Show iron iran prove proves to be eastly hetter than the casty cot wood metallic railway ties aro am by no means a new invention although the railway com campante compan pante lotof t of tho the united states havo have been singularly backward in adopting opting rul them they were laid upon european roads id ni early of ar 1860 and sinco since that timo time tho the number has increased so that ic it 1890 no less than miles of track were laid with them in addition to thi this there were in the same a ear 1391 1291 miles in africa in asia in india and in mexico central and south america but in the united states a n won ally in tho the lead of all improvements improve menta there were only tw two miles nilles these having been put dowa aa as experiment quito aside from the question of cost it would seem that taftt of safety alone were of sufficient importance te to justify tho the substitution of A 1 substantial metallic tie for the short lived wooden onet ith its unreliable fu fastening three fourths of a milo mile of track laid with these tics on tho the Ch chicago cago western indiana railroad in chicago in october 1889 and tho the time elapsed has been sufficient to give results of some reliability tho the ties were laid at a point where the ballast was light gravel and the traffic eighty i regular train trains in one direction each day the heaviest engine weighing pounds with pounds on each pair of drivere drivers during tho the fifteen months that the ties havo have b been con domn trains bare passed over them and mr clarke tho the manager states that the coat cost of maintenance lias has been GO so email small as to be hardly v arth taking into consideration tho the ends of tho the rails where those laid upon wooden ties tics become slightly flattened had remained perfectly smooth and even indicating the absence of tho the wheel blow at the joint injurious to rail and rolling stock riding over the section had been as if it were laid with continuous rolia the rails j had stood perfectly upright uti rint and had worn evenly upon the top the freezing and thawing of two winters had bad had no effect affect upon the track which bad had remained hi in perfect perte ct llao lite and surface the fastenings hal hat remained good and the track was as firmly held as sis when first brat laid |