It was 1805 when the first powered vehicle moved cautiously along a wooden track in Hyde Park, London, with flanged wheels to keep it on course. The engine, called Newcastle, was steam powered. Steam powered vehicles had been used since 1769, but they were difficult to control and very dangerous. The rails kept them on course and improved safety.

The first passenger service was in 1825, when Locomotion Number 1 pulled 30 open cars over another wooden track in England at eight miles per hour (13km/h). Transportation entered a new era.

Australia's first trains came much later than these early attempts, because our population was at first too small to make the necessary outlay of money worthwhile. James Macarthur gathered a group of rich, influential Sydney-dwellers to try to raise funds for a railway. They enthusiastically voted to build lines from Sydney to Parramatta and from Richmond to Windsor. Nothing much happened for ten years. Work was started on a line from Sydney to Parramatta in 1850, but progress was tediously slow. Australia's first operating railway, therefore, was opened not in Sydney, the "birthplace of the nation", but in Melbourne, with a service running from the city centre to the sea port, which was then called Sandridge. It opened in 1854, and is still running today, as a Light Rail or tram route. The Sydney-Parramatta line was completed in 1855.

Railways were for a long time a "political football," put in place, not to aid the development of the land, nor for the benefit of people using the service, but to be "one step ahead" of the other colonies. Especially prone to this mentality were New South Wales and Victoria, the two most populous states. The table shows the advances made by both states.

Date	New South Wales	Victoria
1846	Great Southern and Western Railway Company formed	.
1850	GS&W renamed to Sydney Railway Company; Work started on Sydney-Parramatta line	.
1853	Hunter Valley Railway Company formed to link Sydney with Newcastle	Companies formed to link Melbourne with Geelong (Geelong & Melbourne Railway Company), Port Melbourne (then known as Sandridge - Melbourne & Hobson's Bay Railway Company), and several rural centres
1854	.	Melbourne-Sandridge line opened - first steam-powered railway in Australia
1855	Sydney-Parramatta line opened; SRC and HVRC sold out to government	.
1857	.	Melbourne-Geelong line opened
1860	Almost all lines taken over by government

The Battle of the Gauges

It might seem that the amount of space between the two rails, known to railway people as the track gauge, should be relatively unimportant in railway history. However, in Australia nothing could be further from the truth. Australia's railways have for over 150 years worked under the crippling handicap of a "break-of-gauge" - that is, different railway systems built track of different gauges, totally preventing trains from crossing the boundaries between systems. Every piece of cargo had to be manhandled across a station platform to another train.

There are advantages and disadvantages for wider and narrower gauges. A wide gauge (with the rails set far apart) gives the fast running train stability even with heavy loads, but a narrow gauge is much cheaper in land requirement, materials and maintenance. Narrow gauges are preferred for rugged mountain terrains where tighter curves are necessary.

Just before Australia came upon the railway scene, the British Parliament had seen the problems associated with the presence of different gauges. Therefore they had passed a law requiring all railways to alter their rail gauge to Robert Stephenson's Standard Gauge, four feet, eight and a half inches (1435mm)¹. The Act also suggested that the railways of all British colonies should adopt the standard gauge. However, the railways in Ireland were all of broader gauges, so the Act for regulating the Gauge of Railways of 1846 allowed Irish railways to adopt a gauge of 5'3" (1600mm)², which would require less alteration, while still not creating a break-of-gauge (because of the sea in between).

So of course when James Macarthur was thinking about building a railway in New South Wales, it was assumed that the British standard gauge would be used. However, Macarthur's engineer-in-chief, F. W. Shields, in a burst of Irish patriotism, succeeded in persuading him to use the Irish gauge of 5'3". Victoria and South Australia, not wanting a break-of-gauge (as there had been in England before the Act was passed), also decided to change, and for the only time in Australia's history, there was a uniform gauge for the continent (even though there was not an inch of track or a single locomotive or carriage). No doubt some people in Britain were not pleased at this turn of events, but since the suggestion in the Act that colonies conform to the standard was not an imperative requirement, there was little they could do.

