Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1903-03-27
STEEL TRACK ROADS
EXPERIMENTING WITH THEM IN NEW
YORK CITY.


mense Saving In Haulage on This
Style of Roadway.
The rural, commercial and industrial
interests of this country have been so
much accustomed to depend upon ca
nails and railroads to transport their
products to market that they have ha-
bitually neglected the arteries over
which nearly all traffic Originates-viz,
the common highway. Farmers and
other people living in the country are
more interested than other citizens in
the construction and maintenance of
good highways, yet until few years
ago they displayed obstinate antipathy
to help any movement in favor of i'm
proving the country's highways.
The first systematic movement made
to improve the country's highways was
originated by bicyclists when that
form Of amusement was an active liy-
ing force, says a writer in the Automo-
bile Magazine. The bicycle fantasy
has passed, but it has been succeeded
by even a stronger movement-that OF
utomobiling-and the people interest
ed in horseless carriages are agitating
strenuously in favor of improved high
ways, and the influence they exercise
as a class promises to produce i'm
portant results. All they need is the
cooperation of farmers and others in
terested in having good roads to haul
their produce over
rINha A,1tcUnnhila Cl11h Of A morton has
| inaugurated q movement which is cal
culated to effect a revolution in inland
| transportation if it meets with the sup
| port it deserves. A few months ago
General Roy Stone, who has made a
| special study of roadmaking, in an adj
dress before the Automobile Club of
America strongly advocated the use of
steel plates for making highways His
arguments were SO convincing that
MI Charles NJ. Schwab, president of
the United States Steel corporation, Of
fered to provide at his own expense
steel sufficient to lay mile of the
roadway recommended by General
Stone One block Of that steel has
been laid in Murray street, New York,
street noted for Its heavy traffic, and
tests Of the road were recently made.
| The results were remarkable demon
stratlon of the value of the system.
1t was found by actual experiment
that tractive force 60 per cent great
er was required to draw a load upon
the rough stone pavement than upon
the track or that, taking the power nee
essary to draw the load upon the pave
ment as the standard, exactly 311A per
cent of 1t was saved by using the rails.
In starting the load the advantage in
favor Of tho rails was even greater, as
but one-half or one-third of the usual
force was required.
The steel rails used IL building these
highways are forty feet in length and
a foot In width. The upper surface is
not polished. Ii Is a rough finish, but
not corrugated nor especially rough
ened In any way. The section of the
rails Is like that OF an ordinary chan
mel bar, the turned down portions at
either side being about one and n half
inches III depth. Coarse broken stone
laid in 4 trench about fifteen inches
deep and Of the same width constitutes
the bed upon which the rails rest. A
drain tile at the outer edge of the bot
tom OF each trench insUres sufficient
drainage.
On top OF the broken stone q layer
Of gravel or very fine stone and stone
dust is laid, in which the rails imbed
| tlo1,1SnlNrnc,
of fat plates of steel riveted to each
rail under the wide tread and heavy
fish plates, bolted to the turned down
portions OF the rails on each side, af-
ford continuous and smooth surface.
TO prevent spreading of the rails there
are inserted in the roadbed at intervals
steel ties bent so as to clasp the rails
and hold them securely in place.
Every person familiar with teaming
is aware of the great reduction Of wheel
resistance that results from the wheels
of a wagon being run On the plates at
tached to street car rails. If the day
ever comes that the country roads are
laid With steel runways, the saving to
people who have to haul freight over
the roads Will be immense. Expert
mcnts made by engineers of high repu-
tation have shown that Il horse can
haul ON an iron CT steel track fifty-four
times the load it can haul in sand, thir-
ty-siX times as much as on an earth
road, thirty-three times as much as on
stone trackway, twenty-five times as
much as on a plank road in good order
and nine times as much as on a good
macadam road. Most of the roads that
farmers have to haul their produce over
are earth roads, so the change to steel
would increase the haulage eighteen
times. The introduction of such an i'm
provement ought to draw the cordial
cooperation of every person who wishes
to see our agricultural communities
prospecting rs they should prosper.
General Stone says that this style Of
roadway can be laid down for about
/ u I Il. L A