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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 8 (February 1, 1931)

Robert Stephenson recommends the 5ft. 6in. Gauge

Robert Stephenson recommends the 5ft. 6in. Gauge.

In his article on the subject of Railways in New Zealand in the first issue of the New Zealand Year Book (1892) Mr. E. G. Pilcher, then Secretary to the Railway Commissioners, states that on the recommendation of the late Robert Stephenson (the eminent British railway engineer) 5ft. 6in. was adopted as the railway gauge best suited to the circumstances of the colony. This was modified to 5ft. 3in. in Canterbury and to 4ft. 8 ½in. in Auckland, Nelson, Otago and Southland, but no reasons for the alteration are given

The gauge of 5ft. 6in. recommended was probably a compromise between the 7ft. gauge of the Great Western and the 4ft. 8 ½in. of the other British railways. The question of gauge was a matter of fierce dispute in England for some time and the dispute was generally referred to as the “Battle of the Gauges.” Eventually, owing to difficulties arising from the break of gauge, the 7ft, gauge lines were converted to 4ft. 8 ½in. Railways on the 5ft. 6in. gauge were constructed in India, Canada, and elsewhere. The Irish railways were laid on a gauge of 5ft. 3in., and the State of Victoria (Australia) adopted the Irish gauge. This is also the gauge of the railways of the Argentine Republic, and Lord Frederic Hamilton, in his entertaining book, “Here, There, and Everwhere,” explains the reason for its adoption. He writes:—

“It appears that in the middle of last century a firm of English contractors built a railway in Ireland, for the construction of which railway they were not paid. In 1855 these contractors were employed to build a short railway from Balaclava to the British lines. Thinking to make some use of the Irish rolling stock, which they had seized but could not readily dispose of on account of the difference in gauge in England, they obtained permission to construct the Crimean railway on the 5ft. 3in. gauge so as to use the Irish rolling stock. This they did, and two years after the conclusion of the war they obtained a contract to build a 21-mile line from Buenos Ayres to the River Tigre. They obtained permission to build this railway on the Irish gauge, and considering the Crimean rolling stock was still in good order, they transported it from the Black Sea to the Argentine.”

At the time of the visit of Lord Frederic Hamilton to the Argentine in 1883, two of the Crimean engines, the “Balaclava” and the “Eupatoria” were still running on this little line. Later railways followed the lead of the pioneers so that all the Argentine railways were built on the Irish gauge.

The contractors for the Lyttelton to Christchurch railway had just completed a contract on the Melbourne to Essendon line and had plant of the 5ft. 3in. gauge all ready to start work in New Zealand. This fact may have influenced the Canterbury Provincial authorities in adopting the same gauge as in Victoria. Upon the introduction of inter-Colonial steamer service, Melbourne was also to some extent a basis of supplies for the southern provinces of New Zealand.