IMPROVEMENT IN RAIL ROAJ>S. g4g 



or plug, (which requires a considerable degree of force, and 

 too frequently destroys the level of the road) being here un- 

 necessary. In the common mode of making rail-roads, 

 from the irregularity of nails, particularly in forming 

 their heads, few can be driven exactly ©yen with the plate, 

 and they are perpetually obstructing the passage of the 

 waggon ; the workmen frequently not proportioning their 

 holes and plugs to the hole in the block also occasions con- 

 siderable breakage ; the exertion necessary to fix a rail or 

 plate completely is great, and numbers of plates, parti- 

 cularly when the iron is short or brittle, are broken near 

 the mortices by missing the stroke ©f the hammer, which 

 must be used with great force. 



Advantage gained in laying my Tram-Plates in Comparison 

 with other Modes 



&. s. tf. 

 Nails used in a mile, 3520 of 3 in the pound, 



at 4d. per lb. - 



Nails lost or defective, computed at per mile 

 Plugs with their loss . - - 



By breakage of rails, average from experience 

 Lessened by labour in block laying, calculated 



at only two pence per yard 

 By breakage of blocks - 



This calculation does not take in annual loss of nails, and 

 breakage of blocks, which is considerable. 



VIII. Observations 



