52 Timehri. 
promoted by the baronial guarantees in the different counties on the Congested 
Districts Board as the chief means of getting the existing standard gauge 
railways to take them up and leave them as feeders to their own railways. 
Mr. G. V. bE LA BasTIDE. 
The annexed paper by Mr, G. V. de la Bastide on Railway Development 
in British Guiana was read by the President. on December 18th, 1902. 
Following Mr. Dorman’s example, I will deal firstly with the gauge question . 
This question is one which has given rise to a great deal of discussion. It is, 
however, pretty generally conceded by British engineers that a break of gauge 
is inadvisable where it can possibly be avoided, and no engineer would hesitate 
to lay a standard-gauge line, if he were given a free hand as to finances. Yet 
it has been proved conclusively, on the Continent andin India, that light rail- 
ways with a break of gauge can be made successfully both from a technical and 
traffic point of view. 
Experience has taught that in sparsely populated and purely agricultural 
districts, or where it 1s desirable to open up a line of country by connecting it 
with a seaport where the traffic receipts will not warrant a standard-gauge 
line, it is better to lay a light narrow-gauge railway, with its consequent in- 
conveniences, than postpone perhaps indefinitely if not entirely the develop- 
ment of a country or an industry until such time as the receipts per mile would 
justify a standard-gauge line. The American method of construction in 
uninhabited districts, or where the traffic is light, which has been adopted in 
India, the Cape, and elsewhere, is correct in principle, and is the one which 
should be followed in British Guiana. Briefly, it is to lay down the line as 
cheaply as possible with sharp curves and steep gradients so as to obtain a 
railway earning on the smallest capital, and as the traffic increases to improve 
first the road-bed and then the alignment. An engineer who departs from this 
principle should be able to give his reasons for such departure in pounds, 
shillings and pence. The Guatemala Central Railway is a good example of 
the American plan of construction and working. It runs from the Port of San 
José, is 75 miles long and crosses a summit of 5,000 ft. before arriving at the 
terminus in the town of Guatemala. It was first constructed with steep 
gradients and sharp curves, which enabled it to earn a profit from the 
beginning and from the earnings they have been able gradually to reduce 
the gradients, curves, and in some places, to alter the alignment entirely for 
several miles. Since then a branch line of 25 miles has actually been added, 
which was paid for entirely out of revenue. The Beira Railway, 212 miles, 
in East Africa, is also a good example. It was originally laid on the 2 ft. 
gauge, which was afterwards widened to the African standard gauge 3 ft. 
6 in., the traffic having increased sufficiently to justify the improvement. 
The Darjeeling Railway in India, was built on the same lines. The chief 
objections to break of gauge are briefly, the necessity for: lst, transhipment, 
and 2nd, duplication of rolling stock. Now, with the West Coast Railway 
and the Demerara-Essequebo Railway neither of these objections are to be 
considered, and as the traffic did not justify the construction of the standard- 
gauge lines it would have been the height of folly to have done so. 
