54 



BULLETIN 440, tJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The size of rails also varies with the size of the locomotives and the 

 maximum loads. As a rule, the use of heavy rails pays. They depre- 

 ciate less in use and in lifting and relaymg. They can be used with 

 fewer ties and on a poorer roadbed than the hghter rails. The weight 

 of the steel rails now used varies from 30 to 60 pounds per yard. 



The use of 30-pound rails is rare and is Hmited to narrow-gauge 

 roads with light locomotives. A few companies use 35-pound rails 

 on standard-gauge roads with 32-ton locomotives, but such light rails 

 are no longer popular. For narrow-gauge yoads, 45-pound steel is 

 thought to give the best satisfaction. For standard-guage roads, 50 

 or 56 pound steel is the choice of the most up-to-date companies. A 

 logging superintendent who lifts his spurs several times in a season 

 thinks that 56-pound steel is the cheapest in the end. Rails weighing 

 60 pounds per yard are used on main-line logging roads for heavy 

 locomotives. 



Rails are ordinarily sold by the gross ton of 2,240 pounds. The 

 number of gross tons per mile for any size rail may be obtained by 

 multiplying the weight per yard by 11 and dividing by 7. The weight 

 in tons per mile of several representative sizes of rails is as f oUpws : 



Weight 

 per yard. 



Weight per mile. 



Pounds. 

 35 

 40 

 45 

 50 

 56 

 60 

 65 

 70 



Tons. 

 55 

 62 

 70 

 78 

 88 

 94 

 102 

 110 



Pounds. 



1,920 

 1,600 

 1,280 



640 

 320 





- The prices of steel rails fluctuate from month to month and season 

 to season. The following 1914 prices on new rails f. o. b. San Fran- 

 cisco, carload lots, are, however, sufficiently exact for estimates : 



25 to 45 pounds per yard, $1.55 per hundi'edweiglit, or $34.75 per gross ton. 

 50 to 90 pounds per yard, |] .835 per hundredweight, or |41 per gross ton. 



The freight rates on rails and rail fastenings from San Francisco 

 vary from 30 cents per hundredweight for the nearest points in the 

 Sierras to 80 cents per hundredweight for points in northern Cali- 

 fornia. 



First-class inspected relaying rails are quoted f. o. b. Pacific coast 

 terminals at the following prices : 



25 to 45 pounds, $30 to $32 per ton. 

 56 to 60 pounds, |33 to $35 per ton. 



The common rail length is 30 feet, which gives 352 joints per mile. 

 The usual method of sphcing joints is by means of angle bars rather 

 than fishplates. The cost of standard angle bars f. o. b. San Fran- 



