NRS-17445 | Survey report and plans of Francis Webb Sheilds, civil engineer

This series consists of a survey report and plans by civil engineer Francis Webb Sheilds of the proposed railway from Sydney to Parramatta and Liverpool. The survey report is dated 10 November 1849 and includes estimates of the cost of constructing the main trunk line from Sydney to the junction with the Liverpool and Parramatta lines, estimates of the cost of constructing the Parramatta line, estimates of the cost of constructing the Liverpool line, detailed costs of laying rails per mile, abstracts of costs, detailed descriptions of the lines from Sydney to Liverpool and Parramatta, a table of gradients on the main trunk line, and tables of gradients on the Parramatta and the Liverpool lines. This report also contains correspondence dated 18 June 1849 that provides estimates for constructing the main trunk line of the Sydney Railway from Sydney to Haslems Creek, including preliminary expenses, and the cost of railway works and establishment. The plans document the portions of land belonging to individuals that will be needed to construct the new lines.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. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R256 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.