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improvements as traffic develops ; and to this end the nse of 

 steep grades, the free use of curves and wooden structures are 

 largely availed of — wood beins: used because it is plentiful, 

 and is the cheapest and handiest material procurable. As the 

 revenue of the country becomes larger and the business of the 

 railway develops, the lines are improved, the grades lowered, 

 the curves made larger, and permanent structures introduced. 

 "Whenever 40 per cent, of the gross earnings will pay the 

 interest on the funded debt, the balance, after deducting 

 operating expenses, is expended in making improvements. The 

 rails are now all of steel — about 67 lbs. to the yard for trunk 

 lines, 60 lbs. to the yard for minor lines ; sleepers never less 

 than 2,800 per mile. The average life of the timber bridges 

 is nine to eleven years. 



Mr. Gordon, from whose paper I have quoted largely, winds 

 up with the following observations : — 



I. There is no difference in the principles underlying the 

 American practice in the location of light railways and that of 

 the most expensive and perfect railways for heavy traffic, and 

 that while the former is looked upon as an imperfect stage of 

 development of the latter, due consideration is usually given 

 and provision made for the growth and improvement of the 

 line to a better condition as the traffic increases, with the least 

 possible fundamental alteration in the line and its belongings. 

 The highest engineering skill is as much, if not more, required 

 in laying out a cheap and light as a heavy line. 



II. The latest and best American practice rejects the use of 

 light rails and permanent way for an economical railway. It 

 must be prepared for the ordinary passenger and freight cars 

 of the country to pass over, the only difference being that light 

 loads would be carried on the lighter line at lower speeds. To 

 fix these ideas without attaching precise value to figures, it 

 might be expressed by saying that whilst 3,000 pounds per 

 lineal foot of train appears to be the maximum load of a 

 freight train on a heavy road at the present time, 2,000 

 pounds per lineal foot is a limit for a light railway, and the 

 bridge-work should be calculated for these loads. Steel rails 

 not less than 55 pounds per yard, and sleepers not less than 

 2,800 to the mile, with 15,000 super feet of bearing surface, 

 should be used. 



III. Some advocate light engines and frequent trains; others 

 prefer heavier engines and fewer trains, with greater loads. In 

 the Far West, where only one or two trains run each way per 

 diem, the heaviest engines are frequently used, with trains 

 loaded to the utmost. 



IV. When no extra cost is incurred the same grades and 

 curves that would be given to the best railway the country ad- 



