PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 13 
altitude is 3,960 feet above sea level. This is also the 
highest known part of the Blue Mountains. From that 
point to 19 miles the drop is 460 feet. From 19 miles to 
28°40 the great descent is effected, the total from the 
summit at 7 miles to the terminus being 2,200 feet. This 
line 32 miles in length, laid with 75ib steel rails and with 
cuttings and embankments of full standard width, 18 feet 
and 17 feet respectively, has only cost about £120,000, not 
including rolling stock. There are some improvements 
such as platforms, station buildings, signalling arrange- 
ments still to introduce, and these will add somewhat to 
the cost, but the line is a cheap line and a substantial one, 
and without the grades and curves adopted could scarcely 
have been constructed at all, unless the use of spiral 
tunnels and heavy earthworks had been freely resorted to. 
A comparison, not a very fair one perhaps for the Wolgan 
Line, can be made with the Homebush — Hawkesbury 
section of the Northern Line. In the latter case the ruling 
grade is 1 in 40, and the sharpest curves on the descent to 
the Hawkesbury are of 11 chains radius. The length is 
about 29 miles. The drop from the summit to the 
Hawkesbury is only 700 feet. The total cost, deducting 
Ryde Bridge and portion of the tunnels for comparison was 
about £320,000. Had it been imperative in the case of the 
Wolgan Line to make the ruling grades and maximum 
curvature the same as on this section of the Northern 
Line, the cost would have been enormous and prohibitive. 
From the latest estimates made, and in consideration of 
the coke traffic likely to arise, the net tonnage to be con- 
veyed over the line will probably be about 1,000 tons daily, 
which can easily be negotiated on a standard gauge line, 
but not on a narrow gauge line. 
Some look upon steep grades and sharp curves as 
unmixed evils. As regards the first, it means that heavier 
locomotives must be used to carry the same load, which if 
