I was surprised to see by your February '58 issue that you condemn all steam motive power merely because a diesel runs 1,000,000 miles under extremely easy conditions.
     Now, it is a well-known fact, that until recently the Norfolk and Western was the only major steam-powered railway in the U.S.A., yet its figures of almost 80,000 gross ton-miles per freight train-hour and a transportation ratio of 29.39 per cent are just about the best in the business. Even American diesel magazine editors admit these figures far exceed those of class 1 diesel roads.
     These results are all the more spectacular because the N. & W. hauls freight on short runs over heavily-graded mountainous regions for almost the lowest freight rates in the country, yet its mighty efficient steam locomotives designs of over 20 years ago are running rings around much newer diesel power operating over long, water-level routes with higher freight rates.
     When you regard 1,000,000 miles in over 5 years by a B class diesel as outstanding, why do you class one as a crank who gives credit to those magnificent N. & W. J class steamers, which by now must be getting very close to the 3,000.000 mile mark in 15 to 16 years? They are thus building up mileage at the same rate as the B class diesels, but are doing it under much tougher conditions.
     It is ridiculous to suggest that the S class engines, by taking 25 years to run 1,000,000 miles, represent the peak of steam engine efficiency. This works out at about 120 miles per day, or 2½ hours work, as these engines averaged about 50 m.p.h. What were they doing for the other 21½ hours each day? Surely you are not trying to convince your readers that good steam engines can only work 2½ hours per day. This only proves that there has been no attempt to use steam power efficiently, and that work and mileage comparisons with diesels, which have schedules altered to suit them, are absolutely useless.
     It is also ridiculous to compare brand new, heavy diesels with small, extremely old and obsolete steam engines such as classes 50, 53, 32, etc., as is attempted in your Feb. '58 issue also. These old classes are not the last word in steam locomotives. When it comes to hauling freight these "mighty" diesels of N.S.W. or of anywhere else are just simply not in the race compared with the A class steam engines on the N. & W. railway. For 1953, these engines hauled 6,120 tons for 172 miles per day at 28 m.p.h. compared with 2,914 tons for 150 miles per day at 19 m.p.h. for all diesels — mostly 3 and 4 units — on class 1 roads.

Reprint of a "Letter to the Editor" appearing in Railway Transportation, July, 1958
and written in response to an article regarding VR B62 attaining 1,000,000 miles.

     Darling Harbour is a vast clearing house of wares from every corner of N.S.W. and interstate.
     At Darling Harbour Goods Yard the greater proportion of the railway goods traffic of Sydney is received and despatched.
     In this great clearing house of primary produce and general merchandise, the laws of supply and demand of many local markets are fulfilled every day and vast tonnages of freight made ready for export.
     Gradually developed from 1878, when the first consignment of wool for shipment was received, Darling Harbour now occupies an area of more than 56 acres and contains 30 miles of track. The main lines are electrified.
     Last year, a total of 3,733,731 tons of goods were handled at Darling Harbour (2,556,215 inwards and 1,177,516 outwards).
     About 18,000 trains arrive and depart annually from Darling Harbour Goods Yard — an average of about 60 each working day.
     At this busy centre, 1,100 men are employed throughout 24 hours of the day to keep goods flowing smoothly.
     Every week, 3,000 tons of perishable traffic is received and handled expeditiously to prevent damage or deterioration.

Reprinted from The Railwayman, March-April, 1963

     Buffet service has become quite a feature on many Western interurban railways, and in fact it is a necessity on trips extending over several hours. The Fort Wayne & Wabash Valley Traction Company fully recognizes the value of keeping its patrons in good cheer by serving a high-class luncheon on the four daily limited trains each way which make the trip from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis in four and one-half hours. On March 1 the company began serving menus of the type shown in the accompanying reproduction. This one was designed by J. B. Crawford, superintendent of transportation, and undoubtedly is among the most artistic ever given out by an electric interurban railway. The one reproduced shows a graceful young woman in a rose garden looking toward the famous Spanish palace, the Escurial. The attractions of the menu however, are not confined to its ornamentation, for an inspection of the items shows the large variety of food, delicacies and drink offered at prices more reasonable than one is usually asked on steam trains. The new service should not only pay for itself, but attract additional traffic.

