Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-29
STEEL AVID CONCRETE TIES.
Experiments with and Cost ot Princi-
pal Substitutes for wood.

New York Tribune.
Within the last few days some useful in
formation about two kinds Of railway ties
has been made accessible to the general
public. Though Il Is not as complete as
could be desired, It 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 its latest issue Engineering News gives
a description Of one Of the many forms OF
steel tie which have been invented. II is
the tie now being manufactured at one Of
the Carnegie mills in Pittsburg for ex-
perimental service on the Pennsylvania
road. AS IL weighs le pounds. or one-thir-
teenth OF 8 ton, II is easy to estimate its
cost pretty accurately by consulting the
quotations for steel rails. With the latter
selling at from SIS to SIS ton steel ties
could not be had for much less than 50
apiece. The next preceding number Of En-
gineerng News contained a letter regard
ing reinforced concrete ties from Samuel
Rockwell assistant chief engineer OF the
Lake Shore road, which is glving them an
extensive trial From that communication
II appears that, including labor and ma
terial, these ties could be had for about 80
cents each. In respect to cost alone, the
advantage would seem to be with concrete.
Durability must also be considered, how
ever. The cheapest article OF a given class
is not always the best When IL really be-
comes advisable to adopt something in
place Of the wooden tie 1t will doubtless DO
NECESSARY to revise the foregoing figures,
but the cheapness OF concrete must be dis
regarded until something is known about
Its lasting qualities. A few weeks ago .
short paragraph was printed by many
newspapers to the effect that number OF
concrete ties which have been on trial on
the Lake Shore road had been removed
because they were dlsintegrating. Taken
by itself the fact was unpromisng. Mr.
Rockwell, however, shows that It was not
representative. The few ties which did give
signs Of breaking up had been in exception
ally unfavorable situations. Either they
were near joints in the rails or else they
had been sandwiehed in between groups Of
wooden ties. whose greater elasticity ex-
posed the rigid concrete tie TO special
strains. Moreover. the Lake Shore road
atm has about three thousand more OF
these ties In place, and some Of them were
laid fully three years ago. When they are
arranged in continuous succession, says Mr..
Rockwell, they seem to meet all the re-
quirements of heavy service. 1t thus ap-
pears that the case has not yet been de-
cided adversely to concrete, 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 North
ern railway in France proved disappointing
because the rivets worked loose. The So
called Carnegie tie, which has already had
a trial on a road running from Pittsburg to
Lake Erie, needs no Tivets and thus far
has proved satisfactory. It is clear, then,
that the contest between steel and concrete
is stlll open, and that a final judgment may
not be practicable for years.