WORN-OUT TRAM RAILS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1082, 20 September 1930, Page 8

WORN-OUT TRAM RAILS

TRANSPORT BOARD FINDS READY MARKET RELAYING NEW TRACK After having given creditable service for upward of 17 years the tram tracks in Queen Street which havp become worn and battered are being replaced with new ones by the Auckland Transport Board. People have been well aware that the track had outlived its service, for the city’s main street has been becoming noticeably more noisy, a sure indication that the rails have seen their day. The old tramway company which owned the system before it was taken over by the City Council, which in turn relinquished control in favour of the Transport Board, put down 1101 b rails in 1913. These have done well and until the last two or three years have not shown overmuch wear. With advancing age they have become brittle, however, and pieces have chipped off at the joints under the weight of increasing traffic, hence the noise when the cars make the crossing. Ths Transport Board is rails of 120ib weight to the yard. The new rails beside being more substantial are also specially treated'ty a hardening process which gives longer life. It will he found that riding in the trams will now be smoother, and, of course, less noisy. What happens to the discarded track? The Transport Board has n» difficulty in finding ready sale for th. worn-out rails. They are snapped up as fast as they are removed, as builders are on the look out for reinforcement for concrete works of one kind and another. A large quantity of discarded rails goes into the coal mines for props. The ordinary life of a standard rail is about 20 years, the life being determined by the amount of traffic th»* track has to carry. Heavy motor traffic pounding over crossings has a harmful effect, as it tends to wear the track. More apparent, however, is the damage fast-moving lorries and buses have oil the surfacing of the tracks.