Chapter 4 The-Return-Circuit (Contd)

56 Electric Railways and Tramways.
CHAPTER IV.
THE RETURN CIRCUIT—continued.
W E now come to the electrical welding process, which, if successful,

will do away with all bonding and use of copper wire, except where
return feeders are necessary in connection with the return circuit. It
practically means the use of continuous rails without joints of any kind.
I t has already been stated that it is now a nearly universal practice
in America to butt the rails, without leaving any room for expansion at the
joints, and that in paved streets nearly perfect joints have been the result.
The Johnson Company, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, have gone still further,
and after an exhaustive series of experiments, have undertaken to weld the
rails instead of connecting them by fishplates, Their system was first tried
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on a branch of the West End Street Railway
Company, of Boston. The method of operating was as follows: The fishplates
were removed, the ends of the rails cleaned by an emery wheel on a flexible
shaft, a thin piece of steel was forced between the rail ends and a pair of
fishplates of the form shown in Fig. 54.
A welding car, specially constructed and self-propelling, was then
brought up the track and the weld made, the current being taken from the
trolley wire and transformed into an alternating current at low pressure.
In making these welds the fishplates were grasped by specially arranged
jaws, and welded separately to each rail. The ends of the rail were not
welded together, but the fishplates, which were 4 in. by 7 in. by 1 in. and of
form shown, were joined to each rail, thus necessitating two operations for
each joint. The first road which was operated upon had a very old and
poorly constructed permanent way, and it was soon found that most of the
welded joints broke off, not at the weld, but just below or above it. This
led the Johnson Company to devise a new plan which has since been
employed apparently with great success.
The next road on which track welding was tried was the Baden and
St. Louis Railway of St. Louis, Missouri. Welding was begun on this line
in February, 1894. The road has many curves, and the rails were first bent
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Electrically Welded Rail Joints. 57
and laid, and then welded in place. It was found necessary to lay the track
and tamp and surface the line completely before commencing to weld the
joints, as otherwise the weight of the welding car would have depressed the
rails in the middle and raised them at the ends, thus causing the welded
joints to be high. The metals were spiked to wooden sleepers, 3 ft. between
centres, laid on 6 in. of macadam, well rolled, and the track was then
tamped to grade and filled in to the tops of the sleepers or ties. The rails
were then ready for the welding of the joints. The welding car was in this
case equipped with two " W. P. 50" electric motors, and all the speed
regulating and starting devices of an ordinary electric street car. The
current coming from the trolley wire passed through an automatic circuit-
Tro/Uy Wire
Fig. 55
Continuous Alternating
Mgtor -generator.
FIG. 54. FIRST FORM OF WELDED RAIL JOINT. FIG. 55. DIAGRAM OF RAIL WELDING CIRCUIT.
breaker, switch, ammeter, and starting rheostat, to a transformer or motor

