The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-30
HOW TO MAKE BETTER RAILROADS.

HOW TO MAKE BETTER RAILROADS.
From the NJ Y. Times.
Whenever q broken rail throws off a train,
or the enormous cost of maintaining perma-
nent way is under discussion, there is gene
raj outcry against the poor iron of modern
production, and longing for the skill,
science, and honesty among manufacturers
that used to make rails last twenty years.
Nothing can be more touching than the pious
regrets of railway manager, standing among
the Debris of rails axles, and machinery worn
out in the flower of their youth, at the de-
generacy of the metallurgical skill and con-
science of the period. In order that the
public may understand how far their risks of
life and loss of dividends are due primarily
to this cause, we invite their attention to the
following facts and considerations.
The general rule in this country Ito which
indeed there are EXCEPTIONS, in regard to the
purchase of railway materials is simply this
buy the cheapest. First cost is the control-
ing and often the only question entertained.
The nature of the materials and processes to
be used in the manufacture of rails, for in
stance, are not mentioned. The buyers for
some of our roads, especially new roads,
never make the slightest allusion to quality,
and never specify tests and inspections, but
simply go about among the mills, comparing
and beating down prices, and accept
my Iu0 NOly IOWSoJ. hlOI0 Jutu OuG
of our railmakers are to-day rolling, under
protest, rails upon which they decline to put
their trade mark-rails made from the very
cheapest materials, in the very meanest man.
ner-for all that is required is that they shall
stick together till they are laid. And if Ame-
rican makers will not roll them, Welsh makers
will. The late report of the State Engineer
of New York says: American railway mana
gers, instead of offering anything like rea-
sonable price for good iron rails, have made
themselves notorious by establishing as
standard brand of rails known all over the
world as American rails, which are con-
fessedly bought and sold as the weakest,
most impure, least worked, least dura-
BILE and cheapest rails that can be produced
The State Engineer refers in confirmation of
this opinion to the statement of Mr. A. S,
Hewitt, United States Commissioner to the
Paris Exposition, statement not yet con-
troverted; and to a statement of Mr. Sand
berg, an English engineer of note, in the
London Times. A leading American railway
President and reformer has publicly said:-
''Ihere is fear on my part that railway
companies will themselves tempt steel makers
to send poor article by buying the cheapest
--tirst cost only considered-as they did with
the iron masters"
There is also class of railway managers
who pretend, and possibly believe, that they
cannot get good iron rails; that the existing
processes for cheapening iron in all stages of
Its manufacture render it impracticable to
produce the uniform and excellent material
formerly made. Now, while it is true that
much poor iron is called for and sold, it is
notorious that better knowledge of chennis-
try and the modern improvements in ma
chinery enable iron-masters to produce a
more excellent and uniform material than
hafO oc 20, tc
These general facts are we'll enough known
to those who have taken the trouble to in
quire. But we are not confined to general
facts. There are particular cases that cover
the whole issue. The one we shall mention
now is, fortunately, of such a character that
no private interest can affect the statement or
be affected by it. Early in 1868, the Reading
Railway Company commenced rolling thelr
own rasls by an improved method, and some
of them have already been down long enough,
nnder the immense coal traffic of that road,
to vindicate this policy. For instance, out
of 1000 tons OF homemade rails which had
carried certain traffic during the last nine
j months OF 1868, only five tons, or one in 1890
tons, had worn out During the same time,
and under the same traffic, out of 2OOO tons
of rails made by the old process at an outside
mill of good repute, about 200 tons or one in
: ten, had been worn out and removed and the
Indications are that the remaining 1900 tons
will be unfit for use at the end of this wear
At point in the road near Reading, wher,
shifting from connecting lines is added to tn,
regular tonnage, the life of rails made b,
the various old processes is from three to fou
months. Some rails only last six weeks. A
this point, the rails made by the new process
nave already been down sixteen months, an,
are still sound, although much worn. Th
trouble With ordinary iron rails, as we hav