Reprinted from Street Railway Journal, 16 March, 1907

     The island of Java, is in the Dutch East Indies. Here is a country which has a most up-to-date and efficient railway system, laid out mainly on a gauge of three feet six inches, and yet all trains must cease running after dark, owing to the hazards of the jungle.
     One of these hazards is the water buffalo, an animal of considerable weight and dimensions, yet hardly large enough, you would say, to hold up a modern train. Nevertheless, one of these animals may easily stray at night on to the unfenced track and cause a derailment, particularly with the rather light coaches used in the island.
     A curious feature of the railway in Java is a certain section of track which has been laid to two different gauges. Engines and trains of both gauges can run over it, and the double track, although apparently complicated, really represents the simplest way out of a difficulty that had grown up between the State lines and a private company.
     For a number of years the State lines, grouped at the two ends of the island, were separated by a private line in the middle, the private line being of the standard gauge while the State lines were narrow gauge.
     As a result, all freight travelling from one end of the island to the other had to be transhipped twice, a most troublesome and costly business. Finally, however, by friendly arrangement between the two managements, a second pair of rails was laid inside the wider track, and now the narrow-gauge locomotives use it as well as the others.
     Apart from a few Diesel-electric rail-cars that run in other countries on narrow- gauge track, the Java State Railways run the fastest narrow-gauge service in the world. Even more astonishing is the fact that they hold the narrow-gauge record for the world's longest non-stop run.
     This is made by the Batavia-Sourabaya Limited, which is booked to make a run of over a hundred and thirty miles without a stop. It travels between Batavia and Cheribon, and its full time allowance is a hundred and seventy-two minutes, which works out roughly at an average of forty-six miles an hour, and requires maximum speeds of sixty miles an hour.

Steep Gradients in Java

     Java also has its heavy gradients. The important town of Bandoeng is over twenty-three hundred feet above sea level, and is approached by some long stretches of steep gradient. Its branch line, leading to Garoet, ends at four thousand feet above sea level, with gradients up to one in twenty-six.
     Round Batavia, the local lines are electrified, and over some of them there is a fifteen-minute service. Even the privately-owned steam tramway companies are so highly developed that some of them own express trains with restaurant cars. Without doubt, although there are jungle hazards, and all train services cease after dark, Java can claim the most progressive and efficient railway network in the tropics.

Reprinted from The World's Railways and How They Work - 1947

     In Australia, rail travel is reckoned about the safest transport ever. With millions of passengers carried each year, the accidents can only be worked out in decimals. We have had our serious accidents, but, fortunately, they have been few and far between.
     Sometimes trains are wrecked deliberately. Probably no one has such a record as the late T. E. Shaw, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. In eighteen months, he blew up or wrecked no less than 79 trains on the Damascus-Mecca line. That, of course, was during World War 1. It is said that the Lawrence exploits became so feared that passengers who were forced to travel on that line were prepared to pay almost any price to be allowed to take a seat in the back carriage!
     Lawrence never varied his methods. He planted a mine between the sleepers and ran an electric control wire to a point several hundred yards away. The rest can be guessed. As soon as the boiler of the train was over the mine a pressed button had the desired effect.
     The system never failed, and Lawrence was always careful to collect a number of plates from the engine as proof of his successes. The late General Allenby once stated that Lawrence had made train wrecking the chief sport of Arabia! The Turks, it is rumored, failed to see the joke. The whole of the Lawrence exploits can be read in the compilation of John Thomas entitled "Obstruction-Danger."
     There is another brand of train wrecking, and the most important took place in America on the Bassington-Alton line. Trains rarely travelled over the line on the Sabbath, but came the day when a lorry lumbered over one of the crossings when suddenly, without warning, a train made its appearance over the horizon. There was no chance of avoiding the crash, and in a matter of second the engine hit the lorry amidships and a frightful smash occurred. Strangely enough, hundreds of men and women immediately made their way to the tangled carriages and lay down in most awkward positions. They were being filmed, and this was the first train smash of its kind and had been carefully arranged.
     Prior to this, all such crashes had been filmed from models in the various studios, but, states Claude Spencer, our Yankee cousins like realism. Rarely does wind cause very serious rail worry, but away back in 1925 a gale reached such force that the whole of a train travelling on a branch line in Ireland was blown over. Five passengers were killed on landing in the valley below.