This situation took a drastic turn for the worse when Shields resigned from his position after a dispute over his salary, and was replaced by a Scotsman called Wallace, who persuaded New South Wales to change back to the British standard gauge. Everything would have been all right then, apart from the fact that Victoria and South Australia had already ordered broad gauge rolling stock³, and, in those days, gauge conversion was not possible.

Attempts were made several times to standardise the Australia's railway gauges, but they all came to nought, mostly because of the cost and trouble involved. It was then thought that it would be more economical to move goods from one capital city to another by sea (as all Australia's state capitals are sea ports) than to build railway lines, thus minimising the need for inter-colonial (or interstate) rail links. Time has proved this theory to be incorrect, and Australia has paid dearly⁴ for the mistake.

As if the problem was not bad enough already, another gauge was introduced, this time, by the eternal problem of funding. The Queensland government was chronically short of money, and had a lot of country to open up, so a British engineer, Robert Fairlie⁵, was consulted for methods of building railways more cheaply. It was concluded that a narrow gauge of 3'6", using lighter rails (using less steel) would require less land, could turn corners tighter, and would reduce the costs of tunnelling. This made it ideal for less heavily-trafficked lines, and especially in mountainous or rugged terrain. Many people thought it would adversely effect safety at speed, but the government were assured that as long as speeds stayed under 20 miles per hour (32km/h) trains would be quite safe⁶.

South Australia eventually used all three gauges: broad gauge for main lines, standard for the interstate rail link, and narrow for smaller lines, with three different sets of rolling stock, and threefold confusion. While individual railways gave a great boost to the developing colonies, the gauge problems did little to unite Australia to become a single nation.

Over the years many have attempted to remedy this problem. Dual-gauging of track is the most common, because it allows the old non-standard gauge trains to continue to use the lines until sufficient standard-gauge rollingstock is available. This is done by installing an extra rail inside the usual broad gauge pair (or outside in the case of narrow gauge), to accommodate standard gauge trains. On one section of track on the Port Pirie-Broken Hill line, all three gauges are represented: broad gauge with the two outer rails, and standard and narrow each using one outer and one inner. The technique of dual-gauge track is a work-around at best. It does not solve the problem, but merely moves it to where it does not have so great an impact.

Another widely-used solution to the problem is known as a bogie exchange: each carriage, wagon or locomotive is put on a section of dual-gauge track under a heavy crane. It is then lifted off its bogies, which are pulled out and replaced by equivalent bogies of a different gauge. This technique was first used on Victorian Railways' diesel locomotive B60, and has been widely used for freight cars, especially in the wheat harvest season when every wagon is badly needed. However it is relatively slow in practical terms, because a train must be broken up and each wagon treated separately.

Reliable forms of moveable wheels and telescopic axles are a relatively recent development. They are much faster than bogie exchanges, but have similar disadvantages.

The only real solution to the problem is to dual-gauge large amounts of track, and gradually phase out the non-standard rollingstock, leaving only the standard gauge. However this is very expensive and budgets are always tight. The break-of-gauge problem has not grown much easier to handle with the passing years.

High-Speed Development within Colonies

I must now return to my chronological history of the development of Australia's railways.

In the 1860s, "railway fever" set in. The New South Wales government opened lines to Blacktown in 1860, and to the foot of the Blue Mountains in 1863. The mountains were a difficult barrier to cross, but it was done in 1867 when the "Zig-Zag" railway⁷ was opened from Penrith to Wentworth. Meanwhile other lines, with more ordinary engineering (over relatively level ground) were built. By the end of the decade the railway had reached Goulburn, the centre of the wool industry. The NSW Government Railways now had a large source of income from transporting wool to Sydney, for sale or export.

