698 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



Fig. 118 shows the standard splice bar adopted by the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad in 1870. 



v 





Fig. 118. 

 Plain Splice Bar, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1870. 



(From a drawing in tlie U. S. National Museum. ) 



WOODEN BLOCK JOINTS. 



The cost of the iron joint fixtures led to experiments with wood 

 blocks as early as 1840. Many roads that had used nothing but spikes 

 and iron tie plates at the joints, added materially to the strength of 

 these joints by drilling the stem of the rail, and bolting a block of 

 wood of the proper shape to the outer side of the rail. About 1860, 

 some of the Eastern roads adopted a standard joint fixture composed 

 of a wooden block 48 inches long for the outside of the rail and a short 

 iron splice bar to fit closely against the stem on the inside. Fig. 119 is 



Fig. 119. 

 Wooden Joint Block, New Jersey Railroad, about 1860. 



( From origin:! I in llie l T . S. National Museum. ) 



drawn from a set of the original joint fixtures that had been in the 

 tracks of the present New York Division of the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road for many years.* Many of these blocks were used with steel rails 

 and made excellent track, when kept in proper repair. 



SLOT RAIL AND RING JOINT. 



About 1850, on some parts of the Camden and Amboyand West Jer- 

 sey Railroads, the ring joint was used. A slot about 2 inches long was 

 cut in the stem of each rail at both ends ; into these slots a ring was 



* Presented to the National Museum by Mr. James R. Smith, supervisor New York 

 Division Pennsylvania Railroad, Newark, N. J. 



