51 



Tlie coat of the operations, not iucludinoj the value of the macliiiies, is as follows: 



Loading white ties per 100.. $0.36 



Adzing and boring do .62 



Tanking, do 64 



Creosote, 300 gallons do 6.75 



Chairing and spiking do 2. 44 



Total 10.81 



or 10.81 cents per tie. 



The whole of the work is done at the company's store yards at Castleton and Knot- 

 tingley, and is let piece-work at the above rates. 



(2) Great Northern Railway (Ireland). 



In 1876, Y/hen a number of railways were amalgamated to form this system, the 

 new company decided that all the ties should be creosoted, and that to insure the 

 work being efficiently performed, it would erect a suitable plant of its own for sawing, 

 grooving, and creosotiug the timber to be used for ties. After being sawed, the ties 

 are taken to the grooving-machine, which forms a groove or seatfor the base of flange 

 rails by means of cutters making 2,000 revolutions per minute. Boring machinery, 

 with twisted augers, was used for a short time, but the adoption of the improved 

 ragged spike, which cuts its own way without splitting the tie, enables holes to be 

 entirely dispensed with, and insures a tighter fit of the spike. After being grooved 

 the ties are run out into the yardon a tramway of 30-iuch gauge, and stacked to a 

 height of 14 feet, alternate tiers on edge and on flat. 



The cylinder is 60 feet long (6 tie lengths), 6 feet diameter, built of three-eighths- 

 inch plates. The safety valve is set at 110 pounds, but seldom rises ; it is, however, 

 sometimes lifted to release air and water when the pressure pumps are working. 

 There are six tanks, of such a size that a vertical iijich of the six tanks represents 156 

 gallons ; a float is connected with a gauge and scales, which show the gallons or 

 pounds of creosote forced into the cylinder. There are 1^-inch pipes in the cylinder, 

 through which the steam is forced to heat the creosote to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, 

 thus dissolving the naphthaline, etc., and rendering the creosote quite fluid. There 

 is an air-pump, 6| by 10 inches, which exhausts the air from the cylinder^ and the 

 creosote enters by the atmospheric pressure on the tanks ; the partial vacuum does not 

 extract the sap or affect the timber. When the cylinder is nearly full the valve is 

 closed, air-pump stopped, and the two force pumps, 3 by 4 inches, put to work. 

 Three hours of steady pressure are required. The consumption of oil varies from 140 

 to 180 casks of 36 to 38 gallons each, per week, and the quantity used annually is 

 about 250,000 gallons. The average quantity of creosote iujected is 2.35 to 2.57 gal- 

 lons, or 25 to 27 pounds per tie. About nine mouths' seasoning is customary, but a 

 longer period is considered desirable so as to insure dryness. 



"Little or no creosote can be forced into a thoroughly wet sleeper, even at high 

 pressures, and a thoroughly dry sleeper will readily absorb a large quantity of oil 

 which, when solidified by exposure to the air, no moisture, either from air or Avefc 

 ground, will succeed in removing." 



