Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-04-24

OF the noise they made, and time and
again communities refused to give a
right of way on this account. De
eatur. a tiny Georgia village rebelled
at the invasion of the engineers who
were building the Georgia railroad
from Augusta because it did nor
want to be Kept awake all night by
the noise Of the trains. and the en-
gineers changed their plans and built
the road TO a point six miles farther
away, which marked the birth of At
lanta. one of the most prosperous
cities of the great and growing new
south. Decatur is today a small SUI
urb OF the splendid southern city.
Even now there is great hostility
to railroads in the larger towns
along the trunk lines because of the
noise OF the trains. Millions OF
dollars have been spent by the roads
to improve their roadbeds in way
that would diminish the noise of the
trains. Appliance after appliance
mas been employed to procure what
the roadmasters call singing track.
which is to say, a track that causes
the wheels of train to make a
aunming noise instead Of the rata
plan of bumpy sounds.
John G. snyder. a cigar drummer,
E few years ago began to think the
matter over His life was spent on
ing from town to town to sell cigars
the railroads, and it was while trav :
mat he began to work upon the in
vention which now promises to make
sure the noiseless railroad and work
reform, if not complete revolution, in
the construction OF railroads The
world over He realized that the
cross-tie question was growing more
serious every year with the rapid
depletion of the worlds forests. Hav-
ing been born and reared in tho
steel district OF Pennsylvania, IL
knew that railroad builders were al
ready turning from the ;ain forests
to the foundries for cross ties. In
Mexico iron ties have long been useu
instead of wood because insect ife
there causes the wood to rot very
quickly In South Africa. too. iroa
ties have been used because little
white ant-like insect works the rntu
Of the wood.
So il was a spirit of necessity at,
ter all that became the mother II in.
Vention in this case Mr.. Snyder
worked for 10 years on his steer
cross tie, all the shile travelling
from town TO town selling cigars.
The device. we are told, consists OF
a steel case or shell. filed with a
composition of asphalt and stone Al
the bottom the steel shell does not
close upon the asphalt. but allows il
10 rest upon the ground, and IL is thu
that furnishes the residence which
reduces the noise of rollirr stock to
practically nothing. The rails are
fastened on the tie by steel clamps.
instead of spikes which preclude all
possibility of the rail spreading. To
quote further
Wooden ties cost IS cents to 81 80
according to the kind Of timber used
Their average life is 3II years. The
Snyder steel and asphalt tie costs
from 81 10 S2.75. according 10 dimen-
sions, but its guaranteed minimum
life is 25 years. so that ii would cost
about onfourth what the wooden lie
and its seven renewals would cost In
the rs years. But Mr.. SNYDER the
inventor. asserts that this tie viii
really wear for rs years, basing his
calculation upon the service of steel
ties already in use in Mexico. This
would mean a rest for the forests oil
the world for nearly century If all
The railroads adopted the steel tie
mis- they viii have to do eventually.
railroads now go to great distances
TO get their wooden ties. the cost IA
steadily increasing, the quality grow.
ing inferior each year II is no longer
doubted that the railroads mus, adopt
iron sieepers or steel ties of some
sort.
II is claimed for the new tie that
a train makes practically no noise at
all on roadbed SO constructed. this
having been thoroughly established
by experiments which have been
made On The Pennsylvania, the Cen.
tral OF New Jersey, the New York
Central and other great systems. It
Is further claimed that the same
principle of combining Steel and was
phalt can be used and viii be use1
for constructing the roadbeds of city
surface railways, insuring nolseless
systems for the streets. No ties are
used by the underground trolley line
OF the Metropolitan system of New
York, but Mr.. Snyder asserts that the
framework of iron now I'm use for
roadbed structure can be made on
the principle of his new cross-tie, ana
such a thing as noisy streetcar need
not be known I'm any Of the cities of