PRAGE TGA AGB ORTE OE LF WARE 221 
TO RAILWAY DIRECTORS, STOCKHOLDERS AND OFFICERS. 
‘The object of this paper is to present, in a concise form, some of the 
problems in reference to Railway Cross-ties: \What material shall be used? 
The probable cost, and where shall they be obtained? 
Good white oak has become too valuable to justify its use for. ties. 
(Note.—There are 45 feet, b. m., in a medium tie, which for furniture lumber 
is worth $2.70, five times the price of cross-ties.) Only the larger limbs, 
defective portions and small trees are made into ties. The average life may 
be estimated at seven years. 
Tamarack (American larch), white cedar, chestnut, pine and redwood 
are used near the localities where they grow. The characteristics of each 
are well known to engineers of maintenance of way. 
Each year the price is advancing as the forests decrease in extent, while 
railways not favorably located experience increased difficulty in obtaining a 
supply. 
METAL “TIES 
have been devised in countless numbers; some have been used upon European 
lines with apparent success, but they are costly, from $2 to $4 each, reaching 
about $9,000 per mile, as against $1,500 for white oak. 
Were all American railways as straight as those of Europe, with their 
minimum grades, and as substantially constructed, metal ties would not 
be objectionable, save for their expense: but none of these conditions exist. 
Given a mountain railway with abrupt curves, often reversed, with the 
outer rail elevated, a heavy freight train with half a mile length, an engine 
at each end or a double header: What engineer can compute the complex 
forces exerted against the rails in many directions as successive portions of 
the train are forcibly thrown from side to side? (Wooden ties are elastic; 
every spike is held in place by a cushion of wood fibers, every strain and blow 
being reduced by their elasticity.) How will it be with too pound steel rails, 
rigidly bolted to inflexible metal ties, with these forces pounding continually ? 
Accidents from broken rails and fastenings must reduce profits materi- 
ally; and when they oceur the slow process of unscrewing nuts, replacing 
rails, ties and bolts can only result in tedious delays and great expense. 
It would seem, therefore, that wood is far preferable to anything else so 
far devised for cross-ties; but wood is rapidly disappearing and trees must 
be grown for supplying this need. The rapid disappearance of the .\meri- 
can forests, the advancing prices of lumber, with increased dithculties experi- 
enced in securing a supply for commercial uses, as well as the struggle among 
competing railways to secure enough cross-ties for the maintenance of a safe 
track, bring prominently to every consumer of wood the question: JVhat shall 
we do for timber in the future? 
It has been the custom to take the oak, a tree which is slow to develop, 
as a standard by which to measure every forest growth, and thus impatient 
Americans are discouraged from forest planting. However, in the Catalpa 
we have a tree combining many of the qualities of oak, besides possessing 
several features of great value unknown to the quercus family, and, withal, 
