with an eight degree or seven hundred and sixteen feet radius curve at each end, and curving in the same direction. These curves are elevated about four and one-half inches, and the elevation is carried along the tangent crossing the bridge. This appears objectionable, as it was observed that the wheels of trucks dropped hard against the lower rail, and a sharp flange would be liable to mount it. It would be advisable to change the line of track a little at each end of the bridge and force in a short tangent off the structure, also to put an iron guard rail in the curve approaching the bridge to prevent the possibility of derailment.

About two hundred feet north of this last structure is a new plate girder deck resting on substantial masonry. At this point was formerly a Howe truss, on timber abutments. Both of these iron bridges have a good floor system. North of Haverstraw is a trestle bridge for an under farm crossing, in good condition.

Generally the sleepers were found in good condition, but stretches of superstructure had many too old ties. It is proposed to remove all that are defective in strength, which is necessary especially under the chair rail yet in the road. In relaying the road in New Jersey, with steel, considerable fish-plate iron rail was transferred to the northerly end of road, making the entire iron in a very fair condition, but a further repair of the chair iron is

necessary.

The fencing in New York is in about the same condition as last reported fence being maintained.

very little

There is no particular change in the station buildings; they were found cleanly kept, but generally too poorly furnished. An improvement in this respect is desirable and would undoubtedly be appreciated by those who use the road.

At Hillsdale, N. J., the company have a small shop for general repairs. The engines are well maintained and, during the past winter, most of the passenger cars have been repainted and upholstered. Air brakes and Miller couplers are now on all passenger equipment and fire extinguishers and tools are placed in each car.

Certainly the road has not deteriorated in maintenance in New York since the last inspection, and one or two years more will undoubtedly see the same excellent condition that now exists in the State of New Jersey.

NEW YORK CENTRAL AND HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD.

The last inspection of the New York Central-Hudson River system of railroads was made in 1884, at which time a careful examination was made of all openings, together with the general maintenance of road and depots, of each division. The present inspection was made in like manner, commencing with the

Harlem Division.

This division includes the Grand Central depot in New York; the depressed road and tunnel through Fourth avenue in that city, and extends to Chatham, N. Y., a distance of 127 miles, and also includes the branch road from Golden's Bridge to a point near Lake Mahopac, a distance of seven miles.

The addition to the Grand Central depot, the construction of which was commenced about the time of the inspection in 1884, has been fully completed. This improvement consists of the erection along the easterly side of the original building of a train-house, and of commodious lobbies and waiting-rooms on Forty-second street. It also provides a stairway and convenient entrance on a plane with the Forty-second street station of the Manhattan Elevated railroad, connecting with its Third Avenue line. The train-house has a number of tracks with intermediate wide stone platforms, and has baggage, mail, and express rooms along its easterly side. The whole is of beautiful design, substantially constructed, and aids greatly the prompt and convenient discharge of the immense passenger traffic of the road, as also that of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. This improvement, and the completion of the laying of both main tracks from the Grand Central depot to the junction with the Hudson River division, a distance of about five miles with new eighty-pound per yard steel rail, and the replacing with partly worn steel rails all but four and one-half miles of the iron rail at the northerly end of the division and the rebuilding in iron of a number of truss and stringer bridges, constitute about all the betterments within the past two years.

The entire roadway was found in good order, neatly kept and the fencing well maintained. Renewals of fencing are being made by using five strands of barbed wire and a string piece of pine lumber fastened to the tops of posts. A considerable amount of reballasting has been accomplished since the previous examination, and the renewing of sleepers has been quite thoroughly done, bringing nearly all of them to a very good condition. Generally the line of ballast is neatly defined, the top angles of road-bed uniformly dressed, and the adjustment of the superstructure as a whole has been raised to a higher degree of workmanship. The truss bridging is all in very good condition. Of these eleven are Howe trusses, from 25 to 130 feet length of spans. They are all in good life of timber and have strong floor systems. Bridge 48, near Bronxville is a through Howe truss of 180 feet span. At the center of this truss is a strong timber bent, upon which the truss rests. Bridge 78 is a similar truss, but of less span, and is bented from the second panel

