RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. 



'59 



Retaining Walls. Instances frequently occur during the 

 construction of a railway where it is advisable, if not absolutely 

 necessary, to substitute retaining walls in preference to forming 

 the slopes of cuttings and embankments. 



The excavation of a cutting may be greatly reduced in 

 quantity by introducing low retaining walls, as in Fig. 195, and 

 the saving in the material to be removed will be all the more 

 important in those cases where cutting is in excess of embank- 

 ment. 



The amount of filling for an embankment and the land on 

 which it has to be formed may both be considerably diminished 

 by building a low retaining wall, say 6 or 7 feet high, at the foot 

 of the slope, as shown in Fig. 196. Such a retaining wall makes 

 a most efficient fence and well defined boundary of property. 



The policy of adopting low retaining walls in cases like the 



