NEW COMPOUND RAIL. 475 



ing of the rail ends at the joints take place, in consequence of which 

 the rails are subjected to percussive blows, the chairs not unfrequently 

 are broken, the spikes drawn, and the whole track is liable to be injuri- 

 ously thrown out of line and level. This circumstance of climate goes 

 to prove the necessity of a more perfect system of permanent way in 

 this country than where the seasons are more temperate. And hence 

 we may account for the otherwise remarkable fact, that America when 

 compared with England has been so much more prolific in compound " 

 rails, and similar expedients, to remedy the objections above named. 



Amongst other expedients which have been tried to lessen the evils 

 referred to, the application of fishing plates at the joints has been 

 found, when they are kept in perfect order, to answer an excellent pur- 

 pose. The fishing plates, however, are liable to get deranged, as the 

 bolts by which they are fastened readily become loose through the 

 vibration of the rails, and in this state they are of little ser\dce. When 

 this expedient was discussed at a meeting of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers held last year in England, it was stated that " a recent ex- 

 amination of some brackets and fish plates which had been laid down 

 about twelve months, and were secured by bolts and nuts, showed, 

 that in 125 pairs of joints, each pair having 8 bolts, 261 bolts were 

 loose, and 6 were out altogether, though they had been tightened up 

 within 48 hours. The number of loose bolts at each joint varied from 

 1 to 8. It was contended, therefore, that bolts and nuts, such as were 

 ordinarily used, were unsafe, inefiicient, and expensive fastenings for 

 connecting together the parts of a permanent way, and that they were 

 not to be relied on." 



Compound rails of various kinds have been tried of late years on 

 some American roads to overcome the defects of the ordinary rail 

 track. They have been found, when newly laid and in good order, to 

 be remarkably smooth to ride over, and easy on the engines and rolling 

 stock, but as the plan of their construction required that they should 

 be secured with the same description of fastenings as those used with 

 the fishing plates above referred to, they soon got out of order, were 

 diflacult and expensive to keep in repair, and are now, I believe, but 

 little used. The Plate shows different patterns of compound rails 

 which have been tried, six on American railways and one on the Great 

 Western in Canada. They are all, with slight modifications, designed 

 after the same general plan, that is, two halves joined together verti^ 

 cally, breaking joint longitudinally, and fastened with bolts and nuts. 



