Handbook of Railroad Construction; For the use of American engineers

Handbook of Railroad Construction, for the use of American engineers, contains the necessary rules, tables, and formulæ for the location, construction, equipment, and management of railroads, as built in the United States. George L. Vose, civil engineer, is named as its author. The preface says the object of the work is to give in the plainest possible manner all instructions, rules, and tables necessary. The text says clays, when they receive water, will only part with it by evaporation, when left in a natural state. The text names as a fine example of embankment upon a bad bottom one performed by Mr. Stephenson, on the Great Western Railroad, England, at the crossing of Chatmoss.

A description of the link and valve of an engine says the movement of the valve may be checked, or even reversed in a second, while the engine is in motion, and that without sudden shocks. A rule for masonry says the stone shall be laid at the rate of one header to two stretchers, with no header less than forty inches long and no stretcher less than eighteen inches in width.