A few how

joint at each end. Bridge 115, north of Dover Plains is a deck Howe truss of 120 feet span. This bridge is too low in height of truss as constructed for its span, and beginning to fail; two strong timber piers were placed under it, each provided with ice breakers. Generally these trusses have reinforced truss rods. Including the two-span pivot swing bridge over the Harlem river there are twelve iron truss bridges and thirteen plate girders and I-beam structures. These are all in good condition, have good floors, and strong masonry abutments and piers. The short openings of one and two spans, having timber girders are generally in good condition, and have ample stringers. ever are too old in life of timber, and in a number of cases the masonry is in poor condition. These are constructed mostly of local stone and laid dry, but the action of frost and the shock of train movement has shaken the walls so much as to make rebuilding necessary. It is also desirable to provide a better floor system on many of them. The only trestle on the division is at the northerly end of the Harlem river bridge. It consists of several twelve feet, bays, each track having three stringers six by fourteen inches section under each rail. A number of these stringers are old and should be removed. Care should be taken to renew all the too old and partly decayed stringers. Generally the cattle-guards are well kept up. A number have railroad iron for stringers. At the northerly end of the road, a few were noticed constructed with plank sides and ends, forming the pit, and timber girders. Some of these have open floors. Near Tremont is an eight feet span waterway, with rail spiked to stringers on both tracks. As a whole the small openings are in good condition, but a number have old and partly decayed girders, the cross ties are in some cases too widely spaced, and occasionally in poor life. In a few instances the timber girders are scarcely sufficient in size for their lengths, allowing a reasonable factor for safety. The iron rail will probably be renewed another year.

Hudson River Division.

This division extends from a junction with the Troy Union railroad, in the city of Troy, to West Thirtieth street, and to St. John's Park in the city of New York. It also includes the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris branch connecting with the Harlem railroad and thence to the Grand Central depot. A joint lease with other lines, gives a trackage over the Union railroad to the Troy Union depot. There has been no change in the general outline of the division since the previous inspection, but its condition has been somewhat improved. In addition to those of last season, nine stringer openings from eight to fifteen feet wide, originally having trestle or crib abutments, have this year been provided with excellent masonry, leaving only a few of like kind to be made permanent structures. Fifteen miles of road-bed has been reballasted this season, and the eighty pounds steel rail extended on both tracks to a point thirteen and one-half miles north of the junction with the Harlem railroad. North of Poughkeepsie where great difficulty has been experienced to hold a road-bed in the filling of two pieces of trestle bridging, further progress has been made. It is a work that can only be done gradually from the nature of the deep soft mud underneath and its movement toward the channel of the river when loaded. These difficulties now appear to have been overcome, and a heavy sea wall resting on a pile foundation has been commenced along the side next to the river. It will probably take a year or two more to complete the work, as only a little at a time can safely be attempted. The defective ties on bridge floors noted in the previous report have been renewed. There are yet a few abutments of minor openings that should be rebuilt, and a number of stringer bridges without properly constructed flooring. Of these there are five openings from fifteen to thirty feet wide, spanned with iron U-shaped girders, the channel being filled with timber to which the rails are fastened. These open floors would prove serious defects in case of derailment. Insufficiency of head-room probably prompted the design, but the use of strong cross-sleepers and guard timbers by slightly raising the rails would be preferable, even if the plane of tracks must necessarily be a trifle undulating. A number of riveted lattice trusses have been reinforced, and a few others are yet to be strengthened. The work of riprapping the side of the embankments north of Poughkeepsie, exposed to the action of the waves from the river, has somewhat progressed, but the results appear unsatisfactory, as the waves in severe wind storms, and moving ice, carry even large blocks of rock into the river. It would be much better to lay these large blocks into a smooth-faced sea wall as has been done south of Poughkeepsie. Such construction having proved to be able to withstand the waves and ice and the additional expense in the laying of the wall is not excessive. Unless so done, the work of filling out the cutaway banks and replacing the riprap will probably continue. Less distance of excessively narrow banks on the river side was seen this year than when last inspected, but there were some very narrow points that would prove a serious matter if a train were derailed on the river side of road-bed.

The ties throughout the entire division excepting a portion of those in the tracks south of Spuyten Duyvil, used principally for freight traffic, are in excellent condition and but few of those excepted are seriously defective. The adjustment of the line and surface of superstructure for the greater part is of the best, and the roadway and fences were found in a neat, orderly condition, and well maintained. The passenger depot at Hudson has been completely renovated and repaired, and is now one of the best station houses on the division. All of the depots were examined and with one or two exceptions found neatly

kept. The large brick depot and dining-room at Poughkeepsie has been recently painted, the walls and ceilings of waiting-rooms and restaurant neatly frescoed, and the yard and street adjoining are in good order. Considerable reballasting has been done on the Port Morris connection, and the heavy eighty pounds steel rail has been nicely adjusted to the sharp ten degree curves, and strongly railbraced. This piece of road is in excellent condition.

