TIMBER USED ON, OR IN, THE GROUND. 



119 



Fig. 33. 



. o^e ^y o.jz^ . 



inches, which with the width of the rails, 2>\ inches, makes up 

 5 feet, the ordinary width apart of the wheels of a cart. In France 

 great latitude is allowed in 

 specifications of sleepers, as 

 shown in fig. 33. 



In India, the ordinary 

 gauge, termed the broad- 

 gauge, is 5| feet ; and the 

 meter-gauge, 3 feet 3f inches, 

 corresponding to sleepers 

 10 feet X 12 inches x 6 inches 

 or ^\ feet x 10 inches x 5 

 inches, and 8 feet x 8 inches 

 X 4^ inches respectively. 



The rails are placed on steel 

 chairs fastened to the sleepers 

 by iron spikes, oak trenails 

 or both, and it is essential 

 that there shall be no bad 

 knots on the sleepers just 

 where the chairs are fixed to 

 them.— Tr.] 



The yearly requirements 

 in new railway-sleepers for 

 Europe is estimated at 

 30,000,000 cubic meters 

 (1,060,000,000 cubic feet) or 

 21,200,000 loads of wood, 

 the annual produce of about 

 20,000,000 acres of forest. 

 Steel and iron sleepers are, 

 however, to some extent re- 

 placing wooden ones ; and 

 in 1892, 15 per cent, of 

 the 26,800 miles of Ger- 

 man railways were laid on 

 metals, whilst the number 

 of wooden sleepers used was 



as follows : — (Dimensions in meters.) 



Different sections of Railway-Sleepers 

 used in France. (After Boppe. ) 



-~o,22 a. o,So . 



t o 22 w o.Jo-^ . 



