Re: Irish Gauge

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

John Dennis (jdennis@acslink.net.au) wrote:
> I have just been asked why Victoria ran on 5'3" and New South Wales on
> standard gauge.  I know all the Australian history of those decisions,
> and was able to answer the query.  I was then asked why the Irish chose
> 5'3" as opposed to the Biritish standard gauge.

It's actually a classic Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman story.

The colony of New South Wales had an Irish engineer who decided that NSW
should follow the Irish gauge of 5'3". Companies in other colonies
(Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) ordered broad gauge locomotives
and started to lay track, but NSW cut their engineer's pay and he
resigned. He was replaced with an English engineer who decided that NSW
should follow the classic British standard gauge.

Queensland had a Scottish engineer who advocated the colonial narrow gauge
(3'6") which was cheaper to build.

Cheers
David