four flats with 1200 feet of 

 track, the train proceeds to a new line where with the track 

 mover ahead the process is reversed and the track laid. 



The track-laying crew on this operation consists of one track 

 foreman, who runs the track-moving machine, one negro laborer 

 on the flat car to fasten and loosen chains, and three or four 

 negro laborers on the ground to handle the section, bolt up and 

 unbolt fish plates and perform similar work. 



The cost of laying and taking up track is approximately 

 2 cents per foot. This crew, in addition to averaging 2000 

 feet of track daily, clears the right-of-way and cuts wood for 

 fuel. 



To obviate the difficulty of handling turnouts and curved 

 sections a machine has recently been patented for handling rails 

 and ties separately. The machine is mounted on a flat car and 

 has a system of endless transfer chains which run from one end of 

 the car to the other and project over the forward end to the outer 

 edge of a cantilever, the end of which may be lowered or raised 

 as necessary. The transfer chains may be operated in either 

 direction and are used for the transport of ties from the track to 

 the storage space on the car, or vice versa. 



A trolley system for handling the rails extends along both sides 

 of the machine and projects beyond the forward end for a dis- 

 tance sufficient to permit the loose rafls to be gripped at the 

 center by a block and tackle suspended from the trolley. 



Power for driving the various working parts of the machine is 

 supplied by an engine which is provided with steam by the 

 locomotive. It is mounted on the rear of the car. 



In taking up track the machine is run out to the end of the 

 fine. After the track is broken up the rails are gripped near the 

 center, hoisted off the ground, carried to the rear on a trolley 

 and stored along the sides of the machine. The ties are placed 

 on the transfer chains by laborers, and transported to the car. 

 When one panel has been taken up the car is moved back for 