Meanwhile, Victoria, not willing to be outdone by its northern neighbour, had also made great progress. The Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company, a private enterprise, opened in 1860, one of the first suburban systems. It built Spencer Street Station, now Melbourne's main country and interstate rail terminus, and opened a line to a small country village (which is now a suburb of Melbourne) called Essendon. It served the young men who were newly rich from striking gold, and who wanted to invest in land development. Essendon quickly became an affluent area, with rich landowners and upper class tenants. A line from Melbourne to Echuca (one of the main river-boat ports on the Murray River) via Castlemaine (a wool town) and Bendigo (a goldrush city) was opened in 1864, bringing great profit to the government and ending the age of private river shipping.

The Queensland government was chronically short on funds, so a rail link from Brisbane to Cairns was postponed. Instead smaller lines were constructed from all the major population centres. All of these were narrow gauge tracks to save money. This shortage was so acute that it was 1875 before Brisbane had a suburban rail system.

In Tasmania the Launceston and Western Railway Company built a broad gauge line in 1867 from Launceston to Deloraine. Two years later the Tasmanian Main Line Railway Company planned a link from Hobart to Launceston using the Queensland narrow gauge. Because of the Bass Strait, there was little need for similarity of gauges with the railways on the mainland, but all equipment was imported from England so it was logical to use the similar dimensions as other countries did. The initial broad gauge line was standardised to 3'6" a few years later. Tasmania now has no break-of-gauge.

South Australia had initially used broad gauge, but it was too expensive for many of the routes (many of which served very sparsely-populated areas), so narrow gauge was used for several lines, especially those that would be unlikely to link with Victorian (broad gauge) track.

Western Australia was late in developing a rail system, as its population was small and widely spread. Also its land was harsh and largely desert. Nevertheless, narrow-gauge tracks were built from Perth to Kalgoorlie, Albany, Geraldton, and Esperance. The Trans-continental railway, owned by the Commonwealth government and built to standard gauge, reached to Kalgoorlie, and creating another break-of-gauge station.

The Northern Territory has had very few railways, and all were owned by the Commonwealth government. A narrow-gauge line from Darwin to Pine Creek was built, but it was closed in June 1976. The only other line was the narrow-gauge track to Alice Springs, home to The Ghan. This was replaced by a standard-gauge line in 1980, which skirts the flood-prone areas which used to pose so many problems to the old line.

What have we missed? Canberra! The Australian Capital Territory was established in 1914, in the Southeastern area of New South Wales. However, it was surrounded by mountains, so railways were difficult to lay. Also the "rail fever" of the 1880s had long since passed, leaving nothing but a memory of huge expenses. Because of this, rail transport never caught on in Canberra, and its museums can literally boast "more trains than the railways". There are several well-kept steam engines in the museums, including Number 1210, a small standard-gauge engine built in 1880. It hauled the first train into Canberra in the early days, and was preserved outside the Canberra railway station until it was rescued and restored. It was for some time the oldest working steam locomotive in Australia.

Intercolonial Rail Links

In all the Australian colonies, railways connected population centres, increased trade and services, and generally helped people achieve their goals more efficiently than previous methods.

In 1883 the first train pulled out from Spencer Street Station, Melbourne, bound for Sydney. Both railway systems had built appropriate tracks, but passengers had to change trains at Albury, the break-of-gauge station. Despite this inconvenience, it was far better than the dangerous stagecoach journey in use up until then. The Melbourne-Sydney trips became the most widely-used rail services in Australia. Both colonies used their fastest engines, most luxurious passenger carriages, and most efficient service. However, the change of trains at Albury (due to the gauge confusion) remained an obstacle for many years.

South Australia and Victoria agreed to construct lines from Adelaide and Melbourne meeting at Serviceton, just West of the border, with the service opening in January 1887. Fortunately there was no change of gauge, with a 5'3" service from capital to capital. The Overland, the capital-to-capital express train, still runs.

