CHAPTER I. 



Location of a line of railway Government regulations Questions for considera. 

 lion in connection -with gauge, gradients, and curves. 



Location. The locating of a line of railway, or the determina- 

 tion of its exact route, is influenced by many circumstances. 

 In a rich country, with thickly populated districts and large 

 industrial enterprises, there are towns to be served, manufacturing 

 centres to be accommodated, and harbours to be brought into 

 connection ; while, at the same time, there may be important 

 estates which must be avoided and private properties which 

 must not be entered. Each point will present its own individual 

 claim for consideration when selecting the route which promises 

 the greatest amount of public convenience and commercial 

 success. 



In new countries in our colonies, and especially out in the 

 far west of Canada and the United States railways have to 

 be laid out in almost uninhabited districts, where there is but 

 little population or commerce to serve, and where the principal 

 object is to obtain the best and most direct route through the 

 vast territories, leaving colonists and settlers to choose after- 

 wards the most convenient sites for towns and villages. 

 Untrammelled by the network of public and private roads and 

 properties which are met with at home, it might appear that 

 the locating of such a line would be comparatively light ; but 

 even in such countries, which at first sight seem to present 

 unlimited freedom for selecting a route, much can be done, and 

 should be done, by taking a course through those plains and 

 districts which possess the best natural resources for future 

 agricultural, manufacturing, or mineral development. 



In addition to the motives of convenience and policy, the 

 route of every line of railway must be influenced by the natural 

 features of the country the mountains, valleys, and rivers. 

 These physical obstacles are in some cases on such an enormous 



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