Tramway Rail Imperfections.
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Official Reports Indicate Necessity for Extensive Renewals of Track.
Members of the Ealing Town Council have been furnished with copies of the i'allewing reports by Colonel IL .1. Yorke, of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Charles Jones, M.Inst.C.E., the borough surveyor of Ealing. Colonel Yorke was appointed to ascertain what, steps, it' any, should be taken to mitigate the nuisance alleged (sic) to be caused by the undue noise from the tramcars owned by the London United Tramways 0900, Ltd., which pass through Ealing :
Colonel Yorke's Report.
" The noisiness of the car= was alleged to be due to three causes—viz.: (1) Some defect in the condition of the ears themselves, (2) the condition of the rails, and (3) the condition of the rail joints.
As regards (1), I received the evening before my visit the attached letter from the town clerk of }laling, in which it is stated that the cars complained about had been removed from the route, and that fresh cars had been put on which 'are very much less noisy than those which have been running through the borough hitherto, and give very little cause for complaint as regards noise of running.' Su far, then, as the cars are concerned, there was not much to do ; but I visited the car depot at Acton and made myself acquainted with the defect in the cars which, so far as could be ascertained, was one of the causes of the noise complained of. These cars are equipped with the McGuire maximum traction bogie truck, and the defect was said to be in connection with the attachment of the brake gear to the frame of the truck. This attachment was of such a description that after being a short time in use it became loose, and caused a great deal of rattling in the hangers of the brake blocks. It had already been decided by the company to alter this connection in such a way as to prevent its getting loose, and all the cars with this pattern of truck had, I was told, been withdrawn from service until the alterations to the brake gear could be carried out. One of the, cars—viz., No. Me—which was formerly noisy (see town clerk's letter of November 28th), and upon which the alterations referred to had beam carried out, was running over the route on the day of my visit, and gave no cause for complaint. Sir Clifton Robinson assured me that none of the cars should be replaced upon the tramways until they had been altered in the same way, and it may therefore be hoped that, so far as the cars themselves are concerned, further cause of complaint will not arise.
"As regards (2), it has been ascertained that in certain places the rails have become cornigated on their upper surface. The corrugations are transverse to the rail, and, though
not at first serious, they tend to increase in depth and cause an unpleasant rattling while a car is passing over them. The reason of this peculiar condition of the rails is not thoroughly understood. I have seen rails in a similar state on the cable tramway at IIandsworth, near Birmingham, and T have recently read in the papers that the same condition occasionally arises in America. The company has recently equipped an electric apparatus for grinding the tails where these corrugations exist. This at best is only a partial remedy, as it does not remove the cause, whatever that may be, of this condition of the rails,. and the corrugations may therefore be expected to reappear sooner or later. Moreover, the apparatus cannot he used while the cars are running, so that the grinding operations can only be carried on during a short period of the night. The process, therefore, is slow.
"As regards (3), many of the rail joints appear to me to be in a faulty conditien, the joints being low and loose, and the rails between them hogbacked. When a joint is in this condition each wheel passing over it makes matters worse and causes a violent blow, which is bad for the rails, had for the cars, unpleasant for the passengers, and productive of a great deal of noise. The company are taking steps to repair thesejoints, but having regard to the fact that these repairs have to he carried on white traffic is running, it does not seem te me possible to make a good job of such repairs. If the joints. are packed up with concrete the concrete has not time to set before it is disturbed by the weight of a car passing over it. If any other material is used of a bituminous or plastic description it does not possess sufficient hardness to hold up the joint for any length of time. Sir Clifton Robinson told me that hewould make experiments with the Thermit welding process, so as to ascertain whether this would be of any use in making good the defective joints. Other repairs are also being carried out with the intention of anchoring the rails down to the concrete, but in view of the continual passing of traffic, and the unfavourable atmospheric conditions under which the work has. atpresent to be carried out, I do not think that these repairs will afford more than a temporary improvement.
"The rails, which were laid in 1901, originally weighed 9211b. per yard, and are 45ft. in length. The cars passing over them are bogie cars, weighing when empty about 9-1, tons, and when full from 13 to 14 tons. They are carried on two fourwheeled maximum-traction trucks, each truck having two bogie wheels and two small wheels, the object of this construction being that as much of the weight as possible shall be carried by the large (or driving) wheels, and as little as possible by the small wheels. It may, perhaps, be taken that about 75 per cent, of the total weight of a car, or nearly 10 tons, is carried on the driving wheels, which is equivalent to 5 tons per driving
axle, or 21 tons per driving wheel. The wear and tear due to such weights is considerable, and I think the time will soon come when it will be found necessary to relay the line with rails of heavier section.
