Notes on Standardisation

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Unifying the
railway systems

Lack of standard railway gauges throughout the
Commonwealth plagued Australia for over a century.
As costs rose with the passage of time, rail unifica-
tion became a problem of nightmare proportions.
    In fact. the problem need never have arisen. In
railwaymen's terms, the gauge is the distance
between the inner surfaces of the rails when
secured on the permanent way. In Great Britain,
where the steam locomotive was first developed, a
number of different gauges were in existence until
the entire national system was unified. The same
conditions applied in the USA. In both these
countries, where railways were privately-owned.
unification of gauges came only as a result of
nationwide effort and the expenditure of vast sums.
    The situation in Australia in the early days of rail-
ways was unique. Each State was then determined
to be independent of NSW. Federation was still
half-a-century away.
    The circumstances in which the triple-gauge
system developed have become almost legendary.
In NSW, F. W. Shields, an engineer of the Sydney
Railway Company. was an Irishman dedicated to the
broad 5 ft 3 ins gauge of his native land. Victoria
and South Australia followed the lead of NSW and
planed to build broad-gauge railways.
Then Shields resigned. James Wallace, who
replaced him, denounced the broad gauge and
insisted on the English standard gauge of 4 ft 8« ins
as being best for "speed, safety, convenience and
economy." On his advice. the NSW Railways Act
was amended accordingly.
    But in Victoria and South Australia, heavy invest-
ment had been made in broad-gauge locomotives
and rolling stock, and plans went ahead to build on
the 5 ft 3 ins gauge. Later, for reasons of economy,
Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania built
lines on the narrow 3 ft 6 ins gauge. There followed
years of frustration for interstate travellers, un-
economic carriage of freight and constant political
bickering between the States.
    Before the First World War. Lord Kitchener
visited Australia to advise on Defence and strongly
advocated a unified gauge throughout the Common-
wealth. His advice, like that of E. M. G. Eddy. the
far-sighted Railways Commissioner for NSW in the
1880s, was disregarded - or set aside.
    In. 1917, Commonwealth Railways did build the
great Trans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor
on the standard gauge. In 1930, a new stretch of
standard-gauge track was laid between Grafton,
NSW and South Brisbane, Queensland. It was a
significant step towards unification.
    During the war, Harold Clapp, the great Victorian
railwayman, then Director-General of Land Tran-
sport, urged the standardisation of railways in the
national interest. In 1956. came the Wentworth Plan
for unification, using existing tracks and up-grading
them to carry fast freight and express passenger
trains. In the 1960s, the vital line between Sydney
and Melbourne was standardised.
    At long last, Australia entered the 1970s with a
dream fulfilled. From Sydney to Perth, for a distance
of 2,500 miles, the standard-gauge railway cut
across the continent. The cost ran into millions of
dollars. The ultimate benefit to the nation is
incalculable.


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