Vocabulary Notes

close to surface – близко к поверхности to own – владеть

public property – общественная собственность

Text 6

Sleepers

Wooden Sleepers. Before manufacturing ties, producers shall ascertain which kind of wood suitable for crossties will be accepted. The ties are made of oak, beech, larch, fir, line. Fir, larch, oak are used for manufacturing hard wooden ties because these kinds of wood are durable. Beach and pine are used for manufacturing soft wooden ties because these kinds of wood are the most suitable for soft wooden ties.

Wooden sleepers must be seasoned in the huge air-tight containers to be in good condition for treatment. Light and hard wooden ties are treated with creosote solution at treating plants.

Wooden sleepers are widely used because they are light in weight, have great electric resistance, have comparatively small cost. They are simple in loading and unloading and simple in maintaining.

Concrete sleepers. Concrete sleepers are used to hold the rails to proper gauge and to transmit traffic load to the ballast. The production of concrete sleepers increases from year to year due to the engineering progress. Concrete sleepers are laid in the main lines of the railroads which carry the largest volume of freight and passenger traffic.

Compared with wooden sleepers concrete sleepers are more costly and heavier but have greater strength and no preservation needed. They have longer span of life and high resistance to longitudinal movement of rails. Also they can be mass-produced and allow great speeds.

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