Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/178

 170 RAILROAD white. It occurs throughout temperate North America on both shores, migrating southward in winter ; it is rarely seen east of New York ; in autumn it is abundant in the rice fields and fresh-water marshes of South Carolina. It is semi-nocturnal; when migrating the flight is low and in compact flocks ; instinct teaches them the last moment at which they can remain in autumn, all migrating in a single day or night, whence the once prevalent idea that they dived under the mud to pass the winter. The little black rail (P. Jamaicensis, Cab.) is about 6 in. long, the smallest of the North American spe- cies of the family ; the head and lower parts are slate-colored, nearly black on the top of the head ; abdomen banded with white ; upper parts brownish black with white stripes, and reddish chestnut on the upper back ; the young are wholly bluish black. It is rare on the con- tinent, but more abundant in the West Indies ; it is highly prized by collectors. The yellow- breasted rail (P. Noveboracensis, Cab.) is about Tin. long and 13 in alar extent; the color is ochre-yellow above, with brownish black and white stripes ; neck and breast tinged with reddish, middle of abdomen white, sides band- ed with reddish brown and white ; under tail coverts rufous, white-spotted, and under wing coverts white. It is found, though not abun- dantly, in damp meadows in the eastern and southern states ; it approaches in habit the corn crake and in some respects the European quail, and was regarded by Audubon as one of the connecting links between land and water birds ; the flesh is delicate. In the genus crex (Bechst.) the bill is conical, shorter than the head, and the appearance and habits are like those of gallinaceous birds. (See CRAKE.) RAILROAD, or Railway, a road with wooden, stone, or iron sleepers supporting timber or iron ways upon which the wheels of carriages may run. The graduated earthen or stone em- bankment or cut which supports the road is called the road bed, while the sleepers, rails, &c., constitute the superstructure. Various devices have been employed since wheeled carriages were first used for facilitating their movements, but until modern times these have mostly con- sisted of levelling and hardening common roads. (See ROAD.) Wooden rails were first used as early as 1672 in a short road constructed by Mr. Beaumont at the collieries near Newcastle- upon-Tyne. They were laid exactly straight and parallel, and four-wheeled carts were drawn by horses upon them. Iron rails were first used at Whitehaven, England, in 1788 ; another iron railway was laid down by John Curr near Sheffield in 1776, but this was torn up by the colliers. In 1786 the first considerable iron railway was built at the iron works of Cole- brookdale, and had its origin partly in the low price of pig iron. The upper rails were made of cast iron, 5 ft. long, 4 in. wide, and If in. thick, with holes through which they were spiked to the lower wooden rails or ground- sills ; they were cast with a raised lip on the outer edge to keep the carriage wheels upon the track. The success of this improvement led to its general use in and about mines and collieries, and for many years rails were made altogether of cast iron. These roads were called tramways, and were commonly built as follows : The road bed was brought to as uni- form an inclination and level a surface as prac- ticable ; squared logs called sleepers or ties about 6 ft. long, 6 or 8 in. wide, and 4 or 5 in. thick, were laid crosswise, 2 or 3 ft. apart ; upon these long wooden rails 6 or 7 in. wide and 5 in. thick were notched and pinned, 4 ft. apart and parallel with each other. The iron plates or rails were then spiked to the wooden rails, and the road bed was filled in with gravel, ashes, or coal waste, to form a smooth surface for the horses to walk upon. This is substantially the plan upon which railroads for collieries, quar- ries, mines, and streets are constructed at the present time. The first iron railway sanctioned by parliament, except a few built by canal companies to bring in the products of adjacent mines, was the Surrey railway, running from the banks of the Thames at Wandsworth to Croydon, which was authorized in 1801. From this time forward the principal improvements in railway construction related to the perfec- tion of the form and materials of the rails and the method of fastening them, and later to the introduction and improvement of steam loco- motives and machinery. Cast-iron rails had been laid by Jessop at Loughborough in 1789, without lip or raised edge, but having a smooth upper surface, upon which the carriages were kept by means of flanges on the wheels ; these were called " edge rails," and were set in cast- iron chairs, which rested upon the wooden sleepers. Edge rails of oval section, with the longer axes vertical, were again used in 1801 at the slate quarries of Lord Penrhyn ; they were 4 ft. long, and each end terminated by a pyramidal or wedge-shaped block, which rested upon and fitted into an iron sill. The carriage wheels were hollowed out to fit upon the convex surface of the rails, but as this de- vice increased the friction by increasing the bearing surfaces, the surfaces of both rails and wheels were afterward made flat, and the wheels were made with flanges to keep them on the rails. By the use of these improve- ments it was found that one horse could do the work of 40 on a common road ; they were rapidly adopted by the colliers, and in the north of England still further improvements were made in the form of the rails, with the view of increasing their strength without decreasing their weight. They were made still thinner, the oval cross section verging toward the pear shape, with the thicker part at the top, while the longitudinal section was straight on the top and curved downward on the bottom, the greatest depth of the rails being midway between the ends ; those of this form were known as "fish-bellied" rails, and were used for some years after the introduction