NRS-16268 | Tables of gradients

Full description

The purpose of the series was to record the gradients, mileages and heights above high water at railway stations and intermediate places located on the main railway lines. Each volume in the series is devoted to a section of a major railway line. Those included in this series are the Great Southern, South Western, Great Western, Great Northern and the North Western Lines.

The volumes consist of two sections. 'List of Gradients' and a 'Summary of the gradients'.

The first table is divided into columns which record station name, mileage from Sydney, whether rise or fall, gradient (shown as a ratio) ; length in miles and chains; height above high water spring tides in Sydney and remarks. The measurements were also made at locations between stations where the gradient changed. The remarks column is used to identify the places where these latter measurements were taken, e.g. 'Iron Bridge', 'Billabong Creek' ,'River Murray'.

The summary of gradients shows the number of times a particular gradient occurs on the section of line covered in the volume. This table is arranged by the measurement of the gradient (beginning at the lowest 1:33). This section shows following - gradient, number and mileage of instances, and indicating those which rise and those which fall from Sydney.

Each of the items in this series is between linen-backed cover sheets, fastened at the upper left-hand corner. The items are consecutively numbered and the identification on the front cover consists of the item number, railway line, the series title and section of line. These are lettered apparently by hand.

The volumes are stamped 'Engineer in Chief for Railways 25 Apr 87. It is unknown whether this is the date of compilation or a date in custody.


Custody History
From 1955 until 2000 the State Rail Authority of New South Wales maintained an ‘in house archives’ consisting of the archival records of the Authority, its predecessor agencies and the private railway companies taken over by the government. The date ranges of the records were from 1849 until 2000. When the decision was made to close the ‘State Rail Archives’ the parts of the collection that were required as State archives were transferred to the State Records Authority of NSW. Those record series were incorporated into the State Records series system of archives control and were re-numbered.

This series was formerly part of the State Rail Archives collection where it was identified as series R166. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R166 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.