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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005</i> <br /><br />I saw that photo in Trains recently, pretty cool. In that situation it looked like they were putting down a completely new line, something that isn't done very often anymore. This technique seems like it would add a fair amount of expense to a mile of track. It's not something that can easily be done when working on existing lines, even if it is effective. I'm also not sure how well it would hold up under different climatic conditions. <br /> <br />It will be interesting to hear how well it's working in a few years. Once it has seen a fair amount of traffic and a couple of summers worth of heat. Will the ties and ballast have squished their way into the pavement? Will the ballast keep enough heat off the asphalt to prevent that from happening? <br />[/quote]There is an old saying in the geo-tech/civil engineering business when construction standards and costs are discussed, in short "PAY ME TRUE COST NOW FOR QUALITY WORK, OR PAY ME A LOTS MORE LATER FOR YOUR SHORT SIGHTEDNESS AND CHEEPNESS OF THE PRESENT DAY." Having done my fair share of work in both concrete and asphalt my feelings as to the merits of materials used in foundations and their construction would be something like this; The use of portland cement concrete in the building of railways, buildings, roadways and foundations of any kind is a long and established practice, I myself find its use to be a sign of high intellegence and good charater in the purchaser of the work and its structures. Yet when Concrete is not affordable (which is more often than not the case) asphalt is a very good material to use. It holds moisture out after fill has been given its final compaction roll when dry density is at an acceptable level (this is especially important where there is an expandable clay or silt in the geo-matrix) , and makes for a solid base for additional fill or balast, asphalt also has give and flexability properties that are excellent in high weight and directed pressure situations. Asphalt has also been used by many railroads (BNSF and UP among them) for support and protection in places like turnouts, grade crossings and some movable point frog applications; Like many of you I saw the BNSF construction photo's in an earlier Trains Mag. issue. I am just surprised that this has not been seen or spoken of earlier.[2c]
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