Reprinted from The Western Australian Railway and Tramway Magazine, 1 August, 1946

     The car shown in the accompanying illustration is unique as being the smallest built by the J. G. Brill Company within the past twenty years. Its destination is Merida, Yucatán, to which place many similar cars of larger size have been shipped by the same builders, one car in particular being very sumptuous in its appointments and intended for the private use of the President of Mexico. The Compania de Tranvia de Merida, which is owned by Escalante & Sons, uses about 150 cars for the 33 miles of track comprising the system. The open and closed cars in use are from 12 ft. to 10 ft. in length, but the present car, which was ordered through Thebaud Bros., of New York, but 8 ft. in length. The seats and backs of the car are upholstered in leather; the interiors are of cherry and ash and the blinds which make up the equipment are of the same material. The length of the car over crown pieces is 14 ft. The truck used is remarkable on account of its short wheel base, which is but 4 ft.

Reprinted from Street Railway Journal, 5 January, 1907

     Australia's first double-deck carriage, built for the N.S.W.G.R. by Tulloch Limited, of Rhodes, is at present undergoing trials.
     It is anticipated that towards the end of February, when the second carriage is off the assembly line, they will go into service.
     By June, fifteen of the double-deck carriages are expected to be in service, after which 40 per year will be delivered until the £3 million contract, to supply 120 of the units, has been met.
     The carriages will relieve the problem of increasing seating accommodation, without adding additional cars to existing trains — which would involve costly alterations to track, platforms and signalling.
     The new carriages will also improve services by allowing withdrawal of existing wooden trailer cars.

MORE SEATING

     Built to meet the needs of Sydney's growing rail traffic, the new units, as they are introduced, will be used on those lines with the heaviest traffic.
     Each carriage has seating for 132 passengers, 62 more than existing steel trailer cars.
     The lower deck will seat 80 passengers, and the upper deck 52.
     A train consisting of four double-deck and four single deck power cars will increase seating by 248, bringing it to 764 seats. This is an increase of 48 per cent.
     On other trains, with two-motor equipment, only two double-deck cars will be used.
     These will increase seating by 124, or 24 per cent.      Intensive tests have proved that savings in power consumption of the 4-motor cars justified replacement of the two-motor equipment.
     A replacement programme will be adopted progressively over a period of years and, ultimately, it may be practicable for all suburban trains to consist of four double-deck and four conventional cars.
     Extensive use of aluminium alloys in construction has enabled the gross weight of the double-deck cars to be reduced to 49 tons.
     A reduction of weight is necessary when operating with existing two-motor power cars to achieve a satisfactory factor of adhesion.
     The new carriages feature comfortable seats of a new design, trimmed with green P.V.C., and windows are made of a special sun-repellent, shatter-proof glass.
     Good ventilation is provided by direct flow of air through windows, also exhaust extractors on upper deck and end saloons, assisted by electric exhaust fans on the lower deck.      The carriage has two entrance vestibules, each 5 ft. 6 ins. wide.
     The improved vestibule arrangements enable three people at a time to enter or leave the car, as against two in existing cars. This will speed up loading and unloading.
     Easy access to the lower saloon is provided by four steps, with five steps leading to the upper deck.
     Both upper and lower levels have a 6 ft. 3 in. ceiling height.
     Overall length of the car is 63 ft. 10 in., width 10 ft., and height 14 ft. 4½ in. above rail level.
     Lower deck floor level is 1 ft. 2¼ in. above rail, with at least 10½ in. clearance between roof of carriage and overhead wiring.
     Side doors of the cars now under construction will be automatically operated.      The designers have strived to ensure a quieter, smoother ride for passengers.
     The underside of the floor is treated with anti-drumming and sound-absorbing material, whilst above the corrugated floor, a plastic-covered plywood forms a basis for linoleum covering in the saloons, and polyvinyl flooring in the vestibules.
     The body is heavily insulated by fibreglass in blanket form.
     Sliding windows are fitted in the upper, lower and end saloons, and drop-windows in the body-side doors.
     Modern fluorescent lighting, in flush ceiling fittings, provides a diffused light of warm white colour.
     Externally, the upper portion of the car is Tuscan red with lower saloon painted black.
     Inside, however, light pastel shades of green have been used, with off-white applied to window surrounds.
     Interlock couplings between the cars are cushioned by rubber-sprung draw-gear.

Reprinted from The Railwayman, January-February, 1964