16 



CJiina. — Steel cross-ties are to be tried as au experiment ou tlie new 

 railway which was opened last year. 



AUSTRALIA. 



Queensland. — The first metal sleepers ever made in Anstralia have 

 been tried in this colony, an experimental section of a few miles long 

 having been laid with the '•Phillips " type. This is a steel cross-tie 

 intended for prairie worli, where the track is laid on the snrface of the 

 gronnd ; it is designed to be used withont ballast, being simply packed 

 with snrface soil. Some years ago abont 1,000 wronght-iron ties were 

 laid, bnt they only lasted about five years, as they generally fractured 

 under the rail-seats, owing, it is said, to defective fastenings ; they were 

 laid in broken-stone ballast. 



In regard to the "Phillips" type, Mr. Phillips kindly reports to me 

 as follows, under date of January 2, 1889, and it is especially interest- 

 ing as showing that metal track is adapted for other lines than those 

 with heavy traffic: 



I luive just returned from Xortli Qaeensland, Trliere I "have been constructing a 

 section of railway 36 miles in length on my system. The country I am dealing "svitli 

 is between the port of Xormanton, in 17^^ 45' 8. lat. and 141-^ 10' E. long., and a new 

 goldfield by the name of Croydon, situated about 85 miles E. S. E. from Normautou. 

 The country is almost uniformly even, and the Norman Eirer is the only important 

 river crossed. The first 4 miles are over gravel ridges, when a descent of 1 in 70 for 

 half a mile brings the line down to the level of th3 river flats; the soil is dark cla.v 

 with a slight admixture of alluvial sand. This description of country extends to 14 

 miles, where the river is crossed with a low level timber bridge (principally 20-feet 

 spans) on a sandstone rock bottom. Thence to Croydon the country is very uniform 

 in cbaracter — fine sandy soil, covered with a more or less thick forest of inferior and 

 stunted timber, sometimes dense enough to be called brush or scrub. There is no 

 forest timber of sufficient dimensions in the district available for ties or bridge -work, 

 neither is there any stone for ballast, except by quarrying below the sivrface, and 

 that is sandstone of an inferior and very soft: descrix)tion. Tbe country is almost 

 uniformly even, except at the 4-mile x>eg, where there is a cutting of about 5 feet and 

 an embankment of equal height. I commenced track-laying July 7. and completed 

 3-2 miles on December 29 ; fully seven weeks were lost tbrough non-delivery of ties, 

 so that the average rate of progress Avas 1| miles per week of six working days. 

 The number of men employed in (a) clearing track 60 feet wide, (&) grubbing, (c) 

 ploughing, harrowing, and rolling central width of 10 feet, (d) track-laying, (<') lifting 

 and packing ties, and (/) straightening track, never exceeded Go, with one team of 

 bullocks (12) and one horse. Cost per mile for labor only, ^GSO ; wages for laborers, 

 $2.50 per day; gangers, §3.15. The ploughing, harrowing, and rolling cost $75 per 

 mile, and is included in the $630. The total cost was under $15 per lineal foot. 

 The best day's work was .525 mile, and the best week's work a little over 2 miles. 

 No ballast has been provided and no side or cross drains cut; the only water- 

 ways are at well-defined and water-worn channels. The total timber bridging on 

 the 36 miles is 1,108 lineal feet, and only one box-drain has been put in. From 

 20J miles to 36 miles there is not a single water-way of any description. The cost is 

 under $15 per lineal foot. 



The material train has never failed to run to the head of the road daily, from tbe 

 commencement of track-laying, although there have been some very heavy thunder- 

 storms with 1 to 2 inches of rain-fall in an hour. The track is laid with steel flange 

 rails. 4U pounds per yard, 26 feet long, fastened to mild steel cross-ties, weighing 84 

 pounds each, 11 ties to a rail length. The average gross load of the material train, 



