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Committee on Iron and Steel Structures on Rules for Operation and Lighting of Drawbridges.

Committee on Electricity on Interference with Signal Lines caused by Propulsion Currents; Overhead Wire Crossings and Specifications for Materials used in Signal Work.

Committee on Economics of Railway Operation on Methods of Increasing Track Capacity.

4. Recommend a carefully considered outline of work for the ensuing year.

year.

Progress Report

Committee reports progress on the assignments not reported upon this

CONCLUSIONS

Committee recommends that the reports on assignments as given above be accepted as information.

Recommendations for Future Work

The Committee recommends that Report of Outline of Work (15) shown above be assigned the Committee for 1922.

Respectfully submitted,

THE COMMITTEE ON SIGNALS AND INTERLOCKING,

W. J. Eck, Chairman.

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To the American Railway Engineering Association:

The Committee on Ties represented the American Railway Engineering Association in a Conference on the Unification of Tie Specifications, called by the American Engineering Standards Committee, at which the American Railway Engineering Association was nominated as a sponsor for this project. This sponsorship has been accepted and it is recommended that this Committee continue to represent the Association.

The Committee reports on the various subjects assigned as follows: (1) Revision of Manual

No changes are recommended this year.

(2) The Economics of the Use of the Various Classes of Cross-Ties and Various Kinds of Preservative Treatment

In Appendix A the Committee submits the results of its study with conclusions and recommendations.

(3) Report on Substitute Ties

The Committee submits its report in Appendix B.

(4) The Care of Ties After Distribution

The Committee reports progress on this assignment; the data collected is being analyzed and the Committee expects to submit a final report next year.

(5) Classification of Ties for Various Kinds of Service

The above subject was combined with Subject 2 and is covered in Appendix A.

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(6) The Effect of Design of Tie Plates and Track Spikes on the Durability of Cross-Ties and Results of Improperly Pro

tecting Ties From Mechanical Wear

The Committee submits a final report in Appendix C.

(7) Outline of Work for the Ensuing Year

The recommendations of the Committee follow the conclusions of this report:

CONCLUSIONS

Your Committee recommends the following action on its report: 1. That the report on Subjects 2 and 5 be received as information and the recommendations pertaining to standard test ties be approved. 2. That the report on Substitute Ties be received as information. 3. That the report on Care of Ties after Distribution be continued. 4. That the report on Subject 6 be received as information and the subject discontinued.

Recommendations for Next Year's Work

1. Study the Manual and submit proposed revisions thereof.

2. Continue the study and report on substitute ties (progress report); also consider preparation of designs for substitute ties.

3. Continue the study and make final report, if practicable, on care of ties after distribution.

4. Prepare definite recommendations for installing and keeping records of test sections of track. (Final Report.) In 1920 the Committee made a report on this subject which was received as information. This report should be revised, if necessary, after obtaining criticisms from those having experience with test sections, and definite recommendations submitted for insertion in the Manual.

5. Report on service in this country of ties of foreign woods. (Progress Report.) Several railroads have imported ties for experimental use, and for the information of the Association, it is desirable to obtain as full reports as possible of these ties under different conditions of climate and service.

Respectfully submitted,

THE COMMITTEE ON TIES,

W. A. CLARK, Chairman.

(2) ECONOMICS OF THE USE OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF CROSS-TIES AND VARIOUS KINDS OF PRE

SERVATIVE TREATMENT

(5) CLASSIFICATION OF TIES FOR VARIOUS KINDS OF SERVICE

W. J. BURTON, Chairman; E. L. CRUGAR, H. C. HAYES, R. M. LEEDS, A. F. MAISCHAIDER, G. P. PALMER, Sub-Committee.

Your Committee is of the opinion that these two subjects are so nearly alike that they can be considered the same, and this report, therefore, is intended to cover both.

Data.

Satisfactory report on these subjects would require tie life data which is non-existent, and not only is this true, but the Committee, after a careful consideration of the requirements, is of the opinion that the data from tests now under way will hardly be satisfactory for use in solving these problems. As the need for proper data will increase rather than decrease, with the diminishing timber supply, the Committee desires to point out wherein tie-life data is unsatisfactory and wherein tests may be made to produce more usable results.

It is recognized that the ultimate yardstick is the total cost per maintained mile per year under given traffic and climatic conditions, and that the tie which lasts longest will not necessarily show the lowest annual cost. However, the essential information necessary is how long a certain kind of tie will last under certain conditions. The report of tests of ties so far made and under way are often more or less uncertain regarding the kind (size, timber, sapwood, etc.) of tie and usually very uncertain about the conditions of use. The life of a tie depends fully as much on where and how it is used as on what it was to start with.

The Committee realizes the difficulty of comparing installations under different conditions and is of the opinion that much of the trouble is due to an effort to obtain absolute rather than relative values for tie life. Standard Test Tie.

If, in every test installation, there could be included a standard tie, to serve as a unit of comparison, the result, as measured by the standard tie, could be applied anywhere, where knowledge of the performance of the standard tie is available.

The Committee, therefore, recommends that in order to provide suitable data in the future the following practice with regard to test installations be followed:

(a) Install at the same point, in the same track, under the same traffic and under the same conditions of rail, ballast, drainage, sunlight, etc., an equal number, up to not less than 100, "Standard Test" ties.

(b) Continue the test record until all standard test ties have been removed as well as all other ties of the test.

(d)

(c) Standard test tie to be A. R. E. A. 1921 specification, grade
3 (6"x8"), class U, white oak, eight feet long, untreated.
Record should include information called for on Form No.
1, Report of Experimental Test Tie Sections, as recom-
mended by the Tie Committee, see page 339 of volume 22,
A. R. E. A. Proceedings. This form calls for information as
follows:

Location,

Kind of ballast,

Tangent or curve percentage,

Tie plates,

Weight of rail,

Rail fastenings,

Rail changed when,

Weight of rail originally in track,

Size of ties,

Kind of timber,

Where treated,

When treated,

How treated,

When put in track,

Number originally put in track,

Number still in track last inspection,

When last inspected,

Traffic,

Remarks.

In using this form the following data should be given:

1. Gross tons per year passing over the test, freight plus

passenger.

2. Average annual rainfall.

3. Mean temperature of locality for January, and July, and highest and lowest extremes.

4. Ballast-kind and depth.

The tie selected as standard test can be secured, at least in the small numbers needed for test installations, without an undue amount of transportation to most of the country. The grade 3 is selected instead of grade 5 because it has shorter life.

Results With Available Data.

Comparable data as to life of treated ties is so limited that this report is made to cover untreated ties only. The method outlined, however, can be applied to such data as may be available. Owing to the need of proper data relative to treated ties, suitable for use in making comparisons of results, it is urged that comparative tests, using standard test ties, be undertaken by all roads using treated timber.

Table I has been prepared from the returns to the Committee's questionnaire of last year and from certain other data. The results are tabelated as percentages of the average life of untreated white oak, i. e.. white oak taken at 100. Because of the limited amount of actual test

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