168 



p. 23. Report from the Mr. H. Wakefield to Sir Charles Gregory : 

 " Cape Government Railways. Experiments with Native Wood Sleepers" 

 Experiment No. 1. Weight required to draw a dog spike from each sleeper : 



Tons. Cwt. 



A. Upright Yellowwood required ... 3 5") 



B. Outeniqua ... 3 5 | Dog spikes \\ square, 

 F. Colonial Fir ... 2 10 } 4 in. long, all holes 

 M. Colonial Fir ... 2 5 j bored with fin. auger. 



Baltic Fir ... 1 10J 



Experiment No. 2. Resistance to spreading action of rail by a steady pull, one dog- 

 spike to each side of rail : 



Tons. Cwt. 



A. Upright Yellowwood ... ... 3 10~"| With these weights the 



B. Outeniqua ... ... 3 15 I rail commenced to 



F. Colonial Fir ... ... 3 15 ^ spread and the out- 



M. Colonial Fir ... ... 3 | side spike began cut- 

 Baltic Fir ... ... 2 J ting into the timber. 



Experiment No. 2o. Two dog spikes outside and on inside of rail. In all the 

 three following experiments, the inside spike drew by the canting of the rail, otherwise a 

 greater resistance would have been shewn : 



Tons. Cwt. 



A. Upright Yellowwood stood ... ... ... 4 10 



B. Outeniqua ... ... ... 4 



M. Colonial Fir ... ... ... 3 5 



Experiment No. 2&. Spreading action against rail with one holding down bolt and 

 fanged clip each side of rail and ordinary washer under head of bolt : 



A. Upright Yellowwood, with a strain of 4 tons 5 cwt. bent outside bolt and drew 

 rail from under the inside clip fang, sinking into timber in. bolt bending in centre in.. 



B. Outeniqua Yellowwood, with bolts and clips same as A, with a strain of 5 tons 

 10 cwt. bent outside bolt in centre in. and partially fractured it in the thread, outside 

 clip fang sunk into timber f in. owing to canting by rail. Baltic Fir with bolts and 

 clips, same as A, with a strain of 2 tons 15 cwt., broke outside bolt in the thread. 



2 Dog spikes were driven into each of the Native Wood sleepers, and also into one 

 of the Baltic sleepers side by side, or 4-| in. centres, and no signs of splitting were shown 

 in any of the sleepers ; holes were bored with f in. auger. 



Experiment No. 3. Action of clip-washers with fangs : 



A. Upright Yellowwood. Bottom washers did not cut in as in the Baltic Fir ; top 

 washers harder to draw into timber, the fangs making clean cuts instead of tearing the 

 wood ; washers with back fangs easiest to draw in. 



B. Outeniqua Yellowwood the same as A. apparently harder, fangs of clips scarcely 

 cutting into the wood at all. 



M. Colonial Fir. Bottom washers show marks in sleepers, top washers pulled down- 

 rather more than other specimens of wood, apparently softer but very tough. 



F. Colonial Fir. Two bolts broke pulling in the lower side, bottom washers 3 inches 

 square, did not cut in both clip washers, very hard to screw up, clip washers pulled very 

 slightly into timber bolt, fractured at thread before they could be pulled tightly up as in 

 the ordinary timber. Clip washers drew more easily into A than F. 



In the creosoted Baltic Fir Timber, one sleeper of which was tried, fangs tore away 

 the wood and fractured the fibres more decidedly than in the Colonial Wood. 



Experiment No, 4. To try the strength of each kind of sleeper by placing a flat 

 bar of iron 4 in. wide on the sleeper, and dropping a monkey upon the flat bar, shewing 

 the identation after each blow. 



