2o6 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. 



and tightest bolts cannot prevent the vertical play in the ends 

 of the rails. 



A hammering sound will announce each successive drop of 

 the wheels from one rail to the other, more distinctly, perhaps, 

 at slow speeds than when travelling quickly, but existing equally 

 under both conditions. The unpleasant jarring sensation is 

 annoying to the passengers, and has a straining, loosening effect 

 on all the bolts and fastenings. Unless the fish-plates have 

 a thorough continuous bearing against the upper and lower 

 shoulders of both the rails, it will be impossible to obtain a 

 smooth even joint. A road may have good rails, good chairs, 

 and good sleepers, but if the fish-plates are worn and loose the 

 entire permanent way may be pronounced faulty, and all on 

 account of a minor defect which can be easily remedied. With 

 strong, properly fitting fish-plates, the position of the joints 

 should be imperceptible when passing over them in a train. 



The writer has had many miles of line where the fish-plates 

 have worn hard up to the rail web. In cases where the rails 

 were good, with the prospect of a long life, new fish-plates of 

 suitable section have been provided. In others, thin wrought- 

 iron plate liners, f e or ^ of an inch thick, have been inserted, 

 as in Fig. 291, so as to bring the plates well out from the web, 

 and allow the fish-bolts and fish-plates to exercise the free 

 gripping action which is absolutely necessary to prevent the 

 vertical rising and falling of the rail-ends during the passage of 

 a rolling load. Fish-plate liners of the above description have 

 given excellent results, and have restored the efficiency of the 

 fish-plates for several years. 



Chairs. All rails which partake of the double head section, 

 or have a base not wider than the head, require supports or 

 carriers to attach them to the sleepers, and to secure them in 

 their proper upright position. In the days of the original edge 

 rails, at the commencement of the railway era, these supports 

 were very appropriately termed chairs, and this name has 

 now been adopted in all parts of the world. Cast-iron is the 

 most suitable material for railways chairs, being much cheaper 

 in cost and less liable to loss or deterioration from rust than 

 wrought-iron. Cast-iron chairs can be formed to suit any section 

 of rail, and from the nature of the material they cannot be bent 

 or twisted out of shape so as to interfere with the gauge or cant. 

 They may break during an accident or derailment, but the 



