rather than track maintenance men usually surface the track on open-floor bridges.
When maintenance work is done on roadbed controlled by an interlocking plant, track maintenance forces
must be assisted by men from the communications and railway signal maintenance platoon. Their assistance is
also required when power-operated switches are replaced or repaired.
When two railroads with different gages meet, three rails on each set of tracks are necessary. One of the
three rails is used by locomotives and rolling stock of both gages and as a result it is more difficult to maintain.
Track maintenance men working on electrified railways must have special training and should be
accompanied on any track maintenance job by electric transmission personnel. Until a qualified electric
transmission worker has de-energized and grounded the high-voltage overhead transmission wires, track
maintenance men must not approach within 3 feet of these lines, and track maintenance equipment must not be
moved within 8 feet of them.
Section III. Demolition and Rehabilitation
5.9.
GENERAL
In theaters of operations, track work differs considerably from that on commercial railroads. The
exception, in the latter, where several hundred feet of track is torn up by a wreck, becomes the rule in a theater.
Destruction by the enemy and deliberate destruction by our forces to keep serviceable lines from falling into
enemy hands cause the increased work, and both are fairly common. Obviously, repairing a turnout or crossover
is pretty much the same regardless of whether the enemy or our forces have deliberately caused the destruction.
Likewise, damage to the rail plant or to a particular facility is similar if it has been caused by long-range artillery
fire or aircraft bombing, no matter by which side. The most thorough damage is caused by deliberate destruction
carried out by crews trained in such work who have demolition and special wrecking equipment. Moreover, the
crews usually know railroad construction, operation, and maintenance; consequently, they know the most
vulnerable spots where destruction can best hinder rehabilitating the line. This section explains large-scale
rehabilitation of track, roadbed, tunnels, and bridges; demolitions and other methods of destruction; and theater
rehabilitation and demolition practices.
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