UNIFORM RAILWAY GAUGE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10132, 5 December 1910, Page 4

UNIFORM RAILWAY GAUGE.

The Acting-Federal Prime Minister proposes to make an effort to get all the Australian railway lines, unified in the matter of gauges. The subject is one that will provide much material for controversy before any degree of uniformity is attained. With but few exceptions all the lines in the Commonwealth open for general traffic are now owned and managed by the respective States in whose territory they run, but, unfortunately for the purpose of interState traffic, the construction of various systems in various parts of Australia has proceeded without uniformity of gauge. In 1846, Mr Gladstone, then Colonial Secretary, recommended in a despatch to the Governor of New South Wales that the 4ft BJin gauge should be adopted. In 1850, however, the engineer to the Sydney Railroad and Tramway Company strongly advocated the adoption of the sft 3in gauge, and in 1852 an Act was passed making it compulsory that all railways in New South Wales should be constructed to a wider gauge, the Governors of Victoria and South Australia being duly advised of the step that had been taken. But in 1852 the company mentioned, having changed their engineer also , changed their views as to the gauge question, and in the following year they succeeded in obtaining the repeal of the Act of 1852 and in passing another, under the provisions of which the narrower gauge was made imperative. This step was taken without the concurrence of the other States concerned, and a considerable amount of ill-feel-ing arose, especially in Victoria, where two private companies had already placed large orders for rolling stock constructed to the broad gauge originally chosen. The result was that it was decided in Victoria to adhere to the sft 3in gauge as. the Standard gauge for the State, while the Sydney Railway and Tramway Company proceeded with the construction of their lines to the 4ft BJin gauge, and these two gauges have since been adhered to as the standard gauge of the respective States. The Queensland Government had at the outset adopted a gauge of 3ft 6in, as being best suited to the requirements of the colony, and have since adhered to that gauge as the standard throughout the State, so that all goods have to be discharged and reloaded at the boundaries be-; tween that State and New South Wales. In South Australia the broad, gauge of "Victoria was first adopted, and the part of the interState lino between Adelaide and the Victorian boundary was constructed to that gauge, so that the line from Melbourne to Adelaide is uniform. In the lines which have been'constructed more recently, however, and in the Northern Territory, the South Australian Government has, with a view to economv in construction, adopted a gauge of 3ft Gin. In Western Australia and Tasmania the 3ft 6in gauge was also adopted. It was recognized in both these States that the construction of ra : lways was essential to their prober development, but as their financial resources would not bear a heavy initial expenditure in connection witli the establishment of railway lines, it was decided to adopt the narrow gauge of 2ft Gin, while in Tasmania short lengths have been laid down to a 2ft gauge.