Re: QR going national?

["John McCandless" <johnmc@topend.com.au>]

> > > covers more territory and ships more heavy freight and passengers in
> this
> > > country than any other guage.
> >
> > Again, by what measures?
>
> Simple... we have more kilometres of track than anyone else over a much
> greater physical area.

QR had a historical advantage in this area.  Whilst other colonies started
their railways from their capital and worked out (Sydney-Parramatta,
Melbourne-Pt Melbourne) Qld did things different (nothing much has changed,
has it?)
Lines started out from Ipswich, Maryborough, Bundaberg, Rockhampton,
Townsville and Cairns, and prior to the building of the North Coast Line in
the 1920's, QR lines were isolated port-to-inland affairs.

Personally, I think it worked out quite well, with fair coverage of the
entire state.

Compare the WA system with QR.  My knowledge of WAGR history is fairly
sketchy, but I would assume that WAGR
radiated their lines out of Perth?  I wonder if a QR-style decentralised
system would have worked?



--
John McCandless
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn...
Cloncurry Qld Au