Work on a link from Queensland to New South Wales began in 1887. The lines met at Wallangarra, then known as Jennings, the next year.

The track now extended from Townsville to Adelaide, with two changes of train on the colonial borders. This link helped repress the inter-colonial rivalries and contributed towards Australia's Federation in 1901.

Post-Federation Rail Progress

In the twentieth century, many factors arose to challenge the rail system. The motor car had been invented in Europe, and Henry Ford had developed a mass-production method that brought it within reach of the "main-in-the-street". The aeroplane had been invented in America, and pilots returning from the Great War (World War I) had founded airlines. The railway's two greatest rivals had been established.

Even so, new engines were designed, built and used. The Spirit of Progress was used for fast passenger trips to Albury. The four Victorian Railways S-Class steam engines were streamlined with a dark blue metal shroud. This did little for speed or comfort, but made the engines look "up-to-date". The coaches were air-conditioned, a great novelty in Australia in 1937, and painted the same dark blue with a yellow stripe, to enhance the "streamlined" look. The three-hour trip from Melbourne to Albury was made in a single run. In a test-run to Geelong, the Spirit reached 128km/h, Australia's all-time record for steam transport. In fact Victorian Railways mounted a publicity stunt by racing an aeroplane against the Spirit. The aircraft lost.

The Second World War made less to Australia's railways than it did to those of Europe, where the fighting was. However military transportation increased the amount of business, especially from Melbourne to Brisbane. Oil and petrol were in high demand for running tanks, planes, ships, and other war craft, so ordinary people were unable to use their cars and railways gained a lot of civilian passenger business as well. Also, the war meant that manpower and raw materials were in very short supply, so badly ageing rolling stock, could not be replaced or even (in many cases) properly maintained. The end of the war found the railways in very bad shape. This problem, coupled with the growing popularity of road and air transport, led to the end of the supremacy of the railways.

Railways in the Post-War world

Between the wars, aircraft had been a flimsy, dangerous way to travel, and were easily beaten for speed by high-speed passenger trains. Road transport was also slow, and could not take a very large load. After 1945, however, there were many surplus military airliners that were safe, reliable and twice as fast as trains. Ex-army trucks were also large, safe and reasonably fast. Rail transport of passengers for long-distance travel began to decline.

Queensland was the least affected. New passenger trains were established, with air-conditioned coaches and diesel engines. (However, they could not challenge the Victorian steam trains for speed because of the narrow gauge of track, which did not allow such speeds with safety.)

The rise of diesel and electric engines signalled the end of the steam age. However, new steam engines were designed and used. In Victoria the R-class passenger express engines were designed, and 70 were built in England in 1951. They have been described as "the right engine at the wrong time": the diesel takeover put them out of service after only a short service life.

In New South Wales a similar thing happened to the C-38 class, first built during the war in 1943. They were magnificent engines, also used for fast passenger runs. The boilers were designed to withstand a steam pressure of 245 pounds per square inch. This allowed high speeds to be kept up for a long time without stopping, making a very useful express passenger locomotive. However, the diesels could do the same thing, and did it more cheaply and without as much noise or smoke. The steam age was coming to an end.

Many people were sad to see the end of steam. There is something "alive" about a steam engine, as any enthusiast can tell you. Drivers used to say that a steam loco would "talk" to its driver, and the driver had to understand the language before the steed would obey. If he was a very good driver, he could "coax" a disabled engine along, and get his train home.

God, Government and Railways

All Australia's railways started out as private companies, outlaying large sums of money and hoping for enough rail business to eventually make a profit. At the beginning they profited well, because the railway was faster than horseback or foot travel (a great advantage with a continent the size of Australia), and was inherently a better system of transportation than stage coach or river boat: rails keep the trains safer at high speed; they are more resistant to bogging or other weather-related breakages; and they can be laid anywhere they are needed (within reason).

