70 C. O. BURGE. 
Permanent Way :— £ 
Ballast 1,100 cubic yards se bee wo. 276 
Rails ws ste aid tne a ... 660 
Fastenings abe eos 3b ine cine ete 
Sleepers ... we ee ee as .-- 346 
Laying ... 8 ... 154 
Sidings 4 per cent: on dor iene ae aoe yon 
Points and Crossings ... aoe Soe ieee £ £ 
— 1,606 1,606 
Shelter for Goods... ia aa “od ae 20 20 
Water Supply she “ee ee B03 15 to 60 
Cattle Stops in leu of Wen cine a5 BAC owe 20 to 40 
Triangles in lieu of Turntables... Se fae 24 24 
Engine Shed, etc. ... a se dnd vt 20to 40 
2,130 to 4,350 
Engineering and Contingencies 10 per cent. ... 2138 to 435 
£2,343 to£4,785 
Allowing for difference of requirements, debits and credits, to 
make the comparison fair, £3,343 per mile was the actual expen- 
diture on an average light section twenty-five miles long under 
the author’s superintendence at the Cape, having the same weight 
to carry. This, though of narrower gauge, has the same support- 
ing power on the sleepers as the above, but more ballast, there 
being ten inches under the rail, amounting to two thousand four 
hundred and sixty-four cubic yards per mile ; reducing the ballast 
to same basis as above would bring the cost down to £3,166 per 
mile. There has been constructed a considerable mileage of light 
surface tramways or railways on the level plains of Lombardy, on 
the standard gauge, having many features analogous to those pro- 
posed in this paper, and costing on a average about £2,750 per 
mile, but they have a bearing surface of between seven thousand 
and eight thousand square feet only, per mile, and are called on 
to support only about four and a-half tons on an axle, which would 
be too light for New South Wales waggon and coaching stock. 
It must also be remembered that wages in Lombardy are about 
one third of those in this colony, while the work done for them, 
from the author’s own experience, is from seventy-five to ninety 
! 
