Evening star., 1895-09-07
THE CALEDONIAN FLYER.

the other day. 'that the chief factor in the
maintenance of high speed is the locomo-
tive Now, while it is true that high rates
cannot he made without first-class motive
power IL is also true that high class en-
gines must have high c.ass roads to run
upon ard that without these 1t would be
quite impossible regularly to maintain even
forty miles an hour economically. IN fact,
the great tasks of railroad managers VINO
propose to run trains at hiSh speed are.
first the creation and then the maintenance
of an adequate way. Grades must be
made as light as possible, curves must be
Strengthened. grade crossings must be 4ciie
away with wherever possible, the bridges
must be extra 3troug and the track Itself
must be solid, yet elastic anI free IRON too
great rigidty. The first cost o. road
that is ideal in all these respects, and
therefore tit for high speeding, is much
greater than the first cost of one that viii
bear ordinary traffic well, and the main
tenance charges. too. are heavier. Gie re-
suIting economy nf operation. however. is
such as fully TO balance accounts when
traffic is heavy ami the road IS crowded.
NOW" he co1iin5ed, without making
specific predictions, il is quite proper to
say that as the science OF railroad con-
struc ction and maintenance progresses, so
will the spead OF railroad trains be III
creased, and there is no DOUBT Whatever
that more rapid running will he compare
lively common few years from now.
4 Rcadbed for Speedy Running.
Undoubtedly them the chief engineer and
his supporters the roadmasters, the bridge
builders, and all who have to do with the
physical condition" of a railroad. are to
form a moro important factor in the fu-
ture, even, than in the past in the admin
istration of the up-to-date railroad line.
AS a matter of course, therefore, the chief
engineers of all the big roads are con-
stantly schenirg end planning to straight
en- the line here, to cut down grade there.
l. hot do rylD n
find the best possible rail and to improve
the bridges. The chief engineer under
whose supervision the tracks Were made
fit for the fastest long distance passenger
service in America is Mr.. Walter Katie,
and his vigilance is unceasing.
Mr. Katie is a firm advocate of metal
ties for railroads upon the ground OF ulti-
mate economy, in spite OF the greater first
cost over wood He holds that line of
rail laid upon metal ties would be much
more solid. and at the same time more
elastic, and that Incidentally the ntroduc-
tion of the metal would thus help IN the
making of speed. Metal ties are largely
used abroad and there is no doubt of their
ultimate introduction here. Mr.. kattes
work in preparing the tracks for the pres
ent speed of the fastest trains was long.
intricate and absorbing, ard involved the
most intimate knowledge of a thousand
things that would not readily occur to the
mind or the lay reader as essential. One
innovation that has been found to be of
great value is the building of railroad
bridges with solid floors upon which gravel
or stone ballast is laid before the
ties and rails are put down, exactly as
upon the earth roadway. The driving
wheels Of any locomotive pound tre-
mendously upon the rails, but well-laid
ballast gives" sufficiently, while remain
ing solid and strong, to greatly reduce the
destructive effect of this pounding. Nhen
rails are laid on sleepers, and they in turn
rest directly on the bridge structure, the
wear and tear of both rolling stock and
bridge is very great.
The use of ballast on bridges. however,
takes up much of the pounding and greatly
increases the durability of bridge struc-
lures, rails, locomotives and cars. Solid
floors and ballast have not iorg been q
feature of iron railroad bridges, but they
are heing rapidly introduced by frst-ciass
roads ana Will 10 doubt become general
as the era OF high speed progresses.
\ highly important feature of the track
over which exceedingly heavy trains are
to run is the Iail, and rails of 81 and 100
bounds to the yard are now generally COM
ing in place of the old Go-pound ones that
We're formerly thought quite heavy enough.
The metal must be SO distributed by rea-
son of the shape of the rail as to give the
greatest possible stiffness. In this matter
the American practice is much superior to
the English. American rails being much
nearer the girder in FORM higher in pro-
portion tp weight and with much less
lively little value. The great advantage of
the girder form of rail is that it distrib-
nteS the weight from a vince! over several
ties at once instead of allowing 1t to grind
down upon the tie directly beneath. and
further, prevents the rail from bending
under the weight. as most of the old form
did. making the train constantly travel up
hill. 1t has been shown by repeated ex-
periments that GO-pound rails of the girder
type are efficient and will wear as long
rs S0-pound rails of tho old type.
Cost of First-CIass RaiIrOnd.
II should say" said Mr.. Katie. that a
single track road could be laid down over