9-2 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
There are curves on this railway of 360 feet radius,and 
curves of 400 feet radius are common; the railway fol¬ 
lows the sinuosities of the valleys in its passage across 
the Alleghany Mountains: it is also carried through 
the streets at Baltimore down to the wharves, and passes 
round right angles. In these streets the traction is hy 
horse-power. 
The embankments and cuttings of a railway, at its 
opening are general] v completed ; the bridges are ordi 
narilv of timber, which, not being always well seasoned, 
is often a causo of considerable expense. The designs 
of many of the bridges for largo spans, and also of the 
roofs of stations in which timber alone, or timber in 
connection with iron is used, exhibit great engineering 
skill, and are very instructive. The railway bridge of 
largest span is the suspension hridge over the Niagara 
river, connecting the 1 nited States with Canada. The 
span of the hridge is 800 feet; and tho level of the rails 
is 250 feet above the water. The particulars of tilts 
bridge have been already published in England, 
On many railways, iron and stone are being adopted to 
replace timber structures which have decayed. 
The ballasting is generally very deficient at first. On 
the prairie lines it is impossible to procure ballast ex¬ 
cept from very considerable distances. In constructing 
these lines a ditch is dug ou each side of the road, and 
the soil hanked up so as to cover the centre of the sleep¬ 
ers, hut sloped oil' on each side, leaving the ends of the 
sleepers exposed, in order to allowrain todrainofl rapidly 
The elasticity of the soil makes these roads far from 
disagreeable tn travel over when dry ; but in wet wea¬ 
ther and frost tho absence of ballast is a source of great 
inconvenience and danger. This may ho remedied, to 
some extent, by placing a good drain under the centre, 
as well as at’the sides of the roads; hut nothing can 
compensate for the absence of ballast, which, in a set ere 
climate like that of America, should he of broken stone, 
not less than two feet in depth under the sleepers, with 
good drainage. It is sometimes customary to slope the 
top of the ballast on each side, so, as to cause the snow- 
melted on the surface to drain oil'. 
The gauge of American railways varies: the general 
gauge in the United States is 4 ft. SJ in.; the gauge of 
the Ohio railway is nominally 4 ft. 10 in., but it is^ in 
many cases in "practice made 4 ft- 81 in. The New 
York and Erie, and one or two lines in connection with 
it, have a 6-feet gauge. The gauge of Canadian rail¬ 
ways is 5 ft, 3 in. The break of gauge is of less con¬ 
sequence than in England, because there is not so 
much interchange of working stock between the several 
railway companies. 
The sleepers on American railways are usually ot 
oak, cedar, or hemlock spruce, of about 6 inches by 8 
inches scantling, and from 7 feet to 9 feot long. 
In conseqpcnce of iron being taxed to the amount of 
30 per cent., the American railway companies have been 
obliged to economise iron to the utmost. The rails are 
made as light as possible, the usual form being the con¬ 
tractors’ rail of from 50 to 65 lbs. weight. Many rail¬ 
way companies obtained rails from England, for which 
thev paid by mortgage bonds. The rails thus obtained 
have not, it is stated, generally proved durable. With 
regard to rails obtained from American iron works, the 
plan is frequently adopted of contracting that the rail 
shall last a specified time, the failure of any rail being 
made good, together with axpenses incurred in conse¬ 
quence. The "rails are spiked to sleepers, laid trans¬ 
versely, the joint heing generally secured by means ot 
a chair niaite of boiler-plate, with a lip cut out on each 
side and turned up; the lip is barely throe inches broad, 
and projects about 1J inch on each side of the joint. It 
is stated that the lip soon works up, and when ham¬ 
mered down is ant to break off; consequently the joints 
on a road of tins description soon become very bad ; 
and several plans have been tried to improve them. 
Several forms of compound rails, for avoiding joints, 
have been tried, but I was informed that they have in¬ 
variably failed. The ordinary fished joint had been 
' tried, but the necessity for economising iron, and of pre ■ 
serving a sufficient breadth of base, has so limited the 
depth, and modified the form of the rail, that it is not 
generally well adapted to this mode of fastening; and 
it was stated not to have proved successful. A modifi¬ 
cation of tho fished joint, in which a piece of iron about 
12 inches long is used on the inside of the rail, and a 
piece of oak 5 feet long on the outside, has been tried 
on the Baltimore and Ohio and other railways, and ap¬ 
peared to answer. 
The switches and points in use upon English railways 
are almost unknown in America, shifting rails or con¬ 
tractors’ points being universally used in lieu; and con- 
s-rqnently, if the points are set wrong, the vehicles 
which pass through them must leave the rails. The 
result of this is that the points are almost always kept 
locked, and a signal is invariably attached to them. 
On the Newlmven Kailway, in order tn render it im¬ 
possible for the switches ever to he set except for the 
main line, they are worked from inside a box, the lever 
of tho switches being connected .with the door of tho 
box, so as to shut it when they nre held open for the 
siding; thus the pointsman cannot get out of his box 
unless the points are set right for the main line. 
The signal arrangements at stations, and even at 
junctions, arc generally very imperfect. Level cross¬ 
ings are scarcely ever provided with gates or gate¬ 
keepers. except in sjierial cases near towns; but a large 
board is placed over the crossing with the words printed 
on it in large letters: ”Railroad crossing. Lookout 
for ‘the core when the engine bell rings." On tho 
'Philadelphia and Reading Railway, a blue coloured 
light is shown at all IevcL crossings at night. It is the 
invariable duty of the engine-driver to ring a large bell, 
plated on his engine, whenever ho approaches a level 
crossing or passes along a street. 
Cattle-guards are constructed on each side of every 
level crossing, in order to prevent cattle and animals 
from straying on to the line. These are trenches_about 
4 feet deep and 4 ft. 6 in. broad, ent across the railway, 
the rails being supported by narrow balks laid across 
the opening. Laths, a few inches apart, are laid across 
the opening to enable persons to pass over. 
The railways are generally well fenced, except at 
stations or where the railway is carried along roads or 
streets, in which case no separation is made The main 
line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway runs through 
the streets at Baltimore to the passenger station; the 
trains are drawn by locomotives, and a man on horse-, 
back rides along "in front of every train, blowing a 
trumpet, to warn people, to keep off the track. 
A very general practice prevails of distributing the, 
goods traffic, by means of rails laid along the streets to, 
wharves and "private establishments, along which the 
railway care are moved by horse power. At some sea-, 
port towns in this country, as, for instance, Aberdeen, 
Dundee, and Birkenhead," rails are carried on to the 
wharves, but not to the same extent as in America- 
The practice is, however, one which might be adopted 
in many places in this country with great advantage, 
and with saving of expense in unloading and reloading. 
The construction of the cars in America enables them 
to he moved round very shaqi curves. 
The stations are generally unfenced, and passenger 
stations are considered public’thoroughfares. The accom¬ 
modation is generally inadequate and very indifferent, 
there being a great want of waiting-rooms and other 
conveniences, as well as of means of obtaining inform¬ 
ation. At some stations, however, where the passenger 
traffic is large, the booking-office has a second opening 
into the ladies’waiting-room, so that ladies travelling 
alone can obtain tickets without crowd or difficulty. 
This arrangement is one which might be adopted with 
great advantage in this country. 
Construction of Rolling Stock. 
The practice of constructing the railways in a hasty 
and imperfect manner has led to the adoption of a form 
of rolling stock, capable of adapting itself to the ine¬ 
qualities of the road; it is also constructed on-the prin-. 
