ON AMERICAN PERMANENT WAY. 603 



to be cleaD, free from clay or boulders larger than two and a half inches 

 in any direction, and it must not contain more than one-third of sand ; the 

 broken stone to be of good durable and hard limestone or sandstone 

 approved by the engineer, and not larger than two and a half inches in 

 any direction. 



The Chicago and North-Western Railway Company uses, as standard, 

 one foot of ballast under ties, either gravel or broken stone. 



The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company (western division) uses 

 gravel, stone, or earth ballast. 



The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Company has been 

 for some time experimenting with burnt clay for ballast, having had two 

 miles of this in use for two years, and it contemplates putting in about 

 fifteen miles additional this season. Where the road is not ballasted, it is 

 surfaced up with the soil, filling in between rails about two inches above 

 the tie, sloping each side so as to clear the bottom of the rail, and running 

 down to the bottom of the tie at the ends. The company possesses some 

 excellent gravel beds in Illinois, has about 425 miles of its road ballasted 

 with gravel in that state, and about 50 miles with broken stone. In Iowa, 

 however, where the supply is deficient, it has only about 150 miles with 

 gravel ballast and the same amount with broken stone. It is in Iowa 

 that the burnt clay ballast will be used. 



The Pennsylvania Railroad Company specifies that there must be a 

 uniform depth of at least twelve inches of clean broken stone or gravel 

 under the ties. The ballast must be filled up evenly between, but not 

 above, the top of the ties, and also between the main tracks and sidings 

 where stone ballast is used. In filling up between the tracks, coarse 

 large stones must be placed in the bottom in order to provide for drain- 

 age ; but care should be taken to keep the coarse stone away from the 

 ends of the ties. At the outer ends of the ties the ballast must be sloped 

 off evenly to the sub-grade. When stone is used it must be broken 

 evenly, and not larger than a cube that will pass through a two and a 

 half inch ring. 



The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada uses gravel for 

 ballast, from pits, taking the best the country affords, putting about six 

 inches in depth under the ties, and filling in between the latter to their 

 surface. 



For good drainage the ditches must be ample, well made, with proper 

 grades, and kept well cleaned out. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company 

 has been sodding a great many of the slopes of its cuttings to prevent the 

 material from washing into the ditches, and the result has been very 

 successful, saving the cost of maintenance and at the same time improv- 

 ing the appearance of the road. It has also had a number of gutters 

 made with a concrete of Portland cement two inches thick laid on stone 

 ballast four inches thick, having a granolithic top of one inch, and cut 

 into flags of six feet long. These have given general satisfaction, and 

 the use of them is being extended at various points. In its instructions 

 to road-foremen the Pennsylvania Railroad Company specifies for ditches, 

 ' that the cross section at the highest point must be of the width and 

 depth as shown on the standard drawing, and graded parallel with the 

 track, so as to pass water freely dui'ing heavy rains and thoroughly drain 

 the road-bed. The line of the bottom of the ditch must be made parallel 

 with the rails, and well and neatly defined, at a distance of not less than 

 seven feet from the outside rail. All necessary cross drains must be put 



