Chapter 7
I The First 100 Years 1788-1888
II Railways
i Location of the Railway
ii Track
iii Bridging and Tunnelling
iv Dams for Engine Water
v Locomotives and Rolling Stock
vi Signalling and Telecommunications
vii 1900/1988-The New Century
viii The Garratt Locomotive
ix Steam Locomotive Practice
x Motor Railcars
xi Signalling
xii Electric Tramways
xiii Electric Railways - Direct Current
xiv Electric Railways - 25 kV ac
xv Diesel Traction
xvi Alignment and Track
xvii Operations
III Motorised Vehicles
IV Aviation
V Modern Shipping
VI Innovative Small Craft
VII Conclusion
VIII Acknowledgements
IX Contributors
References
Index
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1900/1988-The New Century (continued)
Track technology was unchanged save in rail weight and closer sleeper spacing on the main lines. Signalling was essentially the same as it had been in 1870 -only more of it, with the era of great Edwardian mechanical interlockings dawning in the suburbs. The Americans had invented the track circuit as far back as 1870, but the British were yet to apply it on a main line. Even their new Central London Railway, an underground electric tube, was mechanically signalled, and so was Australia.By 1900 there had been, and there was soon to be, considerable application of overseas ideas involving considerable skills, and sometimes courage, in their selection, adaptation and re-design. There were also praiseworthy applications of management skill in implementing them, but there was only one really significant Australian railway innovation in the Edwardian era -and its subsequent development was to be British, not Australian.
People in Bright Sparcs - Macfarlane, Ian B.
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 467, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/459.html