Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-12-19
KINDS OF RAILROAD TIES.
Principal Substitutes Proposed for
Wooden Ties.

Within the last few days some use
full information about two kinds OF
railway ties has been made accessi-
Bile to the general public. says the
New York Tribune. Though it is not
as complete as could be desired, it is
now neutrality-suspicious. for the first
time-to compare the cost of the prin-
cipal substitutes which have been pro-
posed for the wooden tie.
In it's last issue Engineering News
gives description of one of the many
forms of steel tie which have been in
vented. 1t is the tie now being man
ufactured at one of the Carnegie mills
in Pittsburg for experimental service
on the Pennsylvania railroad. AS it
weighs 1874 pounds. or one-thirteenth
of a ton, it is easy to estimate it's cost
pretty accurately by consulting the
quotation for steel rails With the lat
ter selling at from $25 to $2S ton,
steel ties could not be had for much
less than 50 apiece. The next pre-
ceding number of Engineering News
contained letter regarding reinforc
ed concrete ties from Samuel Rock
we'll. assistant chief engineer of the
Lake Shore road, which is giving them
an extensive trial From that com
lHuHltdlloH II dDIhcdIS Illdt,
labor and material, these ties could
be had for about so cents each. In
respect to cost alone the advantage
would seem to be with concrete.
Durability must also be considered.
however. The cheapest article of a
given class is not always the best.
When it really becomes advisable to
adopt something in place of the wood
en- tie it will doubtless be 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 a 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 disintegrating. TAX
en- by itself, that fact was unprOmising
Mr. Rockwell, however shows that ii
was not representative. The few ties
which did give signs of breaking uE
had been in exceptionally unfavorable
situations. Either they were neal
joints in the rails or else they had
been sandwiched in between groups
of wooden ties whose greater elastic
ity exposed the rigid concrete tie tt
special strains. Moreover the Lake
Shore road still has about 5000 more
Of these ties in place. and some o.
them were laid fully three years ago
When they are arranged in continuou:
succession, says Mr.. Rockwell. the!
seem to meet all the requirements o
heavy service. It thus appears tina
the case has not yet been decided ad
versely to concrete, as might hav'
been supposed.
An enormous variety of steel tie
has been tried in the last 20 years
Some, il not all, Of those which hav,
failed have failed because of an in
cidental feature. and not on accoun
of an inherent fault. Those whicl
were introduced on the Northern raj
way in France proved disappointin
because the rivets worked loose. Tn
so-called Carnegie tie, which has a
ready had a trial On a road runnin
from Pittsburg to Lake Erie, need
no rivets and thus far has prove
satisfactory. It is clear. then, tina
the contest between steel and col
crete is still open, and that fms
judgment may not be practicablefo
years.