Making Rail for Southern Tracks

The steel industry and the railroads have been close partners in America's growth.

The first 'great market of the steel industry for the sale of what it manufactured 'was in furnishing the output of its mills for building of tracks and bridges, cars and locomotives, required by an expanding rail system that was eventually to see all parts of our country provided with what still remains our basic transportation system.

Rail steel is a carefully regulated compound of metallurgical ingredients, the chief of which is iron. Here molten iron is charged into an open hearth furnace at United States Steel's Tennessee Coal & Iron Division, near Birmingham, Ala.

One of the great names in American steel making is that of Andrew Carnegie. Recently, a letter of his was located in the Southern's archives which points up very clearly the close relationship between two great industries.

Written March 15, 1883, the letter was addressed to Mr. B. Bouscaren (Mr. Carnegie spelled it Boscaren) who was chief and consulting engineer of the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway Company. This was less than two years after this company had taken over operation, under a lease, of the Cincinnati Southern Railway.

A billet, rectangular in cross section, approaches the rail mill for its first pass as two others begin to take form in succeeding passes.

One of the first projects undertaken by the new management was that of almost completely rebuilding a very rundown property although it was "a comparatively new Road," according to the first annual report made by President and General Manager John Scott. The report from Mr. Bouscaren for this year shows 9 miles of iron rail replaced and 10 miles of 53-pound steel rail renewed, both with 60-pound steel rail. (Rail weights are expressed in terms of pounds per yard of length.)

The likelihood is that this new steel rail is that referred ~ in Mr. Carnegie's letter. And, almost certainly, his letter referred to rail then being manufactured as a part of the 1883 program of the railroad that saw about 40 miles of light steel rail and old iron rail replaced with the new 60-pound steel rail.

It is interesting to note two things in this letter which continue to be true of the railroads and the steel mills which supply their rail. Mr. Carnegie was proud of his product and said, "I believe no such rails as ours are made in America today," And he wrote, recognizing the railroad's insistence upon a good product, that, "I always like to do work for you because your strictness and scientific requirements raise the standard of work."

Two rails begin to take shape in the rail mill of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Division's Ensley Works. This United States Steel plant was the first in America to demonstrate that open hearth steel rails could be successfully made and sold in competition with those made from Bessemer steel.

The history of improvement 'in the design and quality of rail is a story to be briefed here only by saying that the joined efforts of the railroads and the steel industry have continued over many years-and go on every day now-to develop ever-better steel rail.

Mr. Carnegie reported that Mr. Bouscaren wanted tests "which will interfere with our working operations." Today, no tests are made that interfere with working operations but the steel makers have rigid inspection procedures at every stage of manufacture from the checking of raw materials to the finished rail ready for shipment.

And they welcome the inspection by the Southern of rail intended for our track. Some of our inspection procedures duplicate their own but all rail we purchase is cleared by Southern inspectors before it can be loaded into cars for shipment to us.

Few steel mill scenes are more spectacular than the fiery display created by the hot saws as they bite through the still red-hot rails.

Andrew Carnegie's steel interests are now part of United States Steel Corporation. Another source of rail for Southern tracks for many years has been the Tennessee Coal & Iron Division of United States Steel Corporation, located in Fairfield, Alabama, on the outskirts of Birmingham. Purchases of steel rails are also made from other companies.

Carnegie's rails referred to in the letter were made of steel manufactured by the Bessemer process, earliest method for the quantity production of steel. TCI made the first rails in this country from "open-hearth steel" rolling them at its Ensley Rail Mill. Rolling of rail at Ensley had begun in 1902.

These writhing, cherry-red ribbons of steel near the end of the rolling process which gives them the familiar shape of railroad rails. But this is not the end of the line. Many additional manufacturing operations must be performed before the rails will be ready for shipment.

The Southern was one of the first and has remained a customer of TCI. Pictures with this story were made in the Ensley Rail Mill.

Conversion of a huge, unwieldy, rough block of steel into finished rails ready for laying in railroad tracks follows a carefully worked out series of operations intended to insure an unvarying standard of quality. Mill inspectors and Southern inspectors check and double check every critical stage of the processing and examine each finished r31il carefully,

After rails have cooled to atmospheric temperature, they are placed in powerful presses to be straightened.

Work in the rail mill begins with an ingot which is a block of steel approximately 25 inches square and from 80 to 84 inches in length.

Reducing this in size to long slender pieces of steel called rail billets calls for passing the ingot through a series of rolls which gradually reduce it in dimensions to what is needed for passage through the finishing mill which actually gives form to the rails. Temperature of rail billets entering the finishing mill will be about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, rails leaving the final rolling will still be at a temperature of about 1,860 degrees. steel mills are hot places.

Sawing leaves burrs on the rail ends which must be removed before delivery to the customer. Rough edges are dressed down with a pneumatically driven grinder.

The tremendous size and power of steel mill equipment, and the almost human dexterity with which mechanical "fingers and hands" move the material about in the manufacturing process-like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon-must really be seen to be appreciated.

Each rail is "branded" as it goes through the finishing mill. One of the forming rolls has cut into it most' of the "life history" of the rail. As the steel moves through the mill this information is embossed into the web of the rail. Other information is stamped into the rail at the stamping mill.

Samples after "drop test" in which a heavy "tup" is dropped upon representative specimens cut from rolled rail at specified intervals. The test determines the "elasticity" of the rail.

And, before the rail in our story goes through the final steps before acceptance and shipping, this is a good place to bring out the fact that each rail truly has a recorded "life history." The information stamped or embossed upon it identities fully many critical facts that may be of later interest. From it the rail can be checked back to the ingot from which it came, the exact chemical analysis of which is known. The time when the rail was rolled, and where, is known. It is even known whether the rail was the first, second or third rolled from a rail billet. Many other facts can be determined should. a rail fail in service or, more frequently the case, should it be desirable to accumulate service information about rails when studying the possibility for improvements in design or chemical composition.

Carefully cooled under controlled conditions, the rail receives a final straightening, ends are milled square, necessary holes are drilled, and the rails are end-hardened for better service life at this point of maximum wear.

Southern material inspector B. F. House examines "fractured ends" after the "nick and break test." These specimens are taken at points where detectable internal defects are most likely to show up.

Final inspection before acceptance is made by mill and railroad inspectors on the shipping dock. And then, as the scene on the front cover shows, powerful magnetic cranes lift and place the rails in cars for shipment to the Southern.

Much is necessarily omitted, in story and pictures, about the making and inspection of rail. But one thing is certain. Andrew Carnegie would feel almost a stranger in the rail mills of today. A stranger probably in all but one way-he would still agree that "your strictness and scientific requirements raise the standard of work."

The Southern's resident material inspector at Birmingham is J. R. Humphreys. His job here on the "hot bed" is that of checking the "section" of the rail for conformity with required dimensions. Rail at this stage of manufacture is still very hot and Mr. Humphreys has just turned his head away after checking this rail with a standard gauge.

Carnegie recognized the railroads and steel industry as partners in America's growth. Rail developments over the years-and going on today-prove they are still partners. * * *

Southern material inspector J. Moore is "walking rail." He looks for any surface defects on both head and base of rail.

N. K. Painter, Southern material inspector, inspects rail for straightness here and examines rail ends for "pipe"-a kind of defect uncommon in rail that has reached this stage. With this checking and the "walking" shown above finished rail is ready for loading. (See the front cover.)