19th century track laying

[fly_sail]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum so if this topic has already been covered forgive me. I did search but didn't find anything.

I am interested in the logistics of building a railroad from the viewpoint of getting all the materials to the end of the line in the context of the late 19th century.

i have found references to rail mounted steam shovels that were used to prepare the sub grade. The temporary track for that was placed directly on the sub grade. As the sub grade was prepared new rail was laid on the new surface and the shovel moved ahead. The rail behind the shovel was taken up before ballast was laid. How did they transfer the ballast, which presumably was brought up from behind on the finished rail in gondolas, ahead and compact it? Surely not manually. A car loaded with thirty tons of rock is a hell of project to unload with shovels even if the car dumps the rock first. And that much ballast probably doesn't even extend the line the length of the gondola.

I would appreciate any leads or thoughts you can give me on this subject.

fly_sail

 

[bcp]

Horses and scrapers form subgrade. Ties and rails carried forward from flatcars and assembled on subgrade. Ballast last.

I never saw anything quite like you described.

Do an image search, specifying black and white, then ignore the obviously modern ones.

Here's a start.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=track+laying&t=ffsb&atb=v169-1&iax=images&ia=images&iaf=color:Monochrome

Bruce

 

[Bill Anderson]

Along those lines, look for old photos of these roads, which were built around the time period you are interested in:
1) Construction of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension, started in April 1906. Milwaukee Road West (Charles & Dorothy Wood, Superior Publishing) has some photos of the construction.
2) Construction of the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railroad, started in 1907.
3) Construction of the Great Northern's original Cascade Tunnel, started in 1900.
4) Construction of the Western Pacific. It was formed in 1903 and completed in 1909.

 

[fly_sail]

Horses and scrapers form subgrade. Ties and rails carried forward from flatcars and assembled on subgrade. Ballast last.

I never saw anything quite like you described.

Do an image search, specifying black and white, then ignore the obviously modern ones.

Here's a start.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=track+laying&t=ffsb&atb=v169-1&iax=images&ia=images&iaf=color:Monochrome

Bruce

Thanks. I just assumed sub ballast was laid, then the ties and rail and then the upper ballast. But this is obviously how its done now and not then.