Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-13
STEEL AND CONCRETE TIES
Durability and Effectiveness Of Sew
eral Forms of Sleepers.

| From the New York Tribune
Within the last few days some useful
Information about two kinds of railway
ties has been made accessible to the gen
eral public. Though 1t is not as complete
as could be desired. 1T is now possible
perhaps for the first time-to compare
the cost Of the principal substitutes which
have been proposed for the wooden tie
In It's latest issue Engineering News
gives a description of one of the many
forms OF steel tie which have been in
vented. 1t Is the tie now being manufac-
tured at one of the Carnegie mills in
Pittsburg for experimental service on the
Pennsylvania road. AS it weighs 1854
pounds, or one-thirteenth of a ton 1t is
sy to estimate its cost pretty accurately
by consulting the quotation for steel rails
With the latter selling al from $50 to s2S
Il ton, steel ties could not be had for
much less than 50 apiece. The next pre-
ceding number of Engineering News con-
tanned IA letter regarding reinforced con-
crete ties from Samuel Rockwell, as
sistant chief engineer of the Lake Shore
road, which is giving them an extensive
trial From that communication it ap-
pears that, including labor and material
these ties could be had for about 80 cents
each. In respect to cost alone the ad-
vantage would seem to be with concrete
Dura ability must also be considered how
ever. The cheapest article of given class
Is not always the best. When It really
becomes advisable to adopt something
in place of the wooden tie it will doubt
less be necessary to revise the foregoing
figures. but the cheapness of concrete must
be disregarded until something Is known
about its lasting qualities. few weeks
ago short paragraph was printed by
many newspapers to the effect that
number of concrete ties which had been
on trial on the Lake Shore road had been
removed because they were disintegrat-
irg. Taken by itself that fact was I'M
promising. Mr.. Rockwell. however, shows
that 1t was not representative. The few
ties which did give signs of breaking up
had been in exceptionally unfavOrable
situations. Either they were near joints
In the rails else they had been sand
wched in between groups of wooden ties
whose greater elasticity exposed the rigid
concrete tie to special strains. Moreover,
the Lake Shore road still has about 5000
more of these ties In place. and some Of
them were laid fully three years ago.
When the yare arranged in continuous
succession. says Mr.. Rockwell they seem
to meet all the requirements of heavy
service. 1t thus appears that the case has
rot yet been decided adversely to con-
crete. as might have been supposed.
An enormous variety of steel ties has
been tried in the last twenty years. Some,
II not all, of those which have failed have
failed because OF an incidental feature
and not on account of an inherent fault.
Those which were introduced on the
Northern railway in France proved dis
appointing because the riyets worked
loose. The so-called Carnegie tie, which
has already had trial on road running
from Pittshurg to Lake Erie needs no
riyets, and thus far has proved satisfac-
tory. 1t is clear. then, that the contest
between steel and concrete Is still open,
and that final judgment may not be
practicable for years.