The government, while not prepared to outlay enough cash to clear land, lay rails and do the initial work involved in starting railways, were quite happy to buy them after a few years (when the railway companies ran short of money and risked bankruptcy). By 1860, almost all of Australia's lines were government-owned, and the last one was taken over in 1880.

We in modern times are used to seeing government-run buses, trains and trams. Let us now temporarily forget that it is "the only way we know it" and look at the Biblical authority given to the government. Do we see in Dt 17:14-20 these words?

"And when you set a king over yourselves, like the other nations, he shall not multiply horses unto himself, though Iron Horses aren't so bad. He shall keep trains and buses running at three-minute intervals in peak time. He shall not let them run late, for this would be inconvenient to My people. I am the LORD your God."

No! The responsibility of the king (that is, the civil government) is set out in these passages: Dt 17:14-20 - to defend the country against outsiders, and to keep himself from greed, great riches, or idolatry; Rom 13:4, 1 Pet 2:13-17, Tit 3:1-2 - to enforce and apply God's laws. These verses do not give governments unlimited authority, nor teach that we should blindly obey every word that comes from the mouth (or pen) of the king. Rulers are under God's Law (whether they recognize it or not) just as all men are. We too will be judged on our Godly attitude, so disrespect is not an option.

So who should be running railways, according to Scripture? Of course, we don't find any reference to cars, buses, trains and iron rails or even public transport because in those times they didn't have any. But we do find that roads were not always public in Bible times. Jesus' disciples were challenged by the Pharisees for crushing grain and eating it on the Sabbath (Matthew 12; see also Matt 13:44). This seems to indicate that there was nothing unusual about walking through a neighbour's grain field for the purpose of travelling. Dt 23:24-25 allows the eating of a neighbour's grain, indicating that roads were often passed through "private" property.

The Christian pioneers in the USA knew this when founding colonies. In Philadelphia, they had no money for building such things as roads, so ten feet (three meters) of each man's property was set aside for public travel. It was the person's responsibility to keep it reasonably level and smooth, rather like footpaths and nature strips are today.

Is this how God would want it to be? We must remember that the church fathers and the Israelite nation were as fallible as we are. However, these ideas sound much closer to God's ideal than having the government using our tax money to do what individuals or private businesses should be doing.

Quite apart from the Biblical principles, there are practical problems with bureaucratic control in all large organizations. In government enterprises the absence of the profit motive removes an important restraint on bureaucracy and waste. Also, since there are so many committees, subcommittees, and other people to keep informed, it takes a long time for anything to happen.

Also, people have a selfish attitude to government-controlled services: they reason that since they pay their taxes, it is their "right" to be given the services they want cheaply or for free. This happened in the wheat growing areas: farmers demanded a rail line for grain shipping, even though there was absolutely no business for the trains except at harvest time. Great losses would be made maintaining the track, demanding more tax money from the public. In other areas the same idea of the government as an inexhaustible supply of money is seen constantly. ("The 'gummint' should...").

Conclusion

There is no doubt that wherever they have been built, railways have made a tremendous contribution to the quality of life of Australians. They have opened the way to remote townships, stimulating trade and aiding communication over long distances. In every way, they have boosted development and encouraged enterprise. Moreover, they have offered useful employment to many, and have charmed even more as railway enthusiasts.

Railways are a great asset to Australia. However, it is tempting to think that anything that is desirable should be government operated. I see no Scriptural basis for governments to own them.

