RAILWAY EXTENSION. 877 



3.— RAILWAY EXTENSION AND BREAK OF 

 GAUGE. 



By ALLAN STEWART. 



The subject of this short paper may very properly be considered 

 of much pubHc and national interest at the present time, in 

 view of the necessity existing for opening up the interior and 

 sea-board of the various Australian colonies for general and 

 strategic purposes, in an effectual way, and at the lowest 

 possible cost. The subject has been under the consideration 

 lately of the Tasmanian Parliament, which during last session 

 passed an Act empowering a syndicate to construct an extension 

 of the north-western system of railways to the great mineral 

 centres of Zeehan and Dundas on a reduced gauge, and in 

 Victoria the matter is now before Parliament, and the Standing- 

 Committee on railways there and that Government is asking 

 for information on the subject in reference to the extension of 

 the Gippsland system of railways ; whilst no doubt other 

 colonies have the same thing in view for the mountainous 

 portions of their vast territories. 



All authorities on railway matters, both engineering and 

 traffic, are quite alive to the disadvantages of any break of 

 gauge on main trunk or trans-continental railways where 

 heavy traffic has to be handled, or where speed is an important 

 object ; but it has become a serious question in countries which 

 are in the early stages of development whether the opening 

 up of the country, rich in land, minerals, timber, and scenery 

 cannot be obtained by simpler and less expensive railways, 

 and whether by a judicious treatment of the subject this and 

 the next generation may, while thus realising all their require- 

 ments, leave a rich legacy to those who follow, who would 

 have ample means and much more reason and necessity to 

 return to the standard gauge. 



The natural features of the country to be traversed should, 

 in each case determine the gauge of the railway projected, 

 and in this way no doubt the standard gauge of the various 

 main lines in these colonies, which vary so much, have been 

 arrived at. 



I shall instance the Tasmanian main line with its gauge 

 of 3 feet 6 inches, and corresponding curves of five chains 

 radius, by the application of which a comparatively cheap 

 line has been constructed to carry a heavy traffic ; and the 

 same rule applies throughout the Tasmanian railway system. 

 To have adopted curves of even six chains radius, the cost in 



