TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1547, 17 September 1912, Page 5

TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY

A, GREAT LINK OF EMPIRE. Br Teltsraph—Press Association-CopyrieM Adelaide, September IG. Lord Denman, in his speech at tho turning of the first sod of the transcontinental railway at Port Augusta, said the event was important enough to find a place not only in the history of Australia, but of the Empire.. It would be a railway of strategic importance, which" would materially strengthen the weak points in the scheme of defence, and would result in a community of interest" now scarcely existing between Western Australia and the Eastern States.. It would shorten the distance to England, and be another link binding Australia with tho Motherland. The work was worthy,of the great statesmen of Australia. wcte in ; similar, stpraiu., THE BUILDING OF THE .LINE. , Until the supplies. of rails,' sleepers, plates, and bolts for the transcontinental railway arrive about the end of the year, the Commonwealth Railway Engineer, Mr. H. Deane, will be able to do little more than construct the earthworks near Port Augusta. Land has to be bought at Port Augusta, where, for a mile, the line is to run through, tho township and its environs. For seven miles earthworks are required to a height of from 18 inches to ■Ift. along the Spencer Gulf. At Kalgoorlie the preliminary work will be nothing more than a siding For storing material. Mr. O'Malley, the Minister in charge, has already called for tenders • for rails and sleepers, etc. Tho iron goods will be imported, probably .£1,000,000 worth. For the bridges and culverts rolled iron joists will bo used from 10ft. to lift, in span. Only six of these constructions can be dignified by the name of bridge, so few are the watercourses.

In a few months the first supplies of rails and sleepers will be to hand, and with the construction trains and camps ready track-laying should begin. The camps will be moved on to the rail heads after each few days' work, and gradually tho two sets of men will be pushing towards each other across Australia—one from Kalgoorlie, and the other from Port Augusta—to meet in the desert in three or four years, with an iron road across the continent. One-eighth of a mile on citeh side of the line in South Australia will bo the Commonwealth's, under the agreement with the 'State Government,, and on the AVest Australian side the Commonwealth is to • possess' as much as its Minister thinks necessary.

The track-laying machines to bo used are derrick wagons, with motive power from conveyors. These conveyors stretch along the sleeper apd rail-laden train, and convey rails and sleepers to the train head. Two men are required (o place the rails on the conveyors, and fonr for the sleepers. At the train head, men will, lift them off and place them in position, the train moving on over the newly-laid rails. Mr. Dcanc expects by this means to lay at least two miles of railway a day