Bibliography

Brooke, Stephen: The Railways of Australia, PR Books, Sydney, 1988

Everds, John: The Spectacular Trains: A History of Rail Transportation, Hubbard Press, Northbrook, 1973

Adam-Smith, Patsy: All Aboard: Trains of Australia, Australia Post, 1993

Martin, John D: Living Together on God's Earth, Christian Light Publications, Pensacola, 1996

Murray, Iain H: Australian Christian Life from 1788, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1988

Solomon, K & L, and Livingston, K & J: Australia: Our Story - Volume 2, Martin Educational, Sydney, 1987

Wynd and Wood: A Map History of Australia, Oxford University Press, London, 1967

Marshall, John: The Guiness Book of Rail Facts and Feats, Guiness Superlatives Ltd, Enfield, 1975

Malpass, Steve; Dare, John and Jenkin, Ian: A Vintage Year for Steam: AusSteam '88 and Flying Scotsman in Australia, Kosdown Printing Company, Melbourne, 1992

Videos: Pure Steam, Flying Scotsman Down Under and Main Line Magic, all from ABC Video

Questions

1. What is the difference between an engine, a train and a railway?
2. When was the first passenger-carrying railway service in Australia opened?
3. Why were railways better than a) stagecoaches, b) river boats and c) horseback?
4. What are the advantages of broad gauge? Narrow gauge?
5. How many gauges of track are used in Australia? Where are the various gauges used? How did this situation come about?
6. Even when Australia had so many gauges of track, why were they the same as in Britain and America?
7. When was the Melbourne-Sydney rail link completed? Sydney-Brisbane? Adelaide-Melbourne? Why was the last more convenient for passengers than the other two?
8. Why did "rail fever" not take on in the Australian Capital Territory?
9. In what ways did railways help the colonies?
10. When did railways expand most (and why?): (a) 1800-1825 (b) 1825-1850 (c) 1850-1900 (d) 1900-1945
11. Where and when did diesel and electric engines begin their takeover of railways?
12. Who runs Australia's railways? Did they start this way?
13. Have roads and transport always been publicly owned?
14. What is the role of civil government as expressed in Scripture? Does this include running public transport services? What other Scripture passages might be relevant?

1. An engine provides the motive power. It is usually a locomotive (that is, it doesn't do any other job) but in the last fifty years or so multiple-unit sets (with passenger-carrying motor cars) have become more common, especially in suburban areas. A train is what follows the engine, usually passenger or freight cars. A railway is the network of tracks etc on which the trains run, or (in recent years) the company which runs the trains.
2. Australia's first passenger-carrying rail service was a very rough wooden-railed and convict-powered service which ran over land in the south of Tasmania. However the first mechanical-hauled railway was the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, which carried passengers and freight from Melbourne to Port Melbourne (Sandridge) from 12 September 1854.
3. Stagecoaches were prone to rutted roads (giving bad rides) and weather conditions (making roads into impassable swamps). River boats could only run where there were rivers. Horses were less powerful than steam power and tired more easily.
4. Broad gauges give safety at high speeds; narrow gauges allow tighter turns and cost less.
5. Three major track gauges were used in Australia: broad gauge 5'3"/1600mm in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (initially); standard gauge 4'8½"/1435mm in New South Wales, the Trans-Continental railway (across the Nullabor), the interstate rail links (to Brisbane 1930, Melbourne 1962, Perth 1964, Adelaide 1970), and the iron ore mining area in Western Australia; narrow gauge 3'6"/1067mm in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia (minor lines) and Tasmania. Other gauges included 2'0"/610mm in the Queensland sugar mill area and the small mining railways on Tasmania's west coast and 2'6"/762mm in the four narrow-gauge lines of the Victorian Railways from 1898 to the 1950s (including Melbourne's world-famous Puffing Billy Railway in the Dandenong Ranges), among others. The situation first came about because of short-sighted passions on the part of certain people of influence, and was exacerbated by colonial rivalries and technical problems. Narrow-gauge came because of a chronic fund shortage.
6. Most rollingstock was imported either from Britain or the United States, both of which used standard gauge. 3'6" railways were widely used, so the manufacturers were accustomed to building rollingstock to this gauge.
7. The Melbourne-Sydney link, with a change of gauge at the border, was completed in 1883. Melbourne-Adelaide, simpler because both colonies used broad gauge, opened in 1887. The Brisbane-Sydney link also had a break-of-gauge, and was in service by 1887.
8. When Canberra, the national capital, was founded in 1914, the great days of railway building (the 1880s) were long since gone, and the depression of the 1890s had made the government cautious of large spending. Today Canberra does have a rail service, but it is only for interstate journeys, not for suburban commuters.
9. Railways provided transport for the colony, at a time when alternative means of getting around were slow, unreliable and dangerous. Larger amounts of freight could be carried than the maximum loads of bullock carts, which made it cheaper and easier for the people of the inland to get their produce to the people in the city, who would provide the money to keep them in business. In short, the coming of the railway changed an inland settlement into a town.
10. 1850-1900. The railway expanded most during the 1880s, and continued to grow (at a slower pace) until the pinnacle of railway mileage in the 1930s, after which the smaller branch lines (which could not justify the expense of their upkeep) began to be closed off.
11. Electric suburban railways took over from steam in 1919, when electric trains commenced operation in Melbourne (Sydney's first electric services were in 1926). Electric shunters, also in Melbourne, were built in 1923. Small diesel shunters were widely used by industrial railways and also for shunting from the 1930s. However, main line replacement of steam only began after the war: Tasmania's X-class diesel locos entered service in 1950, and the Blue Mountains line (in New South Wales) was electrified in 1952. Since then all the railways have become totally dieselised, and Victoria and Queensland built electric main lines (although Victoria's electrified main line has since been de-electrified). Steam was progressively phased out from the 1950s, lasting in general service until the early 1960s and for enthusiast trips, yard shunting, and as a backup in case of motive power shortages until the mid-1970s.
12. Australia's railways were mostly government-operated from the 1860s until the 1990s - notable exceptions including the Silverton Tramway Company (a private railway running between the NSW and SA government railways) and the privately-owned mining and industrial railways (Australian Iron & Steel and BHP, for instance, operated their own railways).

