The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-10 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE•

RAILWAY ECONOMY-
111iiiNiiiT WAY. .
We yesterday availed ourselves of an 'opportunity that
713
was afforded to ua of witnessing the process, of the altera-
tion vow taking place in the entire permanent way of the
Eastern Counties line—an alteration exceedingly
and to the convenience and economy •of 'which we di-,
rected public attention some two or three years since.
The great inconvenience and, expense of the " cross-
sleeper' road have hitherto been found to arise from the
"joint chairs"—viz., the chairs into - which the ends of
the rails are fitted and secured—getting
out of order.
The bolts or pins are continually becoming loose; the
ends of the rails get what is termed " play," upon the
chairs, and are not unfrequently hammered, by the
wheels of the engines and carriages, into the "bearings
of the chairs to the depth of a quarter of an inch, or
more. It is to this looseness of the ends of the rails in
the joint-chair and the haminering away of the bed, or
bearing, of the chair itself, that the indhssant clattering
of the wheels of the train. so disagreeable to the passen-
ger, is Lobe attributed. But the gentile: evil of the com-
mon joint-chair is its liability to fracture, and the cease
queut " tipping" of the end of the rail, or the throwing
the engine and the train off the metals; and wo believe
that it would not be difficult to point out many serious
accidents that have been occasioned by broken or defec-
tive joint-chairs. .
The alteration of the permanent way of the Eastern
Counties line is confined to an improvement of securing
the ends of the rails, and getting rid altogether ;of the
joint-chair. We pointed out the improvement longer
than two years since, but certain " practical" men
thought very lightlynf it, and our opinion of its value
had little attention paid to it. We are glad to learn
that the " practical" men are beginning, to acknowledge
the value of the improvement, which, indeed, will in all
probability be carried out upon most of the railways of
the country.
The improvement, as we have stated, is very simple
The end of each rail has two holes punched through it,
and between the double 1' of the rail a piece of iron, 18
inches in length, is fitted on eithereside. Screw bolts
are then passed through the " fleet" piectleand the rail,
and the rails at the joints are in this way made stronger
than in any other part. So that in fact the rails are
practically made continuous metals; and the knocking
and jarring of the wheels of the carriages, so common on
cross-sleeper roads, and so destructive to the rolling
stock, are entirely got rid of, as is also the joint-chair
and the evil consequences of its use.
The Eastern Counties Company have already fish-
jointed their lino as far as Sawbridgeworth (28 miles
from the Bishopsgate-street terminus), and they are
proceeding with the alteration over the entire line at the
rate of above two miles per week. They have applied
to the working of a punching-machine the neceesary_
portions of a little vertical boiler locemetive, both
trunk,
rails the
awhich s have
the
permanent-waya m
holes are punched in the latter. The -rails are mine
diately relaid with the fish-johit fitted-to them. (ere ,
piespacef.)snunen4 istaarket,h.nepr. °thne arall h.
The economy of the alteration will be best
.ga
a.rel
from the fact that, under the old system of joint-ch 0
the portion of the line to which :.the fish
applied eoat the bompany.92l. par. utile per. tit% of the
labour alone, and that the labour for such por
mile
—a
is,now contracted for at the rate of ..341.c0er 1.1
I niated that
saving of 581. per mile per annum. .It,
of .
su
mb err
nen joint
the saving ft() the company.-
thealse mount to about
will—when the whole line to altered—a. joint
in the great
18,000/ per annum, exclusive. of the owing
wear and tear of the' joint-chair system.igewor, to which
The run-down yesterday to
saw feta- applied to them,
Place the rails have hed the ashi9 eer.
el Berkley, the
was for the purpose of affording
h Western-Junction
r of' the North and Sent -
engineer
-tneesing,the easy manner
Rift way, an opportunity of ea
cartied.erte The fhh-
in whieh the alteration is helnglittio bat important
line
joint is being adopted to .the
Teinmeeded by Mr. R.
mentioned. It has also been e
Stephenson, IVI.Po4P be thatPlie d to the Bombay line, and
t eeeekeent enginee went to
Mr. Berkley, noting for
one we have mentionedr,
..
Sawbridgeworth for the,
PuterrPii Count' e•eh
The portion of the leus b s line or. r vrbl
pers. to in exce/lent order,
and teavelled yegerday
fi'PP tf I h
arid the' rails—beyone Stra ort —t at have been down,
it for upwards; of eleven
as we arnessure , years, are very
weir. The condition of t
little the worse fur w rum)._
ne.nt way `does' much credit te. the resident engineer,
Mr. Asllcroft.--Berald.

cm,'STER AND HOLYHEAD.
Tha u.if_vnarly accounts stow that the reaipts in
" .
np,vo been 4,p 58,483/.16.8d.; of which
2 -875.8931. 7s. 64 is share capital; and 1084 3321.1ir,ns
on debentures, and 500/. calla erver-paid. The remainder,
97,7581. 11s. 2d., is made up 3r - Toll from t-irevrebury
and Chester Company previol Ls to May 8, 1848;" 13a
3unati. of earnings between .I‘t Jletay, 1848, and Ist
.14numry, 1850;" an& Advi la ces on anrplus lands, de-
posit of shares, and other si seurity " The expenditure
bas.becti 4,041,7524 2s. 5d., 1 DiliViDg a balance in favour

.44,4istia