Victorian Railways Career
Premier Harry Lawson appointed Clapp as Chairman of the Commissioners of Victorian Railways in September 1920 on the recommendation of former Chairman Sir Thomas James Tait, who had known Clapp prior to his move to the United States. With an annual salary of £5,000, Clapp was Australia's highest-paid public servant at the time.
Clapp arrived in September 1920, and began an extraordinary period of reform of Victorian Railways. During his tenure, timetables were improved, larger and more powerful locomotives were built, services were improved, and the VR expanded operations into everything from motor coach services, a ski chalet, and creches to bakeries and raisin bread marketing.
Read more about this topic: Harold Winthrop Clapp
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