The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-05
STEEL TIES TRIED.

Expense Against Them, But One Roac
Finds Them Economical.
Why are not steel ties used on Ameri-
can railroads? This question is otter
asked by those not initiated into the
mysteries of railroad construction and
it is commonly supposed that the rea-
SON lies in the susceptibility of the
metal to atmospheric changes. This,
| however, is not the fact. The most i'm
partant reason for their not being used
is their cost compared with wooden ties.
| Prices of course, vary with locality
and circumstances, but the fair average
cost of a wooden tie may be said to be
sixty cents, while an average steel tie
as now constructed costs about $780,
The wooden tie under ordinary condi-
tons will wear about ten years, and its
life may be extended far beyond this
period. The life OF a steel tie Is pro-
blematical but the majority OF railroad
engineers do not believe 1t is long
enough to balance the increased cost
AT the same time, every engineer real
ICES the fact that the time is coming
when the railroads of the country will
be driven to the Use of steelties, wheth-
er they so desire or not. The forests
from which ties come will not last for
ever, and many Of the roads are even
now considering what to do in view of
the scarcity of the timber. Knowing
that the age of the steel tie Is coming,
several concerns have for long time
been engaged in the manufacture of
steel ties and in experimenting with
them. The tie that will be best adapt
ed to general use Is probably not yet
made, although some manufactures fol-
low the European forms
For some years roads all over the con-
tinent have been using steel ties with
good results, and accordingly manufac-
turers in this country are using the
foreign roads as arguments to induce
American roads to try the steel tie.
Some engineers believe, too, that steel
does not make as good a tie as wood.
With steel ties and rock ballast, they
say passengers would think that they
were riding on bed of solid cement on
account of the absence of resilient prop
cities. They also believe that difficulty
would be experienced in packing the
dirt about the steel ties securely enough
to prevent the tracks getting out of
alignment. For about six months the
Huntington and Broad Top Mountain
railroad in Pennsylvania has been ex-
perimenting with the use of steel ties,
The tie in use there resembles the
bowl and plate" tie largely in use in
India and South America, and the COM
pany has been subjecting it to excep-
tionally heavy traffic. The ties were
laid on October IL, 1899. There are for
ty-four inches from center to center, but
the actual spacing varies from sixteen
to thirty inches, the ties having been
put in where the wooden ties were re-
moved Each trough or rail bearer
weighs about twenty-five pounds and
the tie bearer sixty pounds. The rails
are seventy Founders, and are laid with
joints spliced with four bolt
angle bars, and the track Is ballasted
with Stag.
Since the ties were laid about 100000 |
tons Of freight has passed over them.
coal cars of sixty and eighty |
thousand pounds capacity, hauled by |
one hundred ton engines, The officials |
claim that the steel ties make more |
durable track than wooden ties and re- |
luce the labor of track maintenance by |
forty per cent. They also permit an in |
crease of thirty three per cent. in the
length of the sections. If these deduc-
tons are correct it is difficult to see
why railroads in general do not adopt |
The steel tie.--Chicago Times-Herald.