Appendix No. 3. 
METAL RAILROAD TIES. 
By B. E. Fernow. 
The following notes on the subject of metal ties were gathered from 
numbers of leading technical journals (largely foreign and therefore less 
accessible), and represent opinions and experiences of competent rail- 
road engineers, also what little experience and information could be 
gathered from American practice. If, therefore, statements ou some 
points seem not to harmonize, it must be inferred that opinions of good 
authorities differ as to those points. Hardly more than the arrange- 
ment of matter is claimed to be original. The object of this compila- 
tion is to present in a ready form for reference the scattered data, 
and to aid the railroad managers in forming their opinion as to the 
advisability of employing the substitute for wooden ties on their own 
roads.* 
In the foregoing report, to which these notes form an appendix, it 
has been shown that the railroads of this country consume yearly 
about 75,000,000 wooden ties, having an estimated actual cost value of 
at least 825,000,000. 
This consumption forms no inconsiderable drain upon the forests of 
the country, and the need of economy in the use of these resources 
should secure a ready welcome to any substitute for wooden ties, at 
least in an experimental way. Mr. O. P. Sandberg, the well-known 
expert in railroad matters, says : " The enormous consumption of wooden 
ties and their rapid decay, particularly in hot countries, make the use 
of metal ties desirable, especially with the decreasing price of metal 
and the greater expense of wooden ties. The substitution of metal ties 
for wooden ones is of course entirely a question of locality and of price.' 1 
Although the impregnation of ties does somewhat retard the process 
of decay, yet *he use of wood for railroad purposes can.aot be considered 
satisfactory. 
* The journals consulted are mainly Sclrweizerische Bauzeitung, Organ fur Forfr 
schritte des Eisenbahnwesens, Revue Generale des Cheinins de fer, Glaser's Annalen 
fur Gewerbe und Bauvresen, Congres des Chenrins de fer a Bruxelles, compte rendu 
generale, 1886. 
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