CHEAP RAILWAYS.

Press, Volume XV, Issue 1982, 23 August 1869, Page 3

CHEAP RAILWAYS.

, [Swan tfcp ? Otago Daily -ISmee; , ?]

* A lite of railway, twrenty*four miles m length, has been constructed in oouth Australia; at an average cost of a Uttle more than £5000 per mile, the total cost being £125,000. Of this, moreover, £13,000 was spent ufion one Mjjf alone> the average SL.!™ e . whole line 'by £500 a mile. cuttings, thouga some of them 7* cQasiderable length, are none of ~:jS :T«7 great depth and the ev er, Kwtteufvtoptonjto 'other

gradient being worse than 1 in 100. The engines, which are stated to Be"of light construction, are of the outside cylinder type, and are capable of starting a load of 300 tons gross on v level. The maximum speed for which the line is designed, is stated by the engineer-in-chief to be twenty miles an hour. At the luncheon held in honour of the opening of the new line, the Governor, Sir James Fergusson, said —" Ido believe that the style of railway we have passed over to-day is the very best for a new country like this, and it is just the way in which the money that the country can afford may be best and most profitably expended. I venture to give a decided opinion on the matter, having for ten years before coming here given great attention to railways, and having been a Director of some of the largest railway companies at home. The same weigbt of rails and general features have been adopted lately for the construction of what, though called the branch railways of India, are in fact lines of as much as 500 miles in a single piece. Tou must sacrifice something, and you must not sacrifice carrying capacity. Tou must ensure regularity and punctuality of service, but the element which can be sacrificed with least injury to the public is that of speed. I venture to think you can wait a good many years for railways on which to travel forty or fifty miles an hour; but if you can push into the centre of the country iron ways, by which most of your produce can be transferred to Port Adelaide regularly and cheaply, and the requirements of the people can be supplied, the main object will be accomplished. ~ Some persons say that these cheap railways will not last. I believe that if they are fairly used they will last as long as any railways can be expected to last. I judge of the materials by what I have seen ; but if they are as good as they looked on passing along the line, I believe that this railway will last as well as if there had been sixty, pound rails. : , Of course if, you attempt to run.-• heavy loads at the highest speed, you will soon knock it to pieces; but in India, these branch lines I have spoken of are able to carry the same rplling-stppk as the main lines, only at naif the speed, so I believe all the traffic of these districts can be carried on them for twenty years to come with perfect safety .and economy... ; r