The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1872.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3567, 24 June 1872, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1872.

The battle of the railway gauges, after a lull of some six or eight months, has been renewed in Victoria, and although the point at issue has been practically settled in New Zealand, the fresh information collected in England and elsewhere possesses a considerable amount of interest, more especially in Canterbury. It appears that the AgentGeneral of Victoria, in London, was requested to make further inquiries as to the comparative merits of the broad and narrow gauge, and that his attention was specially directed to such countries as afforded adequate experience—to Norway, Russia, Canada, India, and Great Britain. Thus instructed, the Agent-General seems to have applied, in the first instance, to Captain Tyler, Government inspectorgeneral of railways in England, who furnishes an able and valuable report.

Captain Tyler recommends the main.-, tenance of the existing broad, or Sffc. 3in. gauge in Victoria, except for the Gipps Laud line, which he considers an isolated and altogether peculiar caw. Mr Pibl, the in-chief of Norwegian railways, on the other band, advocates the adOption of the Bft Bin, or narroW gatigethroughout the colony. Mr T. jB. Harriiod, engineer of the English North-Eastern railway and one of the Vice-presidents of the Institute of Civil Engineers, disapproves oi any break in the gauge, and practically agrees with Captain Tyler. His opinion is based on the fact that Victoria has already constructed 271 miles of railway on the broad gauge system, and he also : considers that a very small saving would be effected by adopting the narrow gauge.

After noting certain facts in connection with the Victorian 1 the length of line actually at,, work, under construction, and authorised — Captain Tyler says it would no doubt have been far better if in the first instance a uniform gauge could have been agreed upon for all the Australian colonies. Unfortunately, however, the gauge in Queensland is 8, ft 6 in.; in New South Wales, 4ft B£in ; in Victoria and South Australia, sft 3iu. A similar difference in gauge had to be encountered in Canada and the United States, and Captain Tyler explains at some length how the difficulty was met and overcomb. The peninsula of Upper Canada, between Lakes Huron, Brie, and Ontario, forms a direct route between Chicago and tho New England states, and the Canadian railways through that peninsula, as; well as through other parts of Canada,! have been carrying for many years, in competition with four other railway systems and in summer with the; finest “ water navigation ” in the world, the vast and increasing traffic of the great west. The disadvantage, CaptTyler goes on to say, for this bulky and competition traffic, of break of gauge between the sft Bin of the Canadian railway and the 4ft B|in on the American railways at either end of them, was found to be so great that; the Great Western Company of Canada some years since contracted! their gauge to 4ft B£in, and they now! run through on that gauge from Chicago and other centresi of traffic in the west to New York and other great ports on the Atlantic coast. The Grand Trunk of Canada, having a! total length ot 1377 miles, was for some time unwilling to bear the expense or to incur the inconvenience—having reference to the remainder of; its system—of such a change, and endeavoured to overcome the difficulty in other ways. What plan was adopted in order to overcome the difficulty ? This is the question in which Canterbury is more; particularly interested, and Captain'; Tyler’s explanation affords an answer which may hereafter be of some ser-! vice. First of all, we axe informed, the company brought into use 500, And! after a couple of years’ experience 500: more, “ adjustable-gauge cars.” These,! it appears, are cars of which the gauge;; of the wheels might be changed, and! which might run equally well on the! 4ft Biin. and the sft, 6in. gauges. The' arrangement adopted, of causing the wheels to slide backwards and forwards on the axles, and securing them; in either position, is said to have bean: a simple one, and we are further; assured that it has been brought to a great degree of perfection. TfaC prin-j cipal difficulty attending the employ-; ment of these cars was not mechanical, but simply amounted to a question of care and attention on the part of the; men employed in working the line. If! the fastenings were not properly at-; tended to during the worst of the winter weather, the arrangement did not 1 answer, and weinfer that alarge amount! of inconvenience had been experienced from the fact that another plan is now; about to be adopted. The whole of the American rolling stuck is con-! strncted on the bogie principle, and! hence, as Captain Tyler points out, it becomes a comparatively simple opera-; tion to change the wheels and axles of the passenger and freight cars. It is' only necessary to lift the bodies of thej cars in order to substitute under them; a set of broad guage bogie tracks for a set of narrow gauge bogie trucks, and; vice versa. This operation, we areas-! sured, is now being constantly per-: formed at Buffalo, for changing the! cars between the 4ft B|in of the Great; Western and the 6ft. gauge of the: Erie Company. Captain Tyler further! illustrates the question of break of gauge by describing what lie observed: at the Toronto railway station, and states the general conclusions at which he arrived. There are now,; he says, three gauges running into the station named— sft 6in, 4ft B£in, and Bft Gin. It follows that all the inconveniences which could possibly attend a break of gauge ace Here exhibited in an extreme degree. The general deductions made by Captain Tyler, from his own observations were—that the* complications and inconveniences, which were inconsiderable in the case of a very small traffic, increased materially or not according to the amount and description of the traffic to be dealt with, and that breaks of gaum which bad been so seriously felt in England were quite justifiable in many cases in which a new country had to be opened out, a very little money could be found for making a railway, or the traffic could never be great. Again, be is of opinion that the mere changing of passengers, or of cattle, after a long journey, or of certain classes of goods or mineral traffic, from one vehicle to another, or from one gauge to another, is not very costly or inconvenient, where the proper facilities exist. At the same time, there are certain classes of goods and merchandise which suffer materially in the operation of transhipment. Finally, Captain Tyler believes that no general rule can possibly be laid down, either as to the gauge to be employed, or as to the relative disacfvnntagea of break of gauge, but that each country and each case must be considered on its own merits.