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

[Chris Brownbill <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au>]

Maurie Daly wrote:
> 
> On 16 Apr 2001 20:40:20 +1000, "Bradley Torr"
> <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP> wrote:
> 
> >I just have a question that's bugging me - when PM Andrew Fisher started
> >building the Trans-Australian Railway in 1912 (or whatever year it was),
> >why did the Commonwealth Railways engineers choose 4'8.5" for the railway,
> >and all subsequent CR projects, right up to the Melbourne to Adelaide
> >standardisation in the 1990's?
> >
> >Out of the five mainland states, two had 3'6" (WA and QLD), two had 5'3"
> >(VIC and SA) and only one had 4'8.5" (NSW).
> >
> >I would have chosen 5'3" had I been a CR engineer way back then. Why?
> >Because two states already had it, and 5'3" from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie
> >would have been a logical extension of South Australia's system. It would
> >have been possible to travel all the way from Orbost VIC to Kalgoorlie WA
> >on the one guage as well. Also, it seems kinda unfair for a guage used only
> >by New South Wales to be imposed on the rest of the nation.
> >
> >Regards
> >BT
> >
> Yes , its a fair question and one that has puzzled me too.
> TAR was completed on 17 Oct 1917.
> The BG line from Adelaide to Pt Pirie wasnt completed until around
> 1925 ,(I only have the date it got to Red Hill.)
>

According to "Australian Railway Routes 1854 - 2000", 58.2km of broad gauge from Red Hill to Port Pirie (Ellen Street) was opened on 26 July 1937.

Chris Brownbill.