80 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



posals for manufacturing it, is reproduced in Plate I. It is a most in- 

 teresting relic. 



At the time that this rail was ordered, the section (Fig. 1) was in use 

 on the best railroads in England, and modifications of it with the 

 11 fish-bellied " stem had been imported and laid on several American 

 roads. 



Fig. 1. — Birkenshaw's patent Malleable Rail, 1820. (Full size). 



Fig. 2 shows the shape of the wooden rail capped with strap-iron, 

 which was in general use almost everywhere in the United States as 

 late at least as 1839. 



Fig. 2. — Strap-rail, £ inches thick ; laid on wooden stringers. In use on American 



Railroads, 1830-40. 



I shall be glad if those interested in the matter and who have access 

 to old rail piles will collect short sections, say 2 or 3 inches long, of the 

 rails used on the roads in various States during early times and pre- 

 serve them for future reference, 



