AGY-1162 | Commissioner for Railways

Full description

The Government Railways Act, (22 Vic., Act No. 19 ) came into force on 1 December 1858 authorising the appointment of a Commissioner for Railways. The Commissioner was subject to regulations made by the Governor in Council who was also authorised to appoint (and remove) the "Secretary Solicitor, engineers, surveyor, and other officers". The Commissioner for Railways could appoint only minor officers under the delegated authority of the Governor in Council. (1) The status of the Commissioner for Railways was to be a corporation sole with the name having perpetual succession and an official seal. (2) The Government Railways Act (22 Vic., No. 19 ) provided for the acquisition of land, removal of materials from acquired land, construction of inclined planes and tunnels, the alteration of the course of rivers or streams, the changing of water levels in rivers or streams, introduction of conduits and drains, the felling and removal of any trees in forests or woodlands, plus the erection of toll-houses and warehouses. (3)

From 21 October 1859 Captain B.H. Martindale (Royal Engineers) as Commissioner for Internal Communications was appointed Under-Secretary for Public Works as well as Commissioner for Railways. (4) John Rae replaced Captain Martindale in January 1861 and served as Under Secretary/Commissioner for seventeen years. Charles Goodchap succeeded John Rae in January 1878 as Commissioner for Railways while Rae continued on as the Under-Secretary for Public Works. This separation of duties followed an investigation by the Secretary (Minister) of Public Works into the circumstances of a narrowly averted rail collision in 1877. The inquiry found that the volume of rail traffic had outgrown the existing working instructions and administrative arrangements. (5)

Rail operations were initially organised on the basis of a strategic triad of Railway Branch, and the Traffic Departments of the Great Southern Railway and the Great Northern Railway. The Railway Branch contained the offices of Chief Inspector, Engineer in Chief, the Engineer and Locomotive Superintendents, the Inspector Permanent Way Great Northern Railway, and the Ticket Printer plus clerks, draftsmen, inspectors, and surveyors. The Traffic Departments of the Great Southern Railway and the Great Northern Railway were sub-branches staffed by a Traffic Manager and Traffic Inspector who supervised and monitored station masters and goods clerks throughout the rail system. (6) Messengers and a Land Valuator were added to the Traffic Department of the Great Northern Railway in 1860. (7)

In 1861 a Land Valuator was attached to the Railway Branch. (8) In the case of authorised extensions to a rail line the Trial Surveyors prepared working plans and improved the "trial lines shown on the lithographed plans laid before Parliament" by undertaking a "railway trial survey". (9) Trial Surveyors are listed as appointed officers in 1862. (10)
In 1863 a separate Engineers Branch was added to the operational structure (11) being divided in 1866 into an Engineer in Chief's Branch and an Engineer for Existing Lines Branch. (12) The Traffic Branches were reformed in 1868 into the Great Southern, Great Western and Richmond Railways and the Great Northern Railway Branches. (13) The title of Traffic Branch was reapplied to these branches in 1870.

A Railway Stores Branch was established in 1872 and renamed the Store Branch from 1873 to 1882 until a return to its original title for the period 1883-1884. The Traffic Audit Branch also began its work in 1872 with the appointment of a Traffic Auditor, Audit Clerk, Travelling Clerk, and junior Audit Clerks. (14)

Further changes to the engineering establishment involved the creation of a Locomotive Engineer's Branch in 1878 (15) and a Tramways Branch in 1880 (16). A Locomotive Overseers Branch covering the whole organisation plus a Locomotive Foremen's Office for the Great Northern Railway commenced operations in 1883. (17)

There were 143 miles of railway track in the Colony of new South Wales in 1865, by 1880 the total had grown to 734 miles, and another 1,000 were added in the five "great railway years" to 1885. Between 1880 and 1885 the number of passengers increased from 4.5 million to 13.5 million annually, and the amount of capital invested from £10 million to £22 million. (18)

During this period of rapid rail expansion the railways administration was "subjected to all kinds of political pressures for sectional ends largely unconcerned with the overall results. Calls for political reform of the New South Wales Railways culminated in the Government Railways Act (51 Vic. No. 35 1888) which established a corporate body to be known as "The Railway Commissioners of New South Wales".

FOOTNOTES

(1) Government Railways Act (22 Vic., No. 19 1858) Sections 5-6
(2) Ibid. Section 7
(3) Ibid. Section 10
(4) McMartin, Arthur Public Servants and Patronage: The Foundation and Rise of the New South Wales Public Service 1786-1859, Sydney University Press, Sydney 1993 p.286.
(5) Wettenhall R.L. 'Early Railway Management Legislation in New South Wales: The Origins of a Pioneer Public Corporation', Tasmanian University Law Review, Volume I, No. 3, 1960 p. 455.
(6) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1859 pp. 88-89.
(7) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1860 p.98.
(8) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1861 p.109.
(9) Third Report to the Honourable the Secretary for Lands and Public Works on the Internal Communications of New South Wales 1859 in Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly during the session 1859-60, Volume 3 p.416.
(10) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1862 p.63.
(11) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1863 p.69.
(12) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1866 p.75.
(13) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1868 pp.71-72.
(14) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1872 p. 81.
(15) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1878 p.103.
(16) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1880 p.102.
(17) Returns of the Colony (Blue Books) 1883 pp.114-115.
(18) Wettenhall R.L. op. cit. p.456.