The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-15
LOOKING FOR A SUBSTITUTE.

LOOKING FOR A sUDoT1TUT1 It is singular that no satisfactory sub stitute for wood has been found of which to make railroad ties. It is more than singular: 1t is really humiliating. It Is singular, because in 70 many of the uses to which wood was formerly put. and for which it was thought there was no substitute. 1t has been found that other substances are as good, and in many instances are much more suitable.
 It is humiliatins to think that with the great advance in invention and dis covery the engineers, mschanics and railway constructors should be tied down to one substance. and that among the least durable of all, to get material for railroad ties. But humjliating as it may be. it is a fact. up to date. at all events
 The usefulness of a railroad tie is of short duration. even when made of the very best of timber. and when the best known precautions are taken to prevent decay. When made of the average grade of timber that is ordinarily used. the life of . wooden tie is brief. They decay rapidly and unless replaced by sound ones the menace to trains is both great and constant Not merely is it desirable, but there -, the further fact that the supply of timber for this pur- pose is rapidly being exhausted. and it would seem plain that the time cannot be far distant when there will be no more wood available for this purpose, unless there is a material change in the law of supply and demand, or unless steps are taken to grow timber for the purpose.
 For these reasons. many efforts and experiments have been made to find something to take the place of wood for cross-ties. Not long ago we read a good deal about experiments that were being made with reinforced concrete | ties, and it was given out with much seeming confidence that here had been found a perfect substitute for wood, and it was intimated that its use would soon drive wood out of use in railway track building. We have heard noth- ing of it lately, and do not know wheth- CT it was even a partial success. but 1t evidently failed to come up to the claims put forth or 1t would have been found in general use. It was thought that concrete. with iron or steel core. would form an ideal tie. but the hope entertained for it must have been with out foundation.
 The great Pennsylvania Railway sys- tenn made an extensive and thorough trial of steel ties. Now. as we learn from a contemporary. the officials of that road have decided that steel ties are a failure, and attribute one or two wrecks to them. We suppose that nine
 out of ten men would say off hand that a steel tie should be better in every way than a wooden one. It would not rot. and it would be firm. But its firm ness is apparently one of its chief ob- jectionable qualities, for the railroad men say that it has proven altogether
 too rigid, and in consequence of its lack of resiliency rails have several times | tnr fias n the accomplishment of disaster. This has been the case especially on curves, where the strain is greater than it is on straight lines. The Pennsylvania com pany will take up most of its steel ties. to be replaced with wooden ones of which thousands have been ordered from Georgia"
 Thus it appears that one of the great railroad systems. operating in a region where steel and iron are near at hand and easily obtainable. have given ur the experiment, and are ordering thous- ands of wooden ties from Georgia. But the Georgia forests cannot last many years, nor can those of any other sec tion, so that the end of wooden ties must inevitably come before a great while. and then what? Will the sub stitute be found. or will they discover way to build railroads without tiesi It would seem that one or the other
 must come, if we are to have railroads in the future.