Re: National guage standardisation - why 4'8.5"?

[Peter Homann <"peter.homann"@@prr.org.au>]

David Bennetts wrote:

> With hindsight, I feel it probably would have been better to choose 3'6"
> gauge. Then you wouldn't have had to worry about as many changes of gauge
> which were around for so many years when travelling Sydney - Perth.  One
> hundred years down the track, we're still  running trains which could do
> everything on 3'6" that they presently do on standard gauge.   3'6" gauge is
> considerably cheaper to build and maintain, if you look at Queensland now
> they run faster trains on a good 3'6" track than most of NSW, and
> practically all Victoria and South can do on a wider gauge maintained to
> mediocre standard.
>
> Regards
>
> David Bennetts

Agreed, plus look at South Africa for an example of excellent use of 3'6"
(sorry, 1067mm).
Locos and loading gauges on 3'6" make some of Australia's trains look piddling,
with the exception of Hammersley.
Anyway, we've got 1485mm now, let's be happy and move on.

Cheers.

--
=================
 Peter Homann
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The light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off
until economic conditions improve.  Management.