generator which transformed the 500-volt continuous current into an alter-
nating one. The periodicity of the alternating current used was from 73 to
74 per second. This alternating current then passed through a break switch
and regulating induction coil with movable iron core to a transformer, where
it was transformed into a current at a pressure of from three to four volts,
which traversed the welding machine. For convenience in working, this
machine was hung from a crane. The secondary winding of the transformer
consisted of a single turn of very heavy copper strips, leading to the copper
contacts between which the weld was made (see Fig. 55). The distance
between these contacts was regulated by a screw gear, by means of which a
very large pressure could instantaneously be brought to bear upon the weld.
The welding car also contained a motor for operating the crane, and another
which drove a pump forcing cold water through the hollow arms of the
welding machine. The weight of this welding car was about 30 tons. It
was preceded by an auxiliary car carrying two electric motors driving
emery wheels on flexible shafts, which were used for polishing the rails
where the joint was to be made, previous to welding. The mode of
operation was as follows :
The ends of the rails were butted together by driving a wedge in the
joint ahead of the one to be welded. The welding car was then run over
the joint, the welding being done from the rear, so that it was not necessary
to run over a hot joint. The webs of the rails were polished by the emery
wheels for 2 in. on each side of the joint. The joint was then clamped in a
gun-metal casting holding the rails in the proper position for welding. The
two steel lugs, 1 and 2, shown in Fig. 56, were placed each side of the joint,
4
^ — —
1 2
27MN j I J
FIG. 56. POSITION OP STEEL LUGS USED IN WELDING RAIL JOINTS.
resting on and partly surrounding the foot of the rail, and the contact
clamps screwed down upon them. The electrical circuit of the secondary
coil of the transformer was thus completed, and the current was gradually
turned on. When the welding heat was reached, the jaws of the welder
were brought tightly together, thus forcing the molten steel into the joint
between the ends of the rail. Then the top lugs, 3 and 4 in Fig. 56, were
inserted and the same process gone through. Previous to turning on the
current, pieces of carbon were placed on the top of the rail to prevent the
joint softening. After the lugs were welded, the tread and flanges were
smoothed by hammering, the hammer being contained in the welding
apparatus. The welds on the St. Louis road are so well executed that it
was well-nigh impossible in most cases to distinguish where joints had been
welded. By this process enough molten steel enters the joint between the
rails to make a butt weld, besides which additional security is afforded by
Electrically Welded Rail Joints. 59
the lugs welded to the web of the rail. The greater part of the time is
taken up in preparing the joints, moving the machine, and setting up the
welder. The average time occupied in making a joint is from 12 to 15
minutes, and it was said that the cost ran from 12s. to 15s. per weld. The
current is taken from the trolley line at an average pressure of 500 volts,
and averages 250 amperes for from two to three minutes. The pressure of
the secondary welding current used is from three to four volts, and taking
into consideration the losses in the various transformations, the welding
current would probably amount to from 40,000 to 50,000 amperes. No
buckling had been observed in July, 1894, when the writer visited the line.
The track was filled up as soon as possible after welding, but on several
occasions 300 ft. to 500 ft. of welded track were left open for several days
without any bad results ensuing. So far 3j miles of double track have
been treated in this way at St. Louis, and the manager, Mr. R. McCulloch,
expressed himself as extremely satisfied with the results attained. The
electric railway which has so far adopted electric welding on the most
extensive scale is the Nassau Electric Railway Company, of Brooklyn,
New York, where over 100 miles of track will soon be continuous.
The welder used here is an improvement on the one which was
employed at St. Louis (see Figs. 57 and 58). The equipment is contained
in two cars instead of one. The first car contains the motor generator.
The alternating current coming out of the motor generator is conducted at
a 300-volt pressure to the step-down transformer and welder in the second
car which is nearest the joint. Instead of using a screw jack to tighten up
the gun-metal welding clamp, hydraulic power is employed. The width of
the lugs used in welding has also been increased, and the rails are polished
3^- in. on either side of the joint by means of an emery wheel carried on the
first car. Against the head of the rail a non-conductor of heat is placed so
as not to cause any loss of temper in the rail. When the rails are laid, two
out of three joints are butted, a space of T3^ in. being left every third rail.
When the non-butted joint comes to be welded, a thin section of rail is
driven in between the two ends, which renders the rail continuous. The
rails are also cross-connected together every 600 ft., so as to secure a good
return circuit for the current, by welding a flat steel bar 1^ in. by 2j in. in
dimension from rail to rail. Where the line is double track, the interior
rails of each track are also welded together every 600 ft. in a similar manner.
Whether electric welding will eventually take the place of all bonding
is still an undecided question. It has not yet stood the test of practical
use under all conditions of weather and traffic, and on a large scale, for a
sufficiently long period to pronounce an opinion. The equipment in
Brooklyn will be watched by all electrical street railway operators with the
greatest interest, and the result will go a long way towards deciding
conclusively in favour of or against welding. A t all events the pioneer
company in this line of work seems to have great faith in its success, and it
is said that they have already invested over £120,000 in experiments and
practical application.
Another process of attaining the same results as with electrically
FIG. 57. WELDING TRAIN.
welded joints has just been experimented with by Mr. McCulloch, of St.
Louis. It consists in welding the joints of the rails together by casting a
cast-iron sleeve round the sides and bottom of the joints. I t has been
carried out for a length of three miles of track at St. Louis by the Falk
Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee. This process was first shown in
October of last year at the Atlantic Street Railway Convention. The
outfit is composed of a small smelting cupola on wheels, weighing about
three tons and drawn by two horses. A light steam blower is attached to
the cupola, and oil is burnt under the blower.
The cupola is 2 ft. in diameter, brick lined, and the blast is furnished
Rail Welding Appliances. 61
by a Sturtevant blower, driven at 1,800 revolutions per minute, by a

