Mr. J. V. W. AMOR submitted the following comparative figures to show how insignificant was the advantage gained by adopting a gauge narrower than 4 feet 83 inches :l'he Mexicnn Railway (Mexico to:Veracmm). T(1copilla Raiiu'uy. Gauge, 4 feet 84 inches. .. 3 feet 6 inches. Maximum gradient. about 1 in 22 1 in 21.4. Hadius of curves, 2.50 feet. . 181 feet. Fairlie engines, weighiug 62 tons lleyer engines, weighing 53.5 tons in running order. .. .) in running ordcr. 3pr. Burp. Mr. C. 0. BURGE, as principal assistant to the Engineer-in-chief in the construction of the New South Wales railways, which included the light lines refeyred to in the first Paper, wished to add his testimony as to the suitability of the method described to the okjects in view. He would especially point out that in New South Wales-and the same thing applied more or less to all the Australian colonies-narrow-gauge light branches which had been proposed from time to time, and had been favoured in some of them, would have failed to meet the requirements which had been satisfied by the lines referred to in Mr. Deane's Paper, not only on account of break of gauge, but for other reasons. The evils of break of gauge might be broadly summarized as :-(l) Transhipment and demurrage caused thereby ; (2) the closing of the branch as an asylum for old rolling-stock; (3) inability to draw upon the general system for extra rolling-stock to suit occasional excess of traffic, and the consequent necessity of providing otherwise useless reserves ; (4) isolation as regards repairs to rolling-stock. These, bad as they undoubtedly were, might possibly be compensated, to some extent, in the narrow-gauge line, (a) by sufficientlydecreased capital cost; and (b) by decreased ordinary working
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