"In view of the fact that efforts are being made in the manner stated above to abolish, or at least to mitigate, the excessive noise lately caused by the tramcars passing through the Ealing district, it does not seem necessary for me at present to make recommendations. If, however, the remedies now being tried prove unavailing, or if fresh cause of complaint should arise hereafter, some more comprehensive measures, such as the abolition of some of the cars and the relaying of the line, may become necessary in the public interest."
The Borough Surveyor's Observations.
The report of Colonel Yorke having now been received, I think it well that some reference should be made to the meeting held on November 29th, at which Colonel Yorke, Sir Clifton Robinson, the chairman of the Highways Committee, the town clerk and myself were present. Colonel Yorke's report goes so fully into the matter, and deals so exhaustively with the several details, that it is quite unnecessary for me, as your engineer, to reiterate the various points upon which he has commented. There 'are, however, two or three matters to which would call your attention, and, Colonel Yorke having divided his report into three divisions I will deal with it similarly.
'(I) Colonel Yorke, in his report, says : Sir Clifton Robinson assures me that none of the cars shall be replaced upon the track until they have been altered. It may, therefore, be hcFed that so far as the cars themselves are concerned, further cause for compla,int will not arise.' In commenting upon this, I may state that a month has now elapsed since the inquiry was held, and although I cannot say that the cars which were taken off have been replaced, at the same time the noise which now goes on is almost as bad as before the inquiry ; in fact, when the cars are running at their maximum of speed the noise is as bad as ever, and much complaint is still made.
"(2) This requires no comment. We saw the machine for grinding the rails at work, but as to the beneficial results arising from its use, one has failed to discover them. On the other hand, the annoyance to residents on the line of route when the machine is at work at night is almost unbearable.
"(31 There can be no doubt that this deals with the real facts of the case and the cause of the annoyance, and my experience, since the greater portion of the repairs has been done, goes to prove most thoroughly that the weakness of the remedy, as referred to by Colonel Yorke, is proving itself in a most decided manner.
"I particularly called Colonel Yorke's attention to the way in which the repairs were being carried out, and the 'bituminous' or 'plastic' material which was being used for the said repairs, and pointed out that it was impossible to make a good job when using s h material. This is emphasised in the report. I am afraid, however, some little misunderstanding. arose with respect to the anchoring down of the rails to the concrete. The concrete is cut completely through, and theanchor plates brought within a couple of inches of the earth,. this 2in. being packed with gravel and bitumen, so that the influence of the concrete in steadying the rails by means of the anchor is comparatively nil, and I feel bound to make the following comment : That the original construction of this road, so far as the rails are concerned, and in view of the work which has been done lately in other directions, was faulty in the extreme. In the line which the tramways company is laying down in the Boston Road, Hanwell, the difference is so great that I felt bound to call Colonel Yorke's attention to it, and tothe fact that, while on the Uxbridge Road no anchors were laid in the original construction, in the Boston Road the greatest care is being taken, not only by anchor plates extending over the entire width of the two rails and bedded in concrete, but. also under the joints, making it almost impossible for the rail to give or to become what, in the Uxbridge Road, Colonel' Yorke describes as hogbacked.'
"I have photographs of the Boston Road tramway during: construction, so that the council can see for themselves how differently the work has been carried out. Sir Clifton Robinson (the company's manager under whose direction the tramwayswere originally constructed), in his reply upon the question of construction, reminded me of the well-known adage, that we live and learn,' and that it was three or four years since the Uxbridge Road line was laid. With respect • to the anchor plates which have been fixed under the Uxbridge Road line, and which are only 2ft. or 31t. in length, their value, as I said. before, is nil ; in fact, I think that more mischief has been done through the extensive repairs which have been made, and the yards in length of bitumen which have been filled in, than if the line had been left in its original condition, awaiting the time which is portrayed in Colonel Yorke's report, when, 'in the public interest, the relaying of the line may become a matter of necessity.' "