, 1873-03-19
BROKEN RAILS on RAILWAYS.

Bun1rNdToN, lows, March II, 1873.
TO Tho Editor qf Tho Caicago 1fItHno:
Sin Your article on steel rails was correct in
tho main, though requiring slight modiacations
Tho demand for rails Of this sort is 80 great as
to mako tho supply Of iron ore Of tho quality
which will nuke thom less than the demand, all
over tho world ut ptesont. Believing, aa l do,
TINT steel is not at all necessary for this purposo
nnl only a useless expense, I will give my RED
IONS as briefly as possible:
Mr.. sandberg. Swedish engineer, resident in
London, who has given this subjoct much close
attention, declares that, 'Although good steel
rail is generally thrice ns strong Oh iron, when
punched, or tho flango is oracked, tho iron may
bo tho stronger. The aseel is made az soft aa
possible, i. for not by hardness, but by
homogcnoity, in 1t superior to iron." Thia
lust assertion ia well known to bo true
Rails, as ut present mndo, arc at first rolled
into slnbu as wide aud thick as tho hand, aud
long enough, whom ak Of these are piled to-
gether to mako the raii Of any desired length
Theae aro then wired together into "faggot,"
heated over, md rolled into rail. This laat
heating generally injurea the iron very much.
It seldom or never becomes properly welded to-
gcthcr, md each slab Boon scales and 1aminates
BY itsolf into those long splintors which may be
seen on any woll-Torn track. This WAS not the
caao with rails first used, which. wore rollod,
e9a a9S d% 6 ssn al thgou9g ts q
that had boon uaod il to Is years on a Mestorn
road, on being sont to modern rail-mill to bo
re-roed, came back III Buoh condition that they
werousedup on tue GAME road, IN less than year:
tho Alloghoney Valley Road, ut Pittsburgh, had n
dozen rails rolled In tho old-faahionod way, and
| placed in tho most used part Of hiH track. AZ
tho laat accounts thoy bud outworn aayoral sota
OF common rails on tho other side, md were as
good al evor. This would eoem to indicate that
Il in not steel rails that aro needed, so much as
good quality Of iron, and a ceHsation Of tho
| prosent Objectionable mods Of rolling iron rails.
It ought to bo forbidden by statute, II 1t eau bo
stopped IN no othor way.
mart Of n railroad HiAco 30 many liyoH do
pond upon it, iB gonorally tho object Of as much
1obborY az any part Of 1t. When roads are boinY
built, ,1ld arc poor any rails nre taken TINT can
bo bought with bondn; afterwards ~ when +, t,hey
nerqnisto aud glyo aH little for the money they
got as possible.
Tic statistics Of good iron rails show that, for
ordinary traffic, In this country or England, they
to nst tem pGss 9s0 etae ra
about six tines that Of piled iron It is very
doubtful ii the present quality Of ltoo! turnihhod
for raitH IL as good as fur sample Of iron, sllc
as was gonorally used twenty years ago. On the
metropolitan London Railroad, with tho great:
est trallio in the world, BauabeEg says that htco
onllrcs threo to -four years, whore tho common
laminatel iron rail- will giyo out In six months
Steel rails just now rage like new-faslliolct
bonnet, and ara put forth HI g. panacea for VI
the ills railways are heirs to. When they Wort
first offered, nobody would look ut them, an
only years, ot, porHiHtont effort succeeded Ii
Il Dnplsx .raila and 'axles Aayo boen highly OK
tollcd bY many enrinsors, Tho Rslccaaa ut tl't