Eastern Division.

This division extends from Albany to DeWitt, and includes the branch from Schenectady to Green Island, and a trackage over the leased lines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal ⚫ company and over the Troy Union railroad to the Union depot in that city. A great improvement has been made in the general maintenance of both freight tracks on this division since the last inspection. The excellent ballast from the Yost gravel-bed has been plentifully used in reballasting. The sleepers have been largely renewed, and the adjustment of these tracks brought to a much higher degree of perfection. The passenger tracks have also been further ballasted, and the whole of the superstructure shows a better maintenance. The truss bridges and single span openings were inspected, and with the exception of the masonry in the short stringer open culverts and cattle-guards constructed of small stone, some of which are laid dry, were found in good order. It is suggested that these small structures, some of them of several spans, where the action of frost and jar of trains have fractured the abutments and piers, be relaid with a better quality of masonry, or, if deemed necessary, where there is very little drainage, that iron pipe be substituted. The flooring of the openings has been further improved, and a strong standard of construction adopted, but there remains a number of stringer spans upon which it would be advisable to have a better floor system. Where the tracks have been raised in reballasting, it was noticed that in raising the stringers to conform to the increased height of approaches, the blocking between wall plates or girder seats, and the raised stringers had been done in a tem- › porary manner. It would be much better if that work was more thoroughly done. Nearly all openings of ten or more feet spans have iron girders, and a few of those less in width have railroad bars of steel or iron for stringers. Occasionally a wooden girder was noticed as a little old in life of timber and a very few wall plates are in like condition. A few loose rivets were observed in some of the iron trusses which have probably been reset, as that work was about to be commenced. The bridge over the Erie canal at Schenectady is to have a new standard floor this season. New mile and signal posts have been recently set along the entire division. They are neatly painted and lettered, and have their bases enclosed with a neat pavement of cobble stone and whitewashed, the better to attract the attention of the train men. The road-bed is well drained and its angles and surface dressed to uniform lines and surface, and the roadway was found exceptionally neat and orderly. Great care is apparent in the keeping up of strong fences throughout the entire division. At Schenectady there has been erected on the south side of the passenger tracks a large brick passenger station of excellent design, and the site of the old depot located between the passenger and freight tracks is now a long covered platform There is also a covered platform along and extending each way from the new station building. A covered footbridge spans all the tracks of the Central-Hudson and those of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's leased line. A stairway from this foot-bridge leads to the platform between the passenger and freight tracks enabling passengers to pass from side to side without crossing at grade of rails. The new building has one large waiting-room, with all necessary lobbies, and baggage rooms, and well fitted water closets. The station yard is enclosed, and the spare ground neatly laid out in lawns and flower plots.

A change has been made in the passenger station at Utica. Where the large diningroom at the easterly end of the buildings was, is now the general waiting-room. It is neatly furnished and has all conveniences attached. The room formerly used as a women's waiting-room is now used as a lobby for the use of the public who await or part from passengers, and for the sale of tickets. The room formerly occupied for a men's waiting-room is now used for baggage, and the separate building on the west as a dining and lunch-room. A good covered platform runs the entire length of the whole, and more. These changes add to the convenience and facility of the station.

No other changes of moment have been made in station buildings. Each was examined and generally found well kept, and many of them have improved surroundings, such as lawns, flower plots and graveled walks. A few of the depots have been painted this season. Many additional highway and street grade crossings have been provided with gates, and a further interlocking of distant signals with switches out of main tracks has been done.

On the Schenectady branch, a great change for the better has recently been made. The sleepers have been thoroughly renewed, and nearly the entire road-bed reballasted with gravel from the Yost bed. Much of the broken masonry has been relaid, and the wooden stringers in small openings replaced with iron rails and a good flooring provided. The iron bridge over the Erie canal near Cohoes has been refloored. There are now but one or two pieces of masonry requiring to be rebuilt. The readjustment of surface and line of track is exceedingly well done and the roadway was found exceptionally neat. The station buildings are as before reported, except the depot and dwelling at Crescent have been entirely renovated. The stations and their surroundings were found generally well kept and in good order.

As a whole the Schenectady and Troy branch is now as well conditioned as any piece of single tracked road seen this season.

