4 HENRY DEANE. 
these curves were found objectionable on account of resist- 
ance and wear and have for the most part been cut out. 
For branch lines however, the adoption of such curves in 
question is quite right, in fact much sharper curves may 
be inserted, as has been shown on the line recently con- 
structed by me for the Commonwealth Oil Corporation Ltd., 
from the Western Railway into the Wolgan Valley, but I 
will refer to this later on. 
What I want to emphasise is, not that lines should not 
be made with the best curves and grades possible, but that 
the desire for these is often out of all proportion to the 
necessities of the case. It is a good thing to be able to 
travel fast and with big loads, but when speed is not 
required and there are no big loads to carry, as is generally 
the case at the opening up of the country, it would be folly 
to incur unnecessary expense, and yet it would be a mis- 
take to altogether prohibit the construction of railways, 
simply because the cost of putting in the best grades and 
curves is excessively heavy. Any railway must be better 
than none. 
To take an example, I think most people will agree with 
me that it would be a shame to indefinitely postpone the 
construction of the much discussed connection with the 
rich Dorrigo country, simply because the cost of making a 
line suitable for express trains to run on would be pro- 
hibitive. What is wanted there is a cheap line; whether 
on the narrow gauge or on the standard gauge remains to 
be seen, and this end cannot be reached without sharp 
curves and perhaps steep grades, and it is for the rolling 
stock engineers to provide locomotives to suit the country, 
inasmuch as the country cannot be adapted to the usual 
type of rolling stock. 
I remember reading somewhere a definition of an en- 
gineer as a man who could do with one dollar what any 
