ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the type of railway which is best adapted for opening up territory to trade in the shortest time and at the least possible cost, but which shall at the same time possess a large carrying capacity. It is most important in the interests of any undeveloped Colony that the cost per mile of railway communication should be reduced to the lowest figure compatible with sufficient carrying capacity. The chapter shows why a pioneer railway should be cheap, and some of the results that follow cheapness. It considers the theoretical case of the construction of a railway in a new country where all the traffic is brought down to a port and is an even quantity per mile, and therefore proportional to the length built of the railway. It is possible to build broader gauges with curves of small radius, and that trains will run safely round them, but if this is done train loads must be reduced.
