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Railroad
Construction
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The first crews on the scene for any railroad enterprise were the surveyors. The surveyors for the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads had the task of finding the most efficient route across the plains, deserts, and mountains of the great American West. They had to locate a route that had as little curvature as possible, crossed mountains in the lowest places, and always stayed near water sources. A daunting task indeed.
Once the route was selected, the tunnelers and trestle builders moved in. They had the job of boring tunnels through mountain sides and building bridges across ravines and rivers. This backbreaking work proved to be one of the most time consuming construction duties.
While tunneling and trestle building was going on the graders were also hard at work. It was their job to level the ground by filling in depressions or cutting through hills and rises to prepare the road bed for the final work, the track laying. |
Track laying crews set cross ties in place, laid rails, fastened fishplates, drove spikes, and added ballast. The scene shown in the picture above illustrates some of the items and equipment used for this track laying effort.
The track on the transcontinental railroad was standard gauge or 4 feet 8 1/2 inches between the rails. The weight or size of an iron rail was measured by the yard. Most rails on the transcontinental railroad were 30 feet long and weighed 56 pounds to they yard for a total of 560 pounds per rail. cross ties were placed up to a foot apart and spikes were driven into each tie on the inside and outside of each rail. Rails were clamped together with fishplates and bolts. Finally, gravel, also known as ballast, was filled in between the ties to keep them in place. Tampers packed the ballast into place for a snug fit.
When all these workers were hammering, tamping, rail laying, tie placing, and rail fastening at the same time they looked to some as a "grand anvil chorus." |
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