602 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



has been found to combine in a higher degree than any other the 

 great commercial requisites for a railway — namely, speed, safety, 

 convenience, and economy. For these reasons it has been adopted 

 with little exception throughout Europe and America. In India 

 and in Egypt, where the highest engineering talent has been 

 employed, had a wider gauge been considered necessary or an im- 

 provement, it would, no doubt, have been adopted, but such has 

 not been the case, in both these countries the narrow gauge has 

 been determined upon. I feel it my duty to represent these facts 

 to you, and at the same time to obtain a revision of the Act which 

 fixes the gauge of railways in Australia at five feet three inches." 

 Mr. Whitton, however, immediately after his appointment recom- 

 mended the adoption of the five feet three inch gauge. Captain 

 Ward and Captain Martindale also recommended this gauge, and 

 it is to be very much regretted that this advice was not followed. 

 The line was then open to Liverpool only, and the alteration might 

 have been made at a comparatively trifling cost. In Victoria the 

 gauge is five feet three inches, in South Australia five feet three 

 inches and three feet six inches, and in Queensland it is three feet 

 six inches. 



EXCAVATIONS AND EMBANKMENTS. 



The formation width for a double line of way is thirty feet, and 

 for a single line of way either fifteen or eighteen feet. The slopes 

 of the cuttings in ordinary earthworks are one in one ; but through 

 rock the sides are left perpendicular, or with a very slight batter 

 of from one-eighth to a-quarter to one. The slopes of embank- 

 ments throughout are one and a-half to one. In the construction 

 of the Illawarra and Mudgee Railways, considerable modifications 

 in these slopes have been rendered necessary on account of the 

 treacherous nature of the material excavated, and the formation of 

 the country. Several slips of considerable magnitude have 

 occurred in the embankments and cuttings. The total quantity 

 of excavation, principally in rock, on the line between Penrith 

 and Bathurst, a distance of one hundred and eleven miles, is five 

 and a-half millions of cubic yards. 



GRADIENTS AND CURVES. 



On the Southern line, the steepest incline from Sydney to Picton, 

 fifty-three miles, is one in sixty-six. From Picton to Mittagong, 

 twenty-four miles, there is one continuous incline of one in thirty- 

 three for sixty-seven chains in length, and one in thirty for a 

 length of two miles and two chains. There are also inclines of 

 one in thirty-three for seventeen chains, forty -five chains, forty -two 

 chains, and nine chains, and one in thirty for seventy chains. 

 From Mittagong to Goulburn, fifty-seven miles, there is no incline 

 steeper than one in forty. The steepest incline on the length from 

 Goulburn to Wagga, one hundred and seventy-four miles, is one 

 in forty for a distance of one mile fifty-eight chains. 