5-horse-power motor, which receives its current from the trolley. The iron
used is one-half best soft grey pig and one-half selected scrap. The scrap
consists of old gear wheels, manhole covers and frames, an abundance of
which are found in the scrap heap of the railway. The furnace works very
rapidly, and in twenty minutes after the blast is turned on the iron is ready
to pour. It may then be tapped as long as the charging is continued at the
top. As the machine has been operated on the Citizens railway, about
1,200 ft. of track has been prepared and all the joints moulded in one heat.
As many as 72 joints have been poured at one melting.
i I • 11.
FIG. 58. RAIL WELDER.
The preparation of the joint for casting is as follows :—

The fishplates are first taken off, and the rail ends for about 8 in. back
polished with garnet paper. Openings between ends are closed by driving in
a thin section of rail. The moulds, consisting of two castings made to fit the
rail, are then placed about the joint and clamped in position. A heavy clamp
is placed on top of the rail, and screwed up as tightly as possible to hold the
joint immovable while being poured. This clamp is left on the rail until
the casting has cooled. Preparatory to the pouring, the moulds are lined
with a mixture of linseed oil and plumbago, and are heated to drive out any
moisture in them or on the rail. The pouring operation is very simple.
The melted iron is run from the cupola into a ladle, and then slowly poured
into the mould. This final operation is very quickly performed, as it
usually takes about three hours to pour forty joints. The casting weighs
1 cwt. 37 lb., and extends back on the rail 7 in., taking in two of the bolt-
holes in the ends of the rails. In this way four bolts are cast through the
rail. A sort of welding action seems to take place between the iron and
the steel rail, as on examination of a joint sawed in two it is difficult to tell
the exact junction. The moulds are fixed to the rails by screw clamps, and
hold the joint in place till the mould is cool and can be removed. The
space left at the top between the mould and the rail is made tight by means
of moulding sand. An iron plate is laid over the top of the rail at the
joint, so as to prevent the cast metal coming up and flowing out between
the ends of the rails. A gang of from six to eight men and one cupola will
make from 60 to 140 joints per day of ten hours. As already stated, the
moulds are heated before using, and the ends of the rails are allowed to
heat by the application of the red-hot moulds before the cast-iron is poured
into them. After the metal has been cast, about ten minutes are allowed
before removing the moulds.
To prevent too severe contraction and expansion, every other joint is
cast and allowed to cool entirely before the remaining ones are proceeded
with. The joints made weigh 120 lb., and cover four bolt-holes, or
approximately 16 in. The cost of such a joint is stated to be about 12s.
It is too soon to express any opinion upon this method, although it
would seem as if it must be far more difficult to obtain welding between
cast-iron and steel by this process, than between steel and steel at the
higher temperature attainable by means of electric welding. The great
advantage, of course, would be the cheapness of the outfit as compared
with that of an electric welding plant.
In case of defective joints by this process, it is found that the rail ends
simply pull apart, the lugs sticking to that rail which held them tightest.
In a few instances small pieces of rail pulled off with the lugs, but it is
stated that in no case have the rails themselves broken or a joint been
known to break which looked as if it had ever been really welded. The
result of this experiment is far from being discouraging, and the officers of the
railroad company are satisfied that with the additional knowledge now
possessed, and with the improvements which have been made in the machine,
it is possible to construct a track by this method with little trouble from
breakage.
Effects of Temperature on Continuous Rails. 63
It seems difficult to those accustomed to steam railroad tracks to

