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A fence with a difference

Sunday, July 9th, 2006

 Fence Phillips Sleeper

Just another fence? This fence is adjacent to the Gulf Development Road between Georgetown and Croydon in north Queensland. Well yes there is a difference, the main post is a Phillips railway sleeper. Most railway lines in the 19th century were constructed with timber sleepers. On the line between Normanton and Croydon, the supervising Engineer George Phillips designed steel sleepers that could be laid without the need for ballast. Phillips patented the design but because of cost were not widely used elsewhere.

How some ‘spare’ sleepers were able to be used for this fence is unknown. There is approximately two kilometres of fence with Phillips sleepers used as strainer posts.

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