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

I+ JUSTICE OF

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

RAILWAY ECONOMY—PERMANENT WAY.
We yesterday availed ourselves of an opportunity that
p uattention Counties line—an
some
twoalteration
o r t
h exceedingly
ree years simple,
since. was afforded to us of witnessing the process of the altera-
tion now taking place in the entire permanent way of the
Eastern
blio
and to the convenience and economy of which we di-
rected The great inconvenience and expense of the " cross-
sleiper" 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 harnmered, 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 hammering away of the bed, or
bearing, of the chair itself, that the incessant clattering
of the wheels of the train, so disagreeable to the passen-
ger. is to be attributed. But the serious; evil of the com-
mon joint-chair is its liability to fracture), and the coese•
quent "tipping" of the end of the rail, or the throwing
the engine and the train off the metals; and we 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 lightly of 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,"irideed, 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 T of the rail a piece of iron, 18
inches in length, is fitted on either side. Screw bolts
are then passed through the " fish" pier es and the rail,
and the rails at the joints are in this wait made stronger
than in any other part. So that in tact the rails are
practically made continuous metals; surf 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, u is also the joint-chair
and the evil consequences of its use.
The Eastern Counties Company hay, ) already fish-
jointed their line as far as Sawbridge worth (28 miles
from the Bishopsgate-street terminus), and they are
proceeding with the alteration over the entire line at the
rate of above two mileti per week. They have applied
to the working of a punching-machine 4the necessary
portions of a little vertical boiler locomotive, both of
which have ample space found for them on a truck,
lied as the permanent-way men take un the rails the
holeteare punched in the latter. The rails are imme-
diately relaid with the fish-joint fitted to them.
The economy of the alteration will be best gathered
from the fact that, under the old system. of joint-chairs',
the portion of the line to which the fish. joint has been
applied cost the company 921. par mile per annum ter
labour alone, and that the labour for such portion .lof the
liue is now contracted for at the rate of a 4/. prm!. mile—a
saving of 581. per mile per annum. It is calcula_osh-j d
oho
the saving jto the company from the use of the fish
t to about
will—when the whole line is altered—
v""n the great
13,0004 per, annum, exclusive of the Baring in
wear and tear of the joint-chair system.
to which
The ran-down yesterday to Sawbridgeworth,
to them,
place the rails have had the fish-joints v.ip
Gplied Berkley, the
was for the purpose of affording Mn.
L es tern
engiacer of the North and South-ve
t e easyJ unction
manuer
Railway, an opportunity of witnessing
out. The fish
in which the alteration is being.
cssi.
important line
joint is being adopted -to the little but
mentioned. It has also been recommeaided by Mr. R.
Bombay line, and
Stephenson, M.P., to be applied to the
mment engineer, went to
Mr. Berkley, acting for that e
se
we
have
mentioned.
Sawbridgeworth for the purpose
Counties line over which
The portion of the Etliitka
to be in excellent
order,
we travelled yesterday appeard—that bave been
and the rails—beyond otraitor ,down,
as we are assured for upwards of eleven years, are very
,
little The conditio n of the perma-
nent .way does much credit to the resident engineer,
.shcroft.—Herald.

.r.

CUESTER AND LIOLYHEAD.
The half-yearly accounts show that the receipts in
"capital aocoun 6" have been 4,058,483/. 184.84.; of which
2,875,89 Lures, 3t i
7s. 6d. s share capital; and 1„084 3321. loax s
on
and 5001. calls over-paid The remaind.
r,
de
581 11 s. 2d., is made up of " Toll from Shrewsbury
97'7 "
and Chester Company previous to May 8, 1848 ;" " Ba
lance of earnings between Ist May, 1848,
and Ist
January, 1850;" and
"Advances on surplus lands, de-
posit of shares, and other security." The expenditure
has been 4,041,752/. 2s. 5d., leaving a balanoe in favour