Western Division.

This division embraces all the lines of the Central-Hudson, west of DeWitt, in which there are about five hundred and eight miles of railroad, all of which was inspected, excepting the Charlotte and Lewiston branches, the road between Geneva and Lyons, and the freight tracks between De Witt and Oswego Junction, aggregating a distance of about thirty-one miles. The remainder of the division was carefully examined in detail, as to the condition of passenger depots, bridges and minor openings in road-bed, and other matters pertaining to maintenance of way. The main line extends from De Witt to Buffalo, via Lyons, and has two passenger and two freight tracks adjoining, except where the freight tracks between DeWitt and Oswego Junction, a distance of eight miles, pass to the northerly side of Syracuse, and between East Buffalo and the Exchange Street depot in that city, a further distance of about five miles. Of these four tracks, numbering from the south side, Nos. 1 and 2, are passenger, and Nos. 3 and 4 are freight tracks. The same designation is made with the four tracks traversing the entire main line of the Eastern Division. All of the truss bridges are of iron. They were generally found in good condition and nearly all of them well painted, but the ties on some of the bridge floors are rather too much worn, and, while not so much as to be a serious defect it would be better if they were renewed. Loose rivets were noticed in some of the lattice trusses, but these were being replaced by a force of bridge repairers at work on the division. Nearly all the other openings of every description have iron girders excepting the cattle-guards, and a majority of these have rolled iron beams or railroad bars for stringers. The flooring of some of these girder spans is not as well maintained as desirable, and the too old, or too much worn ties and fenders should be renewed until all are in perfect condition. There is very little poor masonry on the entire main line; the substructures of the large bridges are very strong, and the same may be said of the girder spans. A few too old wall plates have been overlooked. The channel forming the lower chord of some of the lattice trusses, in which water is liable to remain, should have drain holes. In the newer bridges, the bottom plates of lower chords are omitted, which is much the best construction. The roadway is very neatly kept and strong fences maintained throughout, and the road-bed of the four tracks evenly surfaced to a standard for drainage recently adopted, and the outside lines of ballast uniformly defined. The ditches in cuttings are well opened, and where sliding slopes occur, good foot walls are being laid and slopes sodded. The mile section and signal posts are all neatly painted, and have a pavement at their bases neatly whitewashed. The fences at all grade highway crossings are neatly painted white, and connect closely with the cattle-guards. The cattle-guards are not continuous across the entire road-bed, but are only under each of the four tracks, often leaving a space between that could readily be passed by farm stock.

If it would meet the requirements of law regarding cattle guards at highways, in many instances it would be an improvement to fill up these openings where not required for drainage, and substitute a grating of timber slats across the road-bed. Considerable additional gravel has been placed under the superstructure since the last inspection, and with the exception of a portion of the easterly end all the tracks are very well ballasted. The sleepers as a whole are in strong life, and the adjustment of line and surface of the superstructure is very workmanlike. In fact there are miles and miles of all four tracks on both divisions that seem to be nearly faultless in this respect, and would require a dynagraphic inspection to reveal them, especially the passenger tracks. A marked improvement was found in the passenger stations. A number of them have been thoroughly renovated, and with few exceptions they were found well and neatly kept. At Lyons, where there is a large passenger business and a transfer with the Lehigh Valley railroad, there is not such a building as the situation appears to require. At Fairport a connection is made with the West Shore division and the depot of that road is used. A new passenger depot built of brick and of excellent design has been recently erected at Clyde. Walrath and Penfield have new frame depots. The Jordan, Weedsport, Newark, Palmyra, Brighton, Churchville, Crittenden, Bergen, Looneyville and Grimesville depots were found in exceptionally good order and most of them have neat lawns. At Batavia the station and grounds are very attractive. The passenger rooms are neatly kept and the yard is laid out in flower plots and lawns in which are graveled walks and a fountain. The large depots at Rochester and Buffalo, with train houses attached, were found in excellent order. The depot and dining-room at Syracuse is in fair condition. There is an immense passenger traffic at these large cities, and it is a difficult matter to keep the passenger stations at all times looking neat and orderly and can only be done by constaut vigilance and frequent renovation.

Rochester to Suspension Bridge.

