NRS-15170 | Minutes of the permanent-way inspectors’ conference

The permanent-way inspectors’ conference was held monthly under the Chairmanship of the Engineer-in-Chief for Existing lines. The other members of the conference were the Inspectors of the four rail divisions into which the state was divided. The purpose of the meeting was to report on and discuss the condition of rail and tram lines throughout the state. Lines were rated according to their condition and any problems were noted. The minutes also contain statistics on work carried out for the month in each of the divisions - metropolitan, southern, northern, and western. Statistics include the distance of track relayed, amount of ballast used, thumbscrews and clips broken during the month, and the amount of scrub cut down. Any shortage of materials was noted.Custody HistoryFrom 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 R30. It may have been viewed in the State Rail Archives as series R30 and could have been previously cited as such in notes by researchers at State Rail Archives or in publications or unpublished works.