Notes on the Mount Dundas narrow gauge railway

In speaking of narrow gauge railways in Tasmania, we must accept the term in its comparative sense. It is a general practice to describe all railways of a less width than 4ft. 8|in. as narrow gauge. Indeed, not many years since the term "narrow gauge" was applied to the 4ft. 8 1/2in.<br>guage, which is now called the standard gauge of England.<br>The Tasmanian Railways, being of a gauge of 3ft. 6in., should properly be described as a narrow gauge system.<br>What we have attempted to do on the West Coast is to construct a narrower gauge, viz., a 2ft. line, as being more suitable to local and financial conditions.<br>Although oar 2ft. gauge line on the West Coast marks a new era in Government railway construction in Australasia, it must not be regarded in the light of an experiment. The oldest 2ft. gauge line, as far as I am aware, is the Festiniog line in Wales. To be accurate, the width of this line is 1ft. 11 1/2in. The Festiniog Railway Company was originally incorporated in 1832, and commenced work as a tramway from Port Madoek to certain slate quarries near Festiniog.<br>In 1869 the Company was re-incorporated and the present line constructed at a cost of ^£10,727 per mile. The ruling gradients are comparatively easy as compared with our Tasmanian grades, viz., 1 in 80. The line is worked with double Fairlie engines, weighing 24 tons, and the Company pays rather better than 5 per cent, on its capital.<br>The paper was illustrated with lantern slides of a number of exquisite photographic views of the new railway, and of the West Coast generally, taken quite recently by Mr. J. W. Beattie, which gave the spectator a good idea of the kind of country the line traversed.<br> Frederick Back was General Manager of the Tasmanian Government Railways from August 1885 - 1901