OF RAIL-ROADS.

61

Newcastle-upon-Tyne , by Mr. C. Nixon ; therails were square bars, two feet in length ;they were joined together by a half lapjoint, with one pin, one end of the rail pro-jecting beyond the end of the adjoining onetwo or three inches. Their use was not at thattime extended ; the narrowness of their surfacecut the periphery of the wheels, and they weresuperseded by the cast-iron rails with a broadersurface.

Mr. R. Stephenson states, that malleable ironrails were first introduced about the year 1815,at Lord Carlisle’s Coal-works, on TindaleFell, Cumberland ; and, as above stated, theywere used long before that period ; he mustalso have been misled as to their introductionat Tindale Fell, as, according to the state-ment of Mr. Thompson, the present agent,they were laid down on that Rail-road in1808. Since that period, they have beenpartially used in other places, but not to anyextent, until very recently.

In October, 1820, Mr. John Birkinshaw,of the Bedlington Iron-works, obtained apatent for an improvement in the form of mal-leable iron rails. The shape of the malleableiron rails previously used, were bars from two tothree feet long, and one to two inches square ;but either the narrowness of the surface