All expenditure now came under much closer scrutiny - "the advantages of careful auditing are strikingly exemplified in the progress of this company" said the Railway Times in 1853 when the dividend was 4%- but the M&C was not afraid to spend money to save money. To reduce maintenance costs, the original track (56 lb/yd rails laid on stone blocks) was re-laid (with 84 lb/yd rails, fish-jointed and laid on sleepers) as funds permitted over the late 1850s; cast iron wheels on the rolling stock were replaced with (more robust) malleable iron ones. The M&CR was one of the first railways to fuel their locomotives with coal, rather than the more expensive coke (1859); fuel costs for the first half of 1860 were estimated to have been reduced by over £900. In 1864 locomotives were reported to be 'greatly improved' by the fitting of steel axles and wheel tyres: the M&CR is thought to have been the first UK company to do this.