A single track road, excepting between Brockport and Ames Street junction, with main line at Rochester, a distance of about fifteen miles, having a second track, five miles of which has been added since the previous inspection. It connects at Suspension Bridge (with the trunk line railroads of Canada, and is of itself a part of a through line having a

large traffic. The last of the wooden trusses on this division, the one at Lockport, has been replaced with a strong iron bridge. There are now four through and twelve deckriveted latticed truss bridges, and sixteen plate and I-beam girders, all of which were found in good condition and mostly have strong floors. There is one U-girder and only two or three stringer openings that are without a good floor system. All of the minor openings and cattle-guards were examined and found in strong life of timber and the masonry with one or two exceptions in good order. The roadway was found neatly kept and the fencing well maintained. The general condition of the sleepers has been much improved, they are now in strong life, and the adjustment of track-surface and line very correct. Considerable ballasting has been done within the past two years, but there remains quite a length of road-bed on which a coating of fresh gravel would be of service in track maintenance.

The ditches of the road-bed are well developed, which aids much in retaining a wellsurfaced superstructure. There has been some renewing and renovating of passenger stations, a work inaugurated that will probably continue until all the depots are put in the best order, of which some of them are much in need, and it is hoped that a few are usually kept more cleanly than was noticed when the inspection was made. Generally they were found very orderly, and a number of them exceptionally clean and neat inside and in their surroundings.

At Suspension Bridge there is being erected a large brick passenger station suitable for the local and transfer traffic with the railroads through Canada. The depots at Lockport, Medina and Albion have been completely renovated and are now in the best of maintenance, and the Brockport passenger station is receiving a like overhauling.

All overhead obstructions are now provided with warnings. The mile and signal posts are neatly painted and the paving at their bases and the cross fences at highways are neatly whitewashed.

Auburn Branch,

Between Syracuse and Brighton Junction via Auburn, was found in like thoroughness of maintenance as upon previous inspections. It is a single track road of much older construction than the main line between the same points and is laid with steel rail with angle plate and fish-bar fastenings and Cooke safety switches. A careful inspection was made of the bridges, small openings, depots and the superstructure. There is but one wooden truss, which is located near Shortsville. It is a covered deck Howe truss of two eighty feet spans, and is eighteen years old. The timber is in excellent condition and the bridge shows no signs of weakness. The ability of the truss rods to sustain present stresses can be determined by the strain sheet furnished to the Commissioners. The rods have not been reinforced. Near Paddleford is a trestle over a highway and at Geneva is a pile bridge of four spans; both of these bridges are in good condition. Crossing the outlet of Cayuga lake are two separate pile bridges, each about one hundred feet in length. They are generally in poor life of timber and have in part been renewed and strengthened by additional bents and stringers. The foregoing is all of the timber work on this branch, excepting track stringers at short openings. These timber girders were each examined, and with few exceptions found in good condition; but the ties on a number of waterways and cattle-guards were found too much worn or decayed. There are four spans of through and eight spans of deck riveted lattice trusses and twenty openings having iron plate girders. A number of short openings and cattle-guards have railroad bars for stringers. The iron bridging was found in good order, generally well painted, and the masonry substructure with one or two exceptions found in good condition. All of the roadway is kept exceedingly neat and some portions of the road appear like a well kept lawn. The fences are all well maintained and cross fences at highways are neatly painted and whitewashed. A general uniformity of road-bed and the neat outline of ballasting add much to the appearance of the road. All the sleepers except in some of the floors of openings and cattle-guards appear to be in strong life, and the adjustment of track is very workmanlike. The depots were generally found in good order and neatly kept. Many of them have lawns and flower beds occupying spare ground usually devoted to old debris and litter. The improvement all along the Central-Hudson roads in this respect, within the last few years, is very marked.

The station building at Victor is quite old, and several others are nearly in the same condition. A great improvement, however, has been made since the last inspection. At Shortsville there is a new frame depot, well designed and furnished. Phelps has a new large frame depot with walls and ceilings finished in hard wood and well furnished. The brick depot at Geneva, just completed, has been entirely remodeled and is now a fine passenger station. Waterloo has an entirely new two waiting-room brick station finished in hard wood and neatly furnished; and the brick passenger station at Marcellus has been renovated in a thorough and complete manner. With the exception of the poorly maintained cattle-guards, and one or two short span waterways, the Auburn branch is in the best maintenance.

Buffalo to Suspension Bridge and Lewiston.

Buffalo to Lewiston, a distance of twenty-nine miles. Between the Exchange Street depot, Buffalo, and South Tonawanda, and between LaSalle and Suspension Bridge, is a double-tracked road, leaving about seven miles of single track south of the latter place,