SOME RECENT ENGINEERING EXPERIENCES. 977 
some of these items are not included in the records of expenditure 
in other colonies, and it is therefore most difficult to make com- 
parisons of the cost at which similar work in the various parts of 
Australasia is being carried out. This is, I admit, a decided 
disadvantage, and often leads to unjust criticism. Further, my 
experience points to the fact that the accurate recording of every 
item, and the careful comparison of the prices of similar works 
carried out by various engineers, induces a healthy rivalry, which 
tends to cheapen similar work in the future. Hence my very 
urgent pleading for an intercolonial method of preparing estimates 
and keeping records which will be accurate, comprehensive, and 
uniform, as under such conditions alone can fair and useful com- 
parisons be made. 
No. I—NOTES ON THE PRINCIPLES ADOPTED IN 
CONSTRUCTING UNBALLASTED LINES OF RAIL- 
WAY IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
By H. Deans, M.A., M. Inst. C.E., Engineer-in-Chief for Railway 
Construction, Public Works Department, Sydney. 
(Read, Saturday, 8 January, 1898. ) 
So much misconception exists as to the practicability of cheapening 
railway construction by leaving out ballast, that the author con- 
sidered the present occasion, when engineers from the different 
colonies are meeting together, would be a suitable one for giving 
some information on the subject. 
It is clear that cheap rail way construction can only be carried out 
in country the features of which permit of the ruling grade and 
sharpest admissible curvature being so applied that a minimum 
of earthworks may result. In the case of the New South Wales 
Railways, which are all built to the standard gauge, and on 
which rolling stock of the ordinary English type is used, curves 
of less than 10 or 12 chains are not desirable, and, in order that 
paying loads may be hauled, easy grades are necessary. It is 
evident, therefore, that it is only possible to make a really cheap 
line in country which is tolerably level, or where the features 
are so large that, with the permissible grades and curves, the 
surface can be followed. Did the design of the rolling stock 
permit of sharper curves being used, the principle of light con- 
struction could be carried into country of much rougher descrip- 
tion, as the formation could still be kept near the surface. 
3 Q 
