Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1905-10-14
STEEL AND CONCRETE
FOR RAILROAD lies
EXPERIMENT HAS DEVELOPED
SEVERAL SUBSTANCES As SUB.
sTiTUTEs FOR WOOD, m DgRA.
BiLiYY AND EFFECTIVENESS.

within the last few years some use.
ful Information about two kinds OF
railway tics has been made accessible
20 the general public. Though Il d.
not az complete AZ could be desircd,
ID is now perhaps for tho
first tlmc--to compare the cost Of the
principal substitutes which have been
proposed for the wooden tie
IN ila latest issue Engineering News
gives a description OF one OF the many
forms Of the steel tie which have been
Invented. Il Is the tie now being man
ufactured az one Of the Carnegie mills
IN Pltisburg. Tor experimental service
on tho Pennsylvania railroad AZ u
weighs i6i pounds, or One-thlrteenth
OF a ton, u u easy % estimate its cost
pretty accurately by consulting the
quotation for steel rails With che
latter selling az from SIS to S2S a
ton, steel ties could not be had for
much less than 81 apiece. The Next
preceding number OF The Engineering
News contained a letter regarding 70.
inforcod concrete ties, from samuel
Rockwell assistant chief engineer Of
the Lake shore road which Is giving
them an extensive trial From that
communication Il appears that. To-.
Guiding labor and material, these ties
could be had for abou, 90 cents each.
In respect 10 cost alone the advant.
age would seem 20 be with concrete.
Durability must also be considered.
however. The cheapest article Of a
given class Is not always the best.
Whom II really becomes Advisable TO
adopt something In place OF the wood
en- tie, Il viii doubtless be necessary
10 revise the foregoing figures but the
cheapncss OF concrete must be dis
regarded until something is known
about ts lasting qualities. A few
weeks ago short paragraph was
printed by many newspapers % the
effect that n number OF concrete ties
which had been on trial on the Lake
Shore road had been removed because
they we're dlslnteRratlng Taken by
itself that fact was unpromislng. Mr..
Rockwell, however, shows that II was
not representative. The few ties which
did give signs OF breaking up had
been In exceptionally unfayorahle con
diti0ns. Either they were near Joints
In the rails or else they had been
sandwiched H. between groups OF
wooden ties whose greater elasticity
exposed the rigid concrete tie 20 the
special strains. Moreover, the Lake
shore road stu has about 900 more
% these ties In place. and some OF
them we're laid fully three years ago.
When they are arranged In continuous
succession, says Mr.. Rockwell. they
seem 20 meet the requirements OF
heavy service. II thus appears that
the case has not yet been decided td-
versedly TO the concrete, as might
have been supposed
An enormous variety Of steel ties
have been tried In the last twenty
years Some, II no, all Of those which
havs failed. have failed because Of
an Incidental feature, and not on &C.
count OF an inherent fault. Those
which we're introduced on the North
ern railway In France proved disap-
pointing, because the rivets worked
loose. The Eo-cailed Carnegie tie,
which has already had a trial on a
road running from Pittsburg 20 Lake
Erie, needs no rivets. and thus far
has proved satisfactory. II Is clear.
then, that the contest between steel
and conrote is still open. aud that a
final judgment may not be practicable
for years-New York Tribune.