Chapter 6
I Construction During The Settlement Years
II The Use Of Timber As A Structural Material
III Structural Steel
IV Concrete Technology
V Housing
VI Industrialised Pre-cast Concrete Housing
VII Ports And Harbours
VIII Roads
IX Heavy Foundations
X Bridges
XI Sewerage
XII Water Engineering
XIII Railways
i Factors Impeding Developments
ii Railway Sleepers
iii Rail Tracks
iv Some Interesting Railway Projects
v Tarcoola-Alice Springs Railway
vi The Conversion to Standard Gauge
vii Railways in the Pilbara
viii Railways in the Coal Fields of Queensland
ix The Melbourne Underground Railway Loop
XIV Major Buildings
XV Airports
XVI Thermal Power Stations
XVII Materials Handling
XVIII Oil Industry
XIX The Snowy Mountains Scheme
XX The Sydney Opera House
XXI The Sydney Harbour Bridge
XXII Hamersley Iron
XXIII North West Shelf
Sources and References
Index
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Railway Sleepers
Railway sleepers have undergone a dramatic change since the first sleepers were used. Granite blocks at intervals were used under Stephenson's Rocket, but it soon became apparent that they would not hold gauge in pliable soils. They gave way to sawn timber sleepers, eventually to reinforced concrete, pre-stressed concrete, and steel, as materials developed and economics demanded longer life and maintenance-reduced systems. The 'double sleeper' floating track structure used in the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop has successfully solved the problem of ground transmitted noise and vibration. This most modern type of sleeper, however, is for special use and not appropriate for mainline routes.Fig. 44 shows the use of acoustic pods and shows their position in the running tunnels, and also gives a good view of the double sleepers, and the fixing of the rail to sleeper.
From the 1970s on research on railway tracks has tended to study component parts as elements of an entire system, from vehicle bogey suspension through wheel/rail contact to rail/sleeper/sub base interaction. Within this research environment, sleepers for special requirements such as valuation attenuation for the suppression of noise in built up areas have been developed.
People in Bright Sparcs - Connell, J. W.
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition pages 375 - 376, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/376.html