No subjects were assigned this Committee for study and report, but the following instructions were approved by the Committee on Outline of Work of the Board of Direction:

Select articles, the standardization of which will benefit the consumers and the producers. Request the Committee on Outline of Work to have plans and specifications, if required, prepared by the appropriate standing committee and calling for as few sizes and types as will meet the needs of the consumers. Handle until a satisfactory design is obtained and promote its adoption by the roads and producers.

Progress Report

In its last report, pages 243-246, Volume 22, this Committee submitted a list of over forty articles to be considered for standardization. These have been referred by the Board of Direction to the appropriate committee for preparation of plans and specifications.

II-Ballast

The Committee on Ballast has prepared, and the American Railway Engineering Association has approved as recommended practice, specifications on page 100, and designs covering tamping bars, page 102; tamping picks, page 103; and ballast forks, page 104, of the Proceedings for 1921. These specifications and designs are being handled by this Committee with the purpose of securing their adoption by the roads and producers.

III-Ties

The American Railway Engineering Association was represented by the Tie Committee in a conference called by the American Engineering Standards Committee on the unification of Specifications for Cross-Ties and Switch Ties. At this meeting the American Railway Engineering Association was nominated as a sponsor for the project. The sponsorship