The n of const the rigidity of the track the life of the ears to such an extent that th quarter the of railway ches, Such a sweeping statement would obviously not bear critical analysis, even if the railway coach and the tramway car were at all comparable. There was obviously a great difference between the work ervormed by the fast, but regular velling, drawn bogey coach, run-hing on easy grades and curves, and the work done by the driven tram way car, particularly of the single truck type, travelling as it docs over es through tortuous streets, with cumbered tracks, steep grades and sharp © to which must be added the enormous strain caused by constant use of powerful brakes, on grades, at stopping places, and in avoiding collision with the ord ar traffic. It readily admitted that imperfections of the track are the cause of a con-table amount of damage to, and penditure on, the rolling stock, this was by no means due to rigidity of the track, but to the ure of those respon " for its construction to obtain a rigid track, Looseness and irregularities in the track must damage the rolling stock and in turn react through the car upon the track itself.
Special Requirements, Many tramway permanent ways had been constructed by engineers and contractors, who, pert in the construc! and paved streets, had, however, little or no experience in the quirements of a modern tramway track, whilst their knowledge of track maintenance was nil. The ae tual requirements for first class work were only to be found during a daily and almost constant atte tion to the maintenance of an exist ing track, for it was only by con. stantly observing the remarkable track movements that the cause of track troubles could be traced.
Tt had been declared that "any competent street contractor can lay a tramway track; that it is not dif-
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755 cult; that it is merely laying two stool rails above a bod of concrete, and finally paving up in the ordinary manner." This was, of course, quite true, but these were the sort of tracks that gave trouble later on, They no doubt became adepts at quick construction, but we-e quite unaware of flaws in their work, which developed to a considerable extent long after the work had been completed. There were many small items which required constant tention if the rigid form of construction was to be made a success from a maintenance: point of view. The case of many of the present-day track troubles lay, not in the rigid method of construction, but in the failure of those responsible to lay a rigid track.
Flexible Better if Possible.
It must be granted that where it was possible to lay a flexible track, such a method of construction would be in many ways superior to the rigid form o* construction; but it must be borne in mind that the subsoil and local conditions and the requirements of vehicular traffic in regard to the surface of the paving were such in the majority of cases as to prohibit the use of a flexible track. The rigid method of con: struction in one form or another was practically standard in Great Britain; but it was by no means a failure, and tracks had been constructed on rigid lines on which the expenditure on maintenance had been reduced to a minimum, There were usually three things wrong with a defective track:—(1) Either the design was unsuitable for the locality, or (2) the materials were defective in quality or application, or (3) the supervision of the construction and maintenance was inadequate and defective. The supervision of track construction was an almost unknown art, and the Ick of it was responsible for much of the present-day track troubles, Mr. Blatchford proceeded to dit cuss in detail concrete foundation materials, and repairs; rails, their composition and manufacture; special trackwork, tie bars and joints welding and bonding, concluding with a discussion of the best methods of maintenance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.