reconcile themselves to the use of a continuous rail. They call to mind
experiences with rails creeping and getting out of place on account of
temperature variations. It must be remembered, however, that street-
railway tracks differ in one very important particular from those of the
steam railways, in that they have a road-bed firmly packed about the rail.
The perimeter of a 7 in. rail is 29 in., of which only 6j or 22.4 per cent,
is exposed to the air, while the remaining 67.6 per cent, is covered up and
firmly gripped by the road-bed. No one can understand how firm this grip
is until they have seen a rail which has lain in a macadam street several
years taken up, the whole buried surface of the rail being covered with a
hard cement composed of stones and mud. There is a tendency on the
part of the rail to change its length with temperature variations, but the
road-bed holds it in place.
The strain on rails due to the variations of temperature may be esti-
mated, according to Mr. McCulloch, as follows. Taking a co-efficient of
expansion for steel of 0.0000065 and multiplying this by 75 (a liberal figure
for the maximum deviation in degrees Fahrenheit from the welding tem-
perature), 0.000487 is obtained, which is that part of its length which a rail
would expand due to a rise of 75 deg., or contract due to a fall of 75 deg. in
temperature. A steel bar will expand 0.00003 of its length, due to a load
of 1,000 lb. per square inch. Dividing the estimated expansion by this
figure, the strain amounts to 16,200 lb. per square inch. As the rail is 8|-in.
in cross section, equivalent to a weight of 85 lb. per yard, the total pull due
to a fall of 75 deg. in temperature is 137,700 lb.
As 40,000 lb. per square inch is a safe value for the elastic limit of
steel, it will be seen that in the American climate the elastic limit will
never be reached, and this means that these expansions and contractions
may go on indefinitely, and as long as the joints remain unbroken no harm
will be done to the rail.
Assuming 80,000 lb. per square inch as the ultimate strength of steel,
we see that, so far as the strength of the rails themselves is concerned, we
have a factor of safety of five.
Taking the figures for the contraction of the rail due to a fall of
75 deg. in temperature, each rail of the St. Louis track should have con-
tracted 8 ft. 6in. Asa matter of fact, when the joints broke, the openings
in none of these exceeded 2 in., and the combined openings of one rail
for the length of the road did not exceed 6 in. This shows that the pul]
which broke the joint was not transmitted, but was the result of a local
strain, not extending far on either side of the joint.
The strength of the cast-iron joint is considered equal to the strength
of the rail. The area of its cross section at the joint is 61.6 sq. in.
The two methods just described are the only processes of actually
welding rails yet put into operation. The electric welding is scientifically a
beautiful process, and if skilfully done the joint should theoretically be
stronger than the rail itself. The process has the disadvantage of requiring
considerable care and intelligence to ensure its being effective. I t is
impossible to tell simply by looking at a joint whether or not is really
welded. On the ordinary railway circuits, where the voltage fluctuates
continually, it is difficult to operate the processes successfully. This can be
remedied by using storage batteries, which take current from the line when
the welding machine is idle, but which are thrown into parallel with the
line and assist in maintaining the voltage while the welding is in progress.
The welding machine and accessories are exceedingly heavy and difficult to
move from place to place where track is not already laid. The great
expense of an outfit is also prohibitive.
The cost of these methods, it is claimed, do not greatly exceed the
usual fishplate method, but even if it were greater the advantages gained by
the abolition of joints would be of great value.
However, we must await future developments before a reliable opinion
can be pronounced.

Chapter 4 The-Return-Circuit (Contd)

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56 Electric Railways and Tramways.

W E now come to the electrical welding process, which, if successful,

breaker, switch, ammeter, and starting rheostat, to a transformer or motor

FIG. 56. POSITION OP STEEL LUGS USED IN WELDING RAIL JOINTS.

FIG. 57. WELDING TRAIN.

by a Sturtevant blower, driven at 1,800 revolutions per minute, by a

The preparation of the joint for casting is as follows :—

It seems difficult to those accustomed to steam railroad tracks to

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