1 88 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. 



timber cross-sleepers or stone blocks, as shown in Figs. 234 

 and 235. 



They were light in section, and it is stated that the first 

 rails on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway weighed only 

 33 Ibs. per yard. 



The railway system spread rapidly, and the constantly 

 increasing traffic of all kinds soon necessitated heavier rails. 

 Various sections were devised and tried on different lines, one 

 of the main objects in view being to obtain a steady road for 

 the increasing speeds, as well as one of durability. Some of 

 these sections are shown in Figs. 236 to 258. 



Sections 236 to 248 all required chairs to attach them to the 

 sleepers. The flange rails, 249 to 253, and bridge rails, 254 to 

 256, also rail 257, were designed to rest direct upon the sleepers 

 without the necessity of chairs ; and the Barlow rail, 258, with 

 its great width of 11 or 12 inches, was intended to be used 

 without sleepers of any kind, the gauge being secured by means 

 of angle iron tie-bars. 



Rails were rolled heavier and longer, and more care was 

 bestowed on the fastenings ; but, notwithstanding these improve- 

 ments, the rail-joints still continued to be the weak point in the 

 road. Even with an extra large joint-chair and stout wooden 

 key, there was much vertical play at the ends of the rails, 

 producing objectionable noise and vibration in the running, and 

 acting detrimentally on all the fastenings. The introduction of 

 fish-plates at the rail-joints, as shown in Fig. 259, effected 

 an improvement which cannot be overrated, as by their 

 adoption such security, speed, and smoothness became attainable 

 as were not before possible. With a pair of simple rolled 

 wrought-iron fish-plates, or splices, and four bolts two through 

 the end of each rail a better, smoother, and more effectual 

 joint was obtained than had ever been produced by the heavy 

 cast-iron joint-chairs. The system of fishing, or splicing, was 

 at once admitted to be the simplest and most direct method of 

 joining the rails; and, although minor detailed improvements 

 have since been made, the arrangement, as a principle, has never 

 been superseded. Many miles of fished rails were laid down 

 with a chair, or support, placed immediately under the joint, 

 forming the method termed the supported fish -joint ; but ex- 

 perience proved that this mode of application did not give such 

 a good result as the suspended fish-joint, and the latter plan has 

 now been adopted on almost all railways. 



