THERMIT WELDING OF YARD TRACKS.

The welding of 39 ft rail sections into continuous welded rail (CWR) stringers is still seen by many plant engineers as primarily a method of eliminating the clickety-clackety noise of moving trains, thus improving the comfort of the passengers and the people who live near the track. Actually, this noise abatement is only a pleasant by-product of an increase in rail wear life and a reduction in maintenance. The performance of track structure depends on many factors, one of the most important being the integrity of the joints between the rail sections. Although bolted joints are the most common type of connection, they have some major defficiencies. Subjects covered include converting conventional jointed rail to CWR, separation of aluminum-oxide slag, welding procedures, applications of rails with bolt holes, and others.