u 



REPORT. 



EUROPE. 



England.~-ln Englaud, steel ties have during the jjast few years been 

 tried to a greater or less extent on quite a number of the princix)al lines. 

 Foremost among them is the London and Northwestern Kailway, which 

 has between 20 and 30 miles of track laid with the steel cross-tie in- 

 vented by Mr. F. W. Webb, the locomotive superintendent of the road. 

 In 1888 there were 83/20i of them in use, and the experience with them 

 had covered then six and one-half year^. These ties have been experi- 

 mented with on the Pennsylvania Eailroad. 



The general type used is the steel " inverted trough " in different 

 forms, either rolled or stamped. As the system of track, however, in- 

 cludes the double-headed rail, these ties are fitted with the usual heavy 

 cast-iron chairs to hold the rail (the Webb tie has the chairs made of 

 steel plates), and the. track is unnecessarily heavy and costly. The 

 chief difliculty is said to be in adapting the steel tie to the double- 

 headed rail, it being difficult to make a good piece of work. The North- 

 eastern Railway, however, is trying steel ties under flange rails weigh- 

 ing 90 pounds per yard, which is a step toward theideaj track for main 

 lines. 



i^ra/ice.— Experiments with metal cross-ties have been made on nearly 

 all the principal railways, and a large uuniber of types have been tried, 

 but several o( them have been of complicated design, and therefore un- 

 economical. Longitudinal systems have been tried to a small extent. 



On the State Eaiiways a number of trials have been made, and with 

 some forms of tie very good results have been obtained, enabling a 

 reduction to be made in the maintenance staff. In 188G there were or- 

 dered 17,000 ties of the " Post" type and 80,000 ties of the old " Berg-et- 

 Marche" type. In 1888 there were {a) 2.10 miles laid with the ''Pau- 

 let-Lavallette" ties, with double-headed rails in chairs; {h) 7.35 miles 

 laid with a tie similar to the -'Post" type, Avith double-headed rails, 

 and 30,000 more of these ties had been ordered ; (o) 8.8G miles laid with 

 similar ties, but with flange rails. Of these {(t) had been laid in 18S5, 

 {h) and (c) in 18S7. On the Paris and Bordeaux line, 4.4 miles of " Vau- 

 therin" ties of uniform thickness were laid between November, 188G, 

 and February, 1887 ; 4.5 miles of ^^Yautherin " ties of varyiu,:^ thickness 

 (similar to the ''Post'- type) were laid in February and March, 1887, 

 and .50 mile was laid with the "Boyen\'al and Ponsard "' ties in April, 

 1888. 



The Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway used an old type of 

 iron tie several years ago, but abaiidoned it on account of the ties cost- 

 ing more than the vv^ooden ties and giving a less firm and durable track ; 



