LOGGING IN THE DOUGLAS FIR REGION. 199 



To lay the track costs from $250 to $325 per mile. One superin- 

 tendent who has directed the building of more than 25 miles of 

 logging railroad during the last three or four years estimates the 

 cost of laying 1,000 feet of standard-gauge track with new steel as 

 follows : 



Rental on locomotive 1 $10 



Train crew, fireman, and engineer 7 



Foreman 4 



Twelve hands, at $2.50 30 



Total : 51 



This is at the rate of about $270 per mile. 



As logging progresses, the track is lifted and relaid on new spurs. 

 This work usually takes place at the same time. Ordinarily, track 

 can be lifted and laid for from $10 to $12 per station, the cost of 

 lifting by hand when both rails and ties are taken up being about the 

 same as the laying of the track. 



The cost of installing switches, when labor is paid at the rate 

 of $2.50 per day, amounts to about $20 per switch. 



The cost of surfacing, which consists of shoveling earth in be- 

 tween the ties, aligning the track, and tamping, amounts to about 

 $300 per mile, 



Quite often material suitable for filling between and under the ties 

 is not at hand and has to be hauled in on cars. Foreign material, 

 usually consisting of gravel or broken rock, is known as ballast. 

 Whether some material other than that found along the right of way 

 is used will depend on the formation of the roadbed, the material 

 along the right of way, what seasons of the year the track is to be 

 used, and the period of time the track is to be used. If a spur is 

 going to be used only during the dry season, no rock ballast will be 

 used. Then, too, if rock ballast is very scarce, it will not be used on 

 spurs during other seasons of the year. The same factors apply to the 

 amount of ballast that should be used in a given case. 



In estimating the cost of surfacing with ballast one should know 

 the character of the ground through which the right of way runs, 

 also where ballast can be found. Where ballast is scarce and has to 

 be hauled in at some distance the cost per mile may be considerable. 

 The cost of surfacing the main-line logging railroad in one case 

 .amounted to $1,800 per mile; in another case, $1,200 per mile. Most 

 operators have found that it pays to use plenty of rock, gravel, or 

 other ballast on lines that are to be in use some time, since by so doing 

 they reduce the cost of maintenance by more than enough to offset 

 the cost of ballasting. Other advantages also result from a well- 

 ballasted track. 



