STATE GEOLOGIST. 175 
officials have long been looking for a good durable substitute for the 
wooden tie. 
Mr. O. J. D. Hughes, U. S. Consul to Italy, reports the use of con- 
crete ties by the Adriatic railway line. These ties are of steel concrete, 
8% feet long, triangular in section, with apex of angle up, having full 
width at the rail seat. Bottom width of tie is 77 inches, and the weight 
287 pounds. The iron bars used weigh 88 pounds. The ties cost $2.20 
apiece, about twice what a wooden tie costs. These ties have been in 
use for two or three years, and the railway officials, judging from the 
experience they have had, believe the ties will last thirty or forty years. 
20 
Fig. 114.—Concrete Pile, Details of Construction 
According to the Hennebique System. 
The Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railway has been experi- 
menting with such ties at various times for four or five years. Their 
first attempts were not successful, the experimental work causing the ties 
to cost about $8.00 apiece. Afterward, modified forms and more 
systematic methods of construction, led them to believe that more durable 
ties could be built for about $1.00 apiece. The improved tie consisted 
of two channel bars 7 feet long, for the top and bottom of the tie, im- 
bedded in concrete. Metal struts under the rail seats braced the two 
bars. A short piece of channel forms the rail seat through which pass 
