LIGHT RAILWAYS FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9019, 4 January 1908, Page 5

LIGHT RAILWAYS FOR NEW ZEALAND.

, (Published by Special Arrangement). L—((Continued). In England provision is made by law for grants of public money to private enterprise establishing these undertakings in certain classes of districts, but this Slate aid has not been so fruitful as the Government assistance given in Belgium and France, probably because the English agricultural industry is a dwindling one. Ireland, among its limited number of these lines, possesses at least one of special interest in the Bessbrook and Newry system, which was the world's first electric railway; as tirsfc built it was three miles long, with a gauge of 3ft, and the cars were run by hydro-electric power. It is some years since I visited it, and probably it is now—like another famous pioneer work in that country, the Port Rush to Giants' Causeway electric tramway, with i*;s extraordinary third rail conductor—reconstructed on a modern design. In India there is a very large mileage of light railways with gauges of 2ft and upwards; and in Canada, Mexico and most of the S-uith American republics there are any examples. The gauges adopted are numerous, ranging from the lt't 11 Jin of Pastiniog( Wales) to the metre (3ft 3|in) which, is a favourite one on the Continent, where also the .75 metre (2ft ssin) is largely used. In British countries 2ft, 2ft 6in and 3ft are almost exclusively used, though there are instances of light lines on the standard gauge (4ft Bftin), such as the South wold line in Suffolk, now worked by the Great Eastern Railway Co., as a branch to its main system. On the majority of these lines, steam locomotives are employed, and short trains of cars are hauled. Electric traction will in time be almost universally used where the traffic movement is not of insignificant amount; for infrequent traffic having small scope for development steam will always be the cheapest power. Some reference will probably be expected to the latest idea in light railways of which a good deal has been heard during the last few months—the single rail Brennan system. So far, no actual installation has been carried out, and only a model has been built, therefore nothing is definitely known as to the limitations this invention will experience when tried on a practical basis. After gathering such information as is available, I am inclined to think tha* it will find its chief field of usefulness (if i 1; proves able to find one at all) in service of a temporary nature, such as the transport of an army through new country, maintaining communications between a military base and the front, or piloting the way in an unroaded district for the construction of the more conventional class of railway. At present there is no evidence , whatever as to its carrying capacity in relation to its cost, nor indeed as to either its first cost or working expenses. It is quite clear, however, that every car on the Brennan system must be equipped with the two gyroscopes and a motor, or engine to rotate them—plain trailer cars will be out of tht question—and it is a fair inference, therefore, that the labour and maintenance cost will not be small, and that the rolling stock will be expensive. High speed machnery demands close attention, particularly at bearings; and it is certain that if a bearing on a gyroscope shaft, which runs at saveral thousands of revolutions per minute, started to seize, it wouldn't be many seconds before the shaft fractured, and the gyroscope wrecked the car. It is not pleasant to contemplate the opportunities that would exist for this occurrence on a Brennan line laid over, say, a pumice plain in the North Island, or a nor'-wester-swept district in Canterbury, when grit and dust were plentiful in the summer air. However, until some experience of the sytem has been gained, judgment must be suspended, but I think it will be wise on the part of New Zealand to contentedly allow Homo districts, which havb the advantage of being within a few hours of the works manufacturing the plant, to undertake all experimenting and p-rfecting of parts that is inseparable from any new system.