WARTIME PROBLEMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20827, 4 July 1942, Page 3

WARTIME PROBLEMS

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. B£in.; Victoria, sft. 3in.; South Australia, sft. 3in. and 3ft. 6in.; Western Australia, 3ft. 6in. Commonwealth railways have 4ft. BAin. and 3ft. (Jin. gauges. . “j • 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. 1 ‘ ‘ Under Mr. Neilly’s scheme trains of carriages or freight trucks would be 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 be lifted by means of a series of hydraulic platforms,-.-■This, he claimed, would save a great; - deal of time now lost in the transfer of freight from one train to another. . Mr. Neilly calculates a changeover from one set of bogeys to another would occupy only seven minutes. Delay m transferring passengers from one train to another at .the Victorian-New South Wales border is now 55 minutes. Transhipment ofgoodstakesmuch longer.