PREFACE

This work is intended to serve as a reference book for Railroad Managers, Superintend-ents, Master Mechanics, Engineers, Architects , Students, and others connected with thevarious departments of railroading or kindred interests, who are desirous of obtaining data asto the existing practice on American railroads relating to any of the subjects discussed in thebook. Extracts from the first sixteen chapters were previously published in serial form inthe Railroad Gazette , and met with favorable and encouraging comments.

It is hardly necessary to call attentioh to the scarcity of American literature on build-ings and similar structures connected with the station service, maintenance of way andoperating departments of railroads. With the exception of isolated articles to be found intechnical periodicals or in the publications of professional societies, accurate and exhaustivedata relating to existing railroad structures can only be obtained by personal inspection or byaddressing the proper department official in charge of the work in question. The purpose ofthis book is to obviate to a large extent the necessity of railroad men and others in search ofsuch information having to resort to tedious investigations and personal inquiries. Attentionis also called to the fact that most of the subjects embraced in this book have never beforebeen discussed in print in a systematic and thorough manner.

The aim of the author has been to present a collection embodying the best practice foreach particular class of structure, whether cheap or expensive, and showing the sundry varia-tions caused by individual views or local conditions in different sections of the country.Particular attention has been paid to the smaller buildings connected with the roadway andoperating departments. The cheap and simple structures in use in the thinly settled sectionsof the country have been considered of as much importance as those of the most elaborateand artistic design.

Each subject is discussed in a general manner at the beginning of the correspondingchapter, so that inexperienced persons can gain information, on the salient points and con-trolling features for each class of structures, while others more conversant with the subjectwill find these general discussions convenient for reference. The second part of each chapteris devoted to detail descriptions and illustrations of structures in use on American railroads.

The extensive territory covered is shown by the fact that over five hundred differentbuildings and structures are described, illustrated, or referred to, while there are nearly sevenhundred illustrations accompanying the text, of which over six hundred have been speciallyprepared for this work. The illustrations, which range from the simple details, general plans,

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