. Every boy's book of railways and steamships . oopswill fill a big waggon. A whole chapter mightbe devoted to the work of the navvy alone, butwe must hasten on to the laying of the rails. George Stephensons first railroad was primarilyfor the conveyance of coal; and hence he laidhis rails, 4 feet Sg inches apart, so that they wouldcoincide with the tramways in use at the collieries ;and this was the width of the rails on most of thelines that speedily followed the opening of theLiverpool and Manchester railway. A perfectmania for railways had set in, and, in the year1846 alone, Parliament gav
. Every boy's book of railways and steamships . oopswill fill a big waggon. A whole chapter mightbe devoted to the work of the navvy alone, butwe must hasten on to the laying of the rails. George Stephensons first railroad was primarilyfor the conveyance of coal; and hence he laidhis rails, 4 feet Sg inches apart, so that they wouldcoincide with the tramways in use at the collieries ;and this was the width of the rails on most of thelines that speedily followed the opening of theLiverpool and Manchester railway. A perfectmania for railways had set in, and, in the year1846 alone, Parliament gave permission for theconstruction of 272 new lines. When the track has been levelled the rails arelaid. First come the sleepers, blocks of wood, 9feet long, 10 inches wide, and 5 inches deep, whichare laid down at regular intervals at right anglesto the rails. The earliest sleepers were blocks ofstone, and, like them, the first wooden sleepers werelaid longitudinally. Upon the wooden blocks arebolted metal chairs with grooves in which the rails. 1. BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE. 2. FORTH BRIDGE. HOW A RAILWAY IS WORKED 85 are laid. The present rails are of steel, 60 feetlong and weighing from 75 to 100 lbs. per yard,according to the nature of the traffic they willhave to carry. Each rail is wedged into the chairs,and the ends of the metals are held together byfish-plates, which are bolted into the rails. The ends of the rails do not quite meet eachother; allowance must be made for expansionduring the heat of summer. In a hot July andAugust the rails between London and Manchesterare actually five hundred feet longer than they arein January. This does not mean that the line isany longer, but that the spaces between the railshave been filled up to the extent of five hundredfeet. Even when the rails are in their place wehave by no means completed our task, for thereare stations and scores of other kinds of buildingsto be erected, and the signalling apparatus has tobe installed from end t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidever, booksubjectrailroads
