620 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION J. 



opened for traffic in December, 1861. The undertaking was by 

 no means successful, and in 1865, the rails were taken up. The 

 necessity of connecting the railway terminus at Redfern with the 

 city was fully recognised at that time as it is to-day, but the 

 public mind had become prejudiced against tramways, partly in 

 consequence of their failure in the past, and it was not until 1880 

 that a bill was passed authorising the construction of Government 

 tramways. The Redfern line was completed first as it was 

 anticipated that the traffic would be considerably augmented 

 during the time of the exhibition, which expectation was fully 

 realized. Tramways were at the same time rapidly pushed forward 

 to the various suburbs from the city, and at the present time 

 twenty-seven and a-half miles have been constructed, in addition 

 to which there is a tramway from Campbelltown to Camden a 

 distance of seven and a-half miles, and also between Kogarah 

 and Sandringham and Sans Souci, and from Newcastle to 

 Plattsburg. 



All the tramways are worked with steam engines, which, for the 

 most part, have been manufactured by the Baldwin Locomotive 

 Company. They are all provided with a non-automatic vacuum 

 brake. Similar tramways have been constructed at other parts of 

 the colony by private enterprise. The lines are generally con- 

 structed in the following manner : — A ti-ench eight feet three 

 inches wide, by one foot two inches deep, for the straight portions 

 of the line, and one foot four and thi-ee-quarter inches deep for 

 the curved portions, which is filled with a layer of ballast four 

 inches deep, consisting of sandstone broken to three inch gauge. 

 On the ballast the cross-sleepers are laid, which are eight feet long 

 by eight inches wide by four inches deep, excepting where joints 

 occur in the rails, when sleepers are twelve inches wide. The 

 sleepers are spaced two feet eleven and a-half inches centre to 

 centre, and are packed up to the pr-oper levels, after which the 

 rails are securely fixed. The space between them up to the level 

 of the underside of the paving sets or timber blocks, as the case 

 may be, is tilled with cement concrete, mixed in the proportion of 

 eight to one. Where the tramways are laid in the streets a con- 

 tinuous guard-rail is used. In consequence of the great wear of 

 the rails between Redfern, Liverpool-street, and Circular Quay, 

 due to the concentration of the traffic of all the city and suburban 

 lines on this section, it is now being relaid with rails of a much 

 heavier section, with guard-rails, breaking joints between the 

 joints of the main rails, and the foundations are also stronger. 

 The tramways are still in an experimental state, and the results 

 are not altogether satisfactory, however, the system may be 

 thoroughly revised at no distant date. On the North Shore a 

 cable tramway was opened on the 22nd May, 1886, and is still in 

 operation. 



