WARTIME PROBLEM

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 June 1942, Page 2

WARTIME PROBLEM

AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS. SYDNEY, June 3. A 43-year-old scheme to solve Australian break-of-gauge railway problems' at State borders is being examined afresh by the Army Inventions Board. Railway gauges in the States are:—-New South Wales, 4ft. BAin.; Victoria, sft. 3in.; South Australia, sft. 3in. and 3ft. 6in.; Western Australia. 3ft. Gin. Commonwealth railways have 4ft. BJin. and 3ft. Gin. gauges.

Always a drawback in inter-State traffic, the variation of the gauges is presenting a terrific problem in wartime. The scheme now under review by the Inventions Board was submitted by Mr. Frank Neilly, of Sydney. The plan was originated by his father in 1899, but has since been improved. Under Mr. Neilly's scheme trains of carriages or freight trucks would bo lifted bodily from their bogeys (wheels and undercarriage assembly'* wherever the gauge changed, and would be placed on bogeys suitable to the new gauge. The carriages would he lifted bv means of a series of hydraulic platforms. This, he claimed, would save a great deal of time now lost in the transfer of passengers, luggage, and freight from one train to another.

Mr. Neilly a change-over from one set of bo’geys to another would occupy only seven minutes. Delay in transferring passengers from one train to another at the. Vic-torian-New South Wales border is now 55 minutes. Transhipment of good takes much longer.