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Robert Stephenson info added
A line of railway had been surveyed between Colombo and Kandy by the ‘Ceylon Railway Company’ in the year 1847, after which the project seems to have fallen into abeyance. This survey had been undertaken by a Mr Drane, a young assistant Engineer at the time he surveyed this Line “He deserves credit for having selected the best general tract for his Line that the country afforded between the rivers Kalany and Mahavilla. Mr. Drane acted well in the position of a Surveyor; but to place the Line in the hands of a Chief Engineer who had never seen the country, and knew nothing personally of the material to use, and the resources to apply in that country, was a gross error of principle from which the Company may be thankful they have escaped”
<ref name=Report>[https://archive.org/stream/nspapersonsubjec07grea#page/8/mode/1up “Report on the Ceylon Government Railway Survey” Captain W S Moorsom, Chief Engineer R.E. pages 8, 23 and 24; and “Notes on the mode of executing the Survey” by Lieut. Festing, R.E. ]; Retrieved 20 May 2018</ref>.
The London based [[Robert Stephenson]], Consultant Engineer was approached by the 'Ceylon Railway Company' for advice <ref name=biog>[https://books.google.fr/books?id=BzErDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books "Robert Stephenson – The Eminent Engineer” edited by Michael R. Bailey; page 155-57]; Retrieved 4 May 2020</ref>. The exact date, extent and content of this consultation is not known but would be in the early 1850's
==1856-57 Survey==
