CHEAP BRANCH LINES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1763, 25 June 1877, Page 7

CHEAP BRANCH LINES.

[From the Timabu Hbbaiob, June B.] As the Grand Trunk Railway of this Island approaches completion, the necessity of supplying it with *' feeders " m the shape of branch lines to the interior is beginning to be recognised, and steps are being taken m this direction, both hi North and South Otago. The traffic over a railway must always be, to a great extent, a local one, and it is only those who are situate within a few miles on either side of the roads that are directly benefitted. If a great main line is to be of advantage to the country generally, it mast be supplemented by means of subsidiary lines, extending-' to every locality where goods are to be picked up. Now, although there are numerous districts within a moderate distance of the present line from whence sufficient traffic might be drawn to justify the construction of branch roads, there are others, and. these far more.' m number, which only require cheap means of communication .with the sea-board to cause them to be rapidly settled, and m a few years to become centres of industry. That population will immediately appear m those parts through which a railway is opened, has been sufficiently proved before now, both m Europe and America. Given cheap and certain means of transport for the produce of the soil to a ready market, producers will never be awanting. In New Zea- • land we have thousands upon thousands of acres, rich, not only from an agricultural point of view, but m mineral deposits, which onlj require to be opened up by meads of roads Or railways to increase the productive powers of the country an hundredfold. The question arises, by what means these outlying districts can most quickly and cheaply be brought into direct communication with the centres of exports ? Certainly not by the present expensive and by no means efficient system on which such vast snms of money have been expended with such miserable results. If fresh country is to be speedily and economically settled, cheaper means of transport than the 42 inch gauge railway, with its heavy and costly earth works and colossal per* manent structures must be adopted. Railways costing even £5000 a miie, are far beyond the reach of the sparsely, inhabited trad almost unsettled; districts of a new country. Modern engineering science claims to be equal to put the railway within the reach of 'the poorest community. At one of the last meetings of the Society of Aits m London,' a paper was read by Mr JBowan, a gentleman well-known . m. connection with engineering : science descriptive .of what he called a "pioneer' railway," that is, as he explained, a railway which can be laid down at a very small cost, and which it is proposed should be employed m develop* ing the resources of a new country until such time that the traffic should increase to an extent ' that would necessitate the construction of a line of the ordin^jy^-iype. The special characteristic ~oi Mr Bowan's railway is that it consists only of asingle rail; he thup describes it: "It consists of alow fence or continuous girder, constructed of wood or iron, or other material sopported upon edge, on posts or pillars and surmounted by a single rail ;• the. engine, carriages and waggons running upon this rail, and sitting astride of the fence after the; fashion of. the' panniers, or the packs on a camel or mule." The line can easily follow the. contour of the country without involving the construction of embankments, or cuttings, or new bridges.- A gradient up to one m ten can be taken without* difficulty; and curves of a radius ' that would be I impossible under the. doable rail system are turned with ease and ••-! safety. In die discussion which followed the readingfof thu paper it appeared that m the pioneer system,' the locomotive, instead of owing its tractive powers to the adhesion of its driving wheels to the rails m consequence of its weight

was rather geared to the rail, the. wheels being kept mechanically m contact with it. By this means a larger percentage of work is pot out of each horso power of the engine. Another, and by no means the least advantage of the system, is, that the line can be cheaply and quickly removed from one part of the country to the other. Besides it necessitates no outlay for fences, hedges, or retaining rails, and requires neither a highly paid nor skilful class of men m construction or making. The cost, including line, rolling stock and stations, would be about £1,500 per mile, and would certainly not exceed £2000. We do not vouch for these figures, but believe them to be right m the main, and would urge the projectors of new nrlways to pause before entering upon works which may cost thousands of pounds per mile. In conclusion let it be rememoered that " the tariff fixes the distance lrom which it will pay to transport produce. Therefore the lower the tariff, the greater the area each mile of rail will bring under cultivation."