New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-29
STEEL RAILWAY TIES.

4 recent dispatch to The Tribune announced
that an order had been given for the manufact-
ure Of enough steel ties to equip eight miles or
track for the Pennsylvania road, and for the
same amount for the Pittsburg Railways Com
pany. The fact that a larger quantity was not
called for might be due either to considerations
Of economy or to a conviction that further ex-
pertinent was desirable before larger invest
ment made. Perhaps both influences oper-
ated
The time is probably not far distant when the
growing scarcity of timber and the limited life
Of even a chemically treated wooden tie VIII
render the adoption Of a substitute necessary,
but at present in most parts of this country
wood Is still the cheapest. Far sighted railway
managers in America well as in Europe nave
long been alert to the possibility that they would
sooner or later be obliged to use different ma
terial and many trials Of steel for this purpose
have been made in the last twenty years. These
leave no doubt concerning its fitness for the
service required, but it remains to be seen
whether a perfect form has yet been evolved.
although the Patent Office files show that an
astonishing variety of patterns have already
been invented. In the first place, different
means Of fastening a rail- to tie are required
when the latter is mada Of metal from those
needed when wood is employed. On this one point
alone ingenuity has been remarkably active.
| Again there has been much uncertainty what
cross section TO adopt mere slab might not
stay in place as we'll a tie having deep 1anges
| which would sink into the roadbed. Final
| " it is obvious that the model which promised
| the best performance might involve undue ex
| pense in manufacture The more bending, punch
| ing and other manipulation the metal under
| goes to prepare II for service the greater will
! be the cost Of the product. To combine tho
! highest utility with simplicity Of design is no
| trifing task. That result will unqueStionably
be attained, if It has not already been; but when
the development is complete It will be seen that
| an almost endless number of practical tests and
! careful attention to details cOnduced thereto.
! short time ago there seemed to be n chance
| that concrete might prove to be rival of steel
| as q candidate for succession to the wooden tie
On q small scale 1t is already being employed
| for making fence posts, its durability being al
most equal to that Of granite. However, it be-
| gins to look as IL concrete would not give per-
| feet satisfaction. short note in a recent issue
OF CONSTRUCTION" PIttsburg) indicates that ties
| of that material which have been tried on the
! Lake Shore road have begun to disintegrate
under the hammering of passing wheels.
Whether the fault could be remedied by chang
| ing the formula OF composition is a question
which ought not to he dismissed hastily. The
| possibility of poor workmanship In the making
| Of q single lot Of ties should also be needed
| Nevertheless entirely apart from the disposition
| to crumble there is another conceivable objec-
| ton to concrete It is more rigid than Steel and
! a little fexibility in both rail and tie has
hitherto been regarded desirable In, IL not abso-
! lutely essential to- an ideal road. If that view
Of the case is correct, steel will carry the cleo
! ton by q large majority.