Agricultural and Commercial Society. 97 
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 Jose, 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 : 1st, transhipment, and 2nd, 
duplication of rolling stock. 
Now, with the West Coast Railway and the Damerara- 
Essequebo Kailwa}^ neither of these objections had to be 
considered, and as thj traffic did not justify the 
construction of the standard-gauge lines it would have 
been the height of folly to have done so. 
