The principal tool used by platelayers for lifting the permanent way is a long iron-shod wooden lever, as shown in Fig. 368. The point of the lower end is pushed under the sleeper, and the curved shoulder placed on a large stone or piece of wood as a support, and then by pulling down the upper end of the lever the road can be lifted to the height required. Screw lifting-jacks of various kinds are also used for the same purpose, the foot or base of the jack resting on the ballast, while the claws grasp the under side of the rail, and raise it by means of the screw. With appliances which lift by the rails, the sleepers have to be raised by the holding power of the spikes or bolts, an operation which is apt to throw undue strain on spikes. Where possible it is preferable to lift from the under side of the sleepers. Beaters similar to the one shown on Fig. 369 are used for packing the ballast. One end of the beater is pointed like a pick, and serves to loosen the ballast or broken stone, and the other end is made somewhat in the hammer-head form to pack or beat the ballast under the sleeper. With skilled men the beater is a most useful tool, speedy and effective in its action. Held in both hands, it is raised slightly, and then brought down sharply, the hammer-head striking the gravel or broken stone placed alongside for packing under the sleeper. A series of smart blows can be given with rapidity and without requiring any great muscular effort. In some foreign countries there is difficulty in initiating the natives to work with the ordinary beater, on account of the stooping position necessary for its use. To meet this difficulty the writer has in many cases substituted a packing or tamping bar, as shown in Fig. 370. This bar, about 5 feet long, is made of light round wrought-iron or steel, with a ring-shaped handle at one end, and an ordinary beater head at the other. The workman using this bar stands upright, guides the bar, held loosely, with his left hand, and with his right gives a continuance of smart blows. This tool works well in the hands of light active natives, who can thus give a number of rapid strokes without much exertion. [Illustration: Fig. 366, 367, 368, 371, 369, 370, 372] The simple rail-bender, or _Jim Crow_, of the form shown in Fig. 371, is much used by platelayers for giving a slight bend or set to rails which have to be laid down on sharp curves on main line or cross-over roads. The rail is laid across the two arms, and the screw turned round 241 and downwards by means of an iron bar lever used as a spanner or wrench to the nut shown on the sketch. The same tool is also serviceable for straightening rails which have become crooked or kinked. Large and more comprehensive machines are used for bending rails in large quantities or setting them to exact curvature, but, being heavy and cumbersome, they are rarely taken away from the store-yards.