Where the public roads are wide, and a space can be set apart at the side for the special use of the tramway, the arrangement shown in Fig. 275 will be simple and efficient. It is very similar to an ordinary railway permanent way with the ballast filled in flush with the top of the rails. The rails are shown as flange or flat-bottom rails, fished together at the joints, and properly secured to transverse sleepers of wood, iron, or steel. The space between and outside the rails is filled in with small-sized broken stone ballast or good clean gravel, and forms an even surface, over which animals or cattle may pass without risk of being thrown down. [Illustration: Fig. 275, 276, 277, 278, 279] Fig. 276 represents a system which was laid down extensively, especially 202 for horse tramways, but not proving efficient, has been superseded by other types of a stronger and more durable description. The rail was rolled with a continuous groove to provide clearance for the flanges of the car-wheels, and the sides of the rail were turned down so as to fit over the longitudinal timber sleeper, to which the rail was secured by staple-dogs, as shown. Cast-iron chairs, spiked on to wooden cross-sleepers, held the longitudinal sleepers in position. The wooden sleepers were favourable for smooth running, but the section of the rail, practically a light channel-iron laid on the flat, was most unsuitable for carrying weight or for making a proper joint. Experience proved this road to be very difficult to maintain in good order for easy traction. The staple-dogs worked loose after a little time, and the rail, having scarcely any vertical stiffness, rose and fell during the passage of every car-wheel, resulting in most uneven joints and a clattering roadway. With the view to obtain a stronger and more permanent support for the rail than the longitudinal timber sleeper last described, various forms of cast-iron chairs were devised. Fig. 277 represents one of these patterns. The rail, which is of T-section with a continuous wheel-flange groove, is secured to the cast-iron chair by the cross-pin, as shown. Although this cross-pin may in time work a little loose, it cannot work out, being kept in position by the paving-setts on each side. The cast-iron chairs are placed at convenient distances, and being set in a bed of concrete, do not require cross-sleepers or tie-bars. This type makes a strong road, but the rail-joints cannot be made so even or efficient as with the more modern form of rail.