    In the 1990s many of Australia's railways were "corporatised" (that is, formed into companies instead of government departments) and sold off. However, most were still heavily subsidised from tax money, so the problems of government ownership were still present. There were several benefits, though - see In Praise of Privatisation for more info.

13. Roads and other means of transport have not always been owned by the government. In Biblical times they were either a sort of "no-man's-land" (simply a route used by traders) or else they were owned by a certain person. In early America each person was required to set aside part of his property for public travel, and was responsible for keeping it passable. In the 1950s-60s when Australia's cities were expanding rapidly, the government built only the major roads, and the property developer was responsible for building the smaller streets.
14. The role of government as specified in Scripture is to protect the people from harm. This includes national defence (protection from foreign domination), law enforcement (protection from criminals), safety (protection from unnecessary accidents), etc. Running public transport does not fall into any of these categories (although checking the operators' safety measures does).

Footnote #2: The width 5'3" was the result of an argument between proponents of the 5'0" and 5'6" gauges. The mediator agreed to split the difference, which had the convenient result of making the gauge translate to a neater metric figure than the British standard. Return to text.

Footnote #3: Rolling stock: Engines, passenger cars, freight cars, and anything that can move over the tracks. Return to text.

Footnote #4: It can be argued that the break-of-gauge could prevent Australia's defence against military attacks - the Second World War provided a harsh reminder of this. However, the expense and inconvenience of moving everything from one train to another is quite an adequate argument for rail standardisation. Return to text.

Footnote #5: Robert Fairlie was a strong advocate of the 3'6" gauge for use in developing countries, where money and materials were hard to find. For this reason 3'6" gauge railways can be found all over Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. Return to text.

Footnote #6: It is ironic that Australia's fastest train, the Queensland Railways Tilt Train, runs on the narrow gauge! Return to text.

Footnote #7: The Zig-Zag railway has now been replaced by a tunnel, but a small portion is preserved for tourists and enthusiasts. Return to text.