Complex sentence: The impressment policy of Quarter-master's ran the rails ragged; feeder lines would be scraped in order to lay down replacement steel for trunk lines, and the continual use of rolling stock wore them down faster than they could be replaced.
Split into simpler sentences: The impressment policy of Quarter-master's ran the rails ragged. Feeder lines would be scraped for replacement steel for trunk lines, and the continual use of rolling stock wore them down faster than they could be replaced.