Ever wonder why railway tracks are covered with so many stones. These stones are called ballast and are used to hold the wooden cross ties that help the rails to be in place. The rail tracks that are laid for the train to pass are affected by a number of factors like expansion and contraction, due to high heat vibration, movement of ground, plants growth and also poor climate changes. Although these tracks are not always used but when they are used to support a weight of up to 1 million pounds.

When the engineers got to know about all the problems that they are going to face around 200 years ago they came up with a solution that has been used ever since.

The very first thing is to build foundations to raise the railway track at the height to avoid flooding. Ballast is put on this Foundation and then a row of 8.5 ft long and 9inches wide and 7 inches thick wooden beams are laid. The ties are usually made of Hickory or Oak and are coated using creosote to protect from change of weather. The latest railway tracks experiment with alternative of wood such as plastic, concrete and steel.

Around 3249 wooden beams are laid per mile. The ballast is put around the bend to keep the beams locked at a certain position. Usage of pebbles would make the beams to slide over.

David S. Rose further explained the use and significance of crushed stone as:

“The ballast distributes the load of the ties (which, in turn, bear the load of the train on the track, held by clips) across the foundation, allows for ground movement, thermal expansion and weight variance, allows rain and snow to drain through the track, and inhibit the growth of weeds and vegetation that would quickly take over the track.”

later on the hot rolled Steel tracks are put above the cross ties and fishplate is used to weld its ends. The modern railways may ditch the fishplate and weld the tracks instead.

You may have a question as to why these tracks or not bolted to the wooden cross ties? The expansion and contraction can heat the bolts and they can end up broken or melted. And thus, this is how it is done.

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Author: Technology Vista