Re: 140 years of VR to Sunbury.

[Barry Campbell <barryC@qimr.edu.au>]

MarkBau1 wrote:
> 
> <<<<<<Can you recommend a book that might be available in the U.S. that
> recounts the
> history of and reasons for the continued existence of dual gauge trackage in
> Australia and NZ?
> 
> Or, perhaps, just a simple explanation from you?>>>>>>
> 
> If you listen to the Irish Engineer he will say it was the Scottish Engineers
> fault.
> 
> If you listen to the Scottish Engineer he will say it was the Irish Engineers
> fault!
> 
> Basically, before federation the separate colonies were very insular. When rail
> building started in Australia they simply never foresaw the day when travel
> between the colonies might occur. In many ways NSW and Victoria were like
> separate countries.
> 
Not only were they like separate countries, they were separate
countries. By the time railway building got underway in Australia in the
second half of the 19th century, the colonies were internally self
governing. While laws could be disallowed by Westminster, they rarely
were. Only foreign affairs were controlled by Britain, a situation that
prevailed even after federation.

While the Colonial Office could have specified a uniform gauge
throughout the colonies, it chose not to enforce one. What a pity. Such
an enforcement would have stoppped the broad/standard mismatch and,
although it may have slowed construction in the narrow gauge states, it
would not have made much diffference in the long run. The narrow gauge
was chosen as it was supposed to have been cheaper to build than
standard gauge. This held true when it came to mountainous country as
curves could be sharper which would cut back on the earthworks and
bridges, but as much of the narrow gauge trackage in Australia was over
open plains, the only greater expense would have been longer sleepers.

Barry Campbelll