joints and at one intermediate point in dove-tailed wedge seats, insuring tight contact with the rail, and absolute fastening to the deck of the bridge. The objection to the ordinary lift-rail, which in lowering must make its own joint by seating in tight boxes, has been that any slight deviation from a true line would prevent the rail from seating itself properly. This objection has been entirely overcome in this design, by allowing liberal clearance on all seats, and securing rigidity by the sliding bars and wedges which are connected with the inter-locking system, so that it is impossible for a clear signal to be given unless the lift-rails and wedges are in their proper positions. This device has been operated successfully on the New York and Long Branch Railroad bridge over Raritan Bay for the last 18 months.

Each of the two main tracks on the Meadows Division, and all the main tracks in the Harrison Transfer Yard, are of standard construction, with Pennsylvania Section, 1909, 100-lb., open-hearth steel rails, and stone ballast. Every fifth tie is made 9 ft. 5 in. long, to carry the third rail for the electric current, and all joints of the running rails are bonded for the same purpose. Track-laying on the Meadows, and in Harrison Transfer Yard, has been done under contract dated April 26th, 1909, with Henry Steers, Incorporated, of New York City.

Samuel Rea, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Second Vice-President, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, is the executive officer under whose direction the work has been carried on. Mr. William H. Brown, Chief Engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and Chief Engineer of the Meadows Division, also a Member of the Board of Consulting Engineers for the tunnel extension, until his retirement by age limit on February 28th, 1906, located and started the construction of the line from Harrison to the western portals of the Bergen Hill Tunnels, which latter point was the westernmost limit of authority of the Board of Consulting Engineers. Mr. A. C. Shand succeeded Mr. Brown as Chief Engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and as Chief Engineer of the Meadows Division, with the writer, who was Assistant Chief Engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and had been closely associated with Mr. Brown at the time of the location of the line and its earlier period of construction. H. E. Leonard, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Engineer of Bridges and Buildings, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, designed the Hackensack River Bridge, the superstructures of the other bridges, and the rail-locking device on the Hackensack River Draw-bridge. The surveys and construction of the Meadows Division and of the Harrison Transfer Yard have been in charge of Mr. William C. Bowles, Engineer of Construction.

PLATE XX, Fig. 1.—Lift Rail and Locking Device, Draw Partly Open.

PLATE XX, Fig. 2.—Lift Rail and Locking Device, Draw Closed.