The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-17
NICKEL STEEL RAILS. Use Would Remedy Break age Says Schwab. PUBLIC DEMAND URGED One Train Broke 20 Rails in
 Long Trip.
PUBLIC DEMAND URGED

Charles NJ. Schwab, ex-pre@dent of the United States Steel corporation, in recent interview at Pittsburg declar- ed that the trouble with broken rails which tho railroads of the United States are having would never be rem edied until nickel steel rail costing three times as much as the Bessemer rail now in use was adopted, says the New York Times.
 When I was with the Steel corpora ton several years ago." Mir. Schwnb said, T advised that preparations be made to meet the need which the rail roads of the country are now expert enclng. As remember, 1t is about five or six years since I came to the posi- tive conclusion that better rall was going to become an absolute necessity on account of the increasing speed and weight of the trains.
 Very little was done at that time or has been done since by the Steel cor. poration or any one else to anticipate the needs of the railroads except that our works at Bethlehem were equipped some two years ago to supply rails of basic open hearth steel, which the rail- road men are now generally agreed Is a superior rail and must .supplant the Bessemer rail to very great extent.
 There is something to be said against the shape of the rail now com monly in use as regards the breakage complained of, but 1t Is mainly that the shape is tu manner responsible for the composition, The head of the mil is too heavy and the dange too light, and the impurities which cause tho breaking of the top of the rail are due to the fact that the rail has to be rolled while very hot. The heavy top is largely responsible for this neces- sity.
 Tt Is not to the open hearth rail however, that the railroads of the country must look for final solution of the problem, Its general use will be some help, but the railroads are too important a part of our countrys wealth and human life is far too yalu- able for either railroads or people to be content with anything short of the very best, and the best Is to be found in nickel or some other alloy steel, which will cost largely in excess of the prices which are now paid and which at I guess I should say will cost three times as much.
 Some rails of this kind have been used by the Pennsylvania railroad, and, while the results are not entirely satisfactory they showed, think, that a nickel steel rail of this kind can be produced which will surpass all oth- ers. A few nickel steel rails made by the Steel corporation while was with it are, believe, still giving good serv- ice on the main line of the PennsJiva- nia railroad.
 Getting the best is merely a matter of paying for it, and presently the railroads will realize that they cannot afford to have any but the very best rail which it is possible to make, no matter what the cost. While breakage can never be made impossible, 1t cnn be reduced to minimum, and that Is what both the railroads and the people of the United States both agree must be done as quickly as possiblep
 An official of the Carnegie Steel com pany declared that on a recent run of the eighteen hour flier on the Pennsyl- vania railroad between New York and Chicago, twenty rails were broken by the speed and weight of the train.