Re: [NSW] Gauntlet Track

["Robert Lee" <robsl@ozemail.com.au>]

OK...now using my own name and not my mother's, a couple of notes on
gauntlet track.

First, Eddie, thanks so much for that detail on when the Broadway tunnel was
gauntletted.  I nad no idea it was so recent.  Your posting though, raises
another question.  I had always understood that the tunnel under Broadway
was the oldest railway structure in Australia, dating from 1855, and was
part of William Wallace's Sydney Railway Company Darling Harbour branch.
Wallace had persuaded the directors to build the branch so the SRC would
have access to navigable water.  Now from my reading of the SRC Minutes, the
Darling Harbour branch was single track when built.  Your posting suggests
that the tunnel was double track.  THat being so, it's unlikely that the
tunnel is the 1855 structure, although I do realise there are plenty of
examples of doubel track tunnels and bridges being built on (initially at
least) single track lines.  (Whitton's1862-3 Nepean bridge at Menangle is a
famous example, and there are many others in NSW.)  So the question is, is
the tunnel under Broadway Wallace's 1855 SRC tunnel or not?  By the way, Don
Hagarty tells me that Wallace built this tunnel by cut and cover, so it's
not really a tunnel according to some definitions (Don's primarily!).

This train of thought leads me to pose another question:  what ARE the
oldest railway structures in Australia.  Fairfield's down platform building
(1856) is the oldest station I know of.  Parramatta, Penrith, Menangle,
Picton and SIngleton are all late 1850s or early 1860s passenger stations,
although the ones nearer Sydney have been much expanded.  I THINK the
Liverpool good shed is from 1856, but is anyone certain of this.  The
aforementioned Menangle bridge and its twin at Penrith are the oldest metal
bridges around, I'm certain of that.  But I suspect for intact RAILWAYS, the
place to go is Victoria.  I suspect that Geelong-Ballarat and
Melbourne-Echuca are still largely as built in the late 1850s and early
1860s, since they were on the extravagant side for the traffic offering then
(or any time since!).  Comments would be VERY welcome here.

On the gauntlet versus interlaced, issue, Don, I think they are EXACTLY the
same thing, the difference between them being the same as the difference
between a point and a switch, a sleeper and a tie, a passenger station and a
depot.

One last question for the cognoscenti....was there gauntlet track on the
Newcastle tram system?  I seem to have a vague memory of reading somewhere
that a tramway in reserved track and a coal line shared a reservation
(Wallsend line?).  Were the two lines gauntletted??   Someone must know.

best wishes to everyone...
Robert

Deeg wrote in message ...
>On Sat, 1 Jul 2000 16:38:31 +1000, "Milva Lee" <yambalee@nor.com.au>
>wrote:
>
>>When the track under Braodway was gauntletted is a very good question. ...
>
>No answers so far concerning my question about the difference, if any,
>between gauntletted track and interlaced track. You sound like a true
>expert, so I'll try once more.
>
>Don Galt
>Seattle USA