30 



(d) On trial 1 only ten oak ties liad to be replaced by new ones since 

 ISSl: this renewing, however, will go on increasing with the age of the 

 wood, thus increasing, apart from the cost of purchase, the daily ex- 

 pense (work) of trial 1. The renewal of ties on the other twenty-three 

 trials, on the contrary, was nil since 1881 (not one metal tie being bro- 

 ken), and will be nil for man y years. 



(4) The day kilometre of trials C, 7, 8, 12, and 17 does not exceed 

 0.88 franc; those of trials 10, 13, 15, 10,18, and 19 are below 0.60 

 franc, though these eleven trials date only from 1883 and 1881. 



(.j) The time of observation for types TI, TUT, and IX (trials 20 to 

 24), has been too short to form any definite idea of the mean da^' kilom- 

 etre; meanwhile everything tends to show that these types will give 

 even better results than types I to Y. 



(0) The average expense for laying and maintaining the twenty-three 

 Irial-lengths 2 to 24, has not been greater than would have been occa- 

 sioned by the timber ties laid on tlie same places. The sur>plementary 

 expenditure for these trials, apart from the trouble of statistics, etc., is 

 therefore nil. 



The close observation of the iiermament way and of the manufacture 

 of ties and fastenings led the company to the following conclusions : 



(7) A part of the road near Liege, twenty-five trains daily, curve of 

 530 millimetres radius, 16 millimetres per metre gradient, after having 

 been carefully iDacked, was left for forty months without any other work 

 than occasional nut -tightening. This shows that a good road, with steel 

 ties, once i^ropeily iiacked, requires no more scrupulous attention and 

 maintenance than one laid with timber ties; on the contrary, it would 

 have been dangerous to have left a track situated as this was, and laid 

 with timber ties, for a period of three* and a half years. 



(8) The diagrams of the self-registering gauge-measure show that the 

 gauge is much more regularly kept on metal ties than on timber (even 

 new oak) ties. 



(9) The position of the rail, which often changes on timber ties, is not 

 variable with the metal ties. 



(10) The lateral displacement of the track is insignifi^cant with metal 

 ties, even on curves of short radius, providing that the tie is closed at 

 the end. 



(11) The breadth of the ballast bed may be made a little smaller with 

 the narrow-waisted metal ties (types Yll, YIII, and IX) than with ordi- 

 nary metal or timber ties. 



(12) The respiking and re- adzing of trial Xo. 1 necessitated to 1888 

 the replacing of two bearing plates and 1,081 spikes by new ones. The 

 renewal of fastenings on the metal ties is insignificant, especially with 

 the adopted type "C." 



(13) Iron is not recommended for metal ties; mild steel is superior to 

 it in every respect, viz. manufacture, inspection, rigidity, and dura, 

 bility. 



