Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Talbot Lab [PAGE 41]

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B I O G R A P H Y OF A R T H U R N E W E L L

TALBOT

resistances developed in the various parts of the track structure (rail, ties, ballast, and roadbed) under the application of locomotives and cars moving at various speeds. At the time the work was begun, comparatively little of a scientific nature was known of the stresses in rail and other parts of the track or of the effect on the track of the many variations in action of the rolling stock in its operation. Through the twenty years, with the help of a trained staff, a multitude of tests have been made with various types of locomotives and cars on track of more than twenty railroads in various parts of the country, and experimental work has also been conducted in the laboratory. Data from all these tests have been interpreted and coordinated with analytical treatment to establish principles and findings. Besides various minor reports of this engineering research, Doctor Talbot has prepared six formal reports all of which have been printed in the Proceedings of the American Railway Engineering Association and part also in the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This research project has produced reliable knowledge on the interrelation between track and rolling stock and thus has aided in putting on a more nearly rational basis the design and construction of the track structure to carry locomotives and cars under modern traffic conditions, as well as giving valuable information applicable to the design of rolling stock. Commendation by railroad engineers in important executive and supervisory positions is indicative of the value placed on the investigation by men fitted to pass judgment. It has been characterized as one of the most significant contributions to the scientific knowledge of railroads ever made. Doctor Talbot's written contributions are along numerous lines. The reports of the University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station researches on concrete and reinforced concrete are given in seventeen Station bulletins, with five other bulletins on hydraulics, timber, steel columns, etc. Reports on concrete, reinforced concrete, cast-iron water pipe, methods . 39 •