Thus it may fairly be said that the railway system of the United States was reconstructed between 1896 and 1905, so far as concerns rails, sleepers, ballast and the general capacity of a given group of lines to perform work.
There was no time for Cynthia to talk to her husband, who was busy serving breakfast to the late sleepers while she showed Maria, by hand communication, the upstairs chores of Bird Song.
The planks were of wood, often beech, a few inches wide, and were fastened down, end to end, on logs of wood, or " sleepers," placed crosswise at intervals of two or three feet.
From the falling of rails, sleepers, &c., when at work on the line .
In subsequent modifications the fishes were, as they continue to be, bolted to and through the rails, the sleepers being placed rather further apart and the joint being generally suspended between them.