From The Kearney Files
The Scotsman Friday March 5th 1948
Surrounded by maps and files in an office at Victoria this evening a model mono - railway showed it's paces to the press.
The designer suggests that if it were built to full scale it could carry 50,000,000 tons of coal a year from the Wankie coalfield in Southern Rhodesia there are known reserves of four thousand million tons of coal of which at the present time only 2,000,000 tons a year are being mined. In Rhodesia transport overland is difficult the project envisages a line from Wankie to Walvis Bay. Mr.E. W. Chalmers Kearney Australian structural engineer has designed the system on which he says electric trains consisting of 60 trucks could run every 10 minutes merely by pressing a button for the departures.
Mr. Attlee (British Prime Minister) has been told of the idea that the transport charge per ton would be only 10 shillings in place of the present cost of 30 shillings. Critics have argued that it would be impossible to fill trucks at the rate required to send trains every 10 minutes along the line but Mr. Kearney replies that his plan is to open 50 coalfields each filling three trains in 24 hours.
The cost for the track alone would be in the region of £50,000,000 thirty thousand trucks and 500 locomotives would be required in addition.
The sponsor of the railway clear to finance such a scheme then it should be open to British and American investors.
The Scotsman Friday March 5th 1948
Surrounded by maps and files in an office at Victoria this evening a model mono - railway showed it's paces to the press.
The designer suggests that if it were built to full scale it could carry 50,000,000 tons of coal a year from the Wankie coalfield in Southern Rhodesia there are known reserves of four thousand million tons of coal of which at the present time only 2,000,000 tons a year are being mined. In Rhodesia transport overland is difficult the project envisages a line from Wankie to Walvis Bay. Mr.E. W. Chalmers Kearney Australian structural engineer has designed the system on which he says electric trains consisting of 60 trucks could run every 10 minutes merely by pressing a button for the departures.
Mr. Attlee (British Prime Minister) has been told of the idea that the transport charge per ton would be only 10 shillings in place of the present cost of 30 shillings. Critics have argued that it would be impossible to fill trucks at the rate required to send trains every 10 minutes along the line but Mr. Kearney replies that his plan is to open 50 coalfields each filling three trains in 24 hours.
The cost for the track alone would be in the region of £50,000,000 thirty thousand trucks and 500 locomotives would be required in addition.
The sponsor of the railway clear to finance such a scheme then it should be open to British and American investors.
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