DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN RAIL AND TRACK. 



679 



Full-size models of these rails are in the collection. 



When the track composed of this type of compound rails was new, it 

 is described by those who rode upon it as being the finest track of 

 the period. No satisfactory nut lock was in use at that time, and as 

 the screw-threads or rivets wore and traffic became heavier, the differ- 

 ent parts of the rails could only be kept together by constant attention, 

 in screwing up the nuts or putting in new rivets. As the rails laid 

 were of iron, the wear of the inner surface was considerable, so that in 

 a little while the track was badly damaged and the old solid rail was 

 substituted. 



Figs. 58,59,60,61. 

 Comi'hi kij Hails. New Yoi;k Central and Thoy Dkion Railroads, 1855. 



(Fron in the i\ S. National Museum.] 



It is still an unsolved question whether or not, with some improve- 

 ment in the section, and made of steel and held together with the im- 

 proved bolt and nut-lock, the compound rail may be the rail of the 

 future. 



POOR RAILS LAID DURING WAR TIMES. 



During the next ten years little seems to have been done by American 

 railroad contractors to improve the shape of the rail or joint fixtures; 

 in fact, during the civil war, iron was so dear that very little rail was 

 rolled. Few new railroads were built and repairs to tracks were only 

 made under the gravest necessity. Almost all the forms of rails which 

 were made during these few years were designed by the proprietors of 

 rail mills, who naturally adopted such shapes as were easy for them to 

 make, and the railroads, when further delay was dangerous, went into 

 the market and purchased such as were offered at the lowest price, 

 without regard to the shape of the rail, the quality of the iron, or 

 whether it was designed for light or heavy traffic. 



