John Whitton is regarded as being the father of the NSW railways system. When he was appointed as chief engineer back in 1857, only 37km (23 miles) of track was in use and 27km was under construction. When he retired 33 years later, 3,538km was in use including the track that I come to work on each day. And some of the tracks that he laid were no minor feats of engineering in their day either.

Of course, more recent governments have shut down some of those tracks in pursuit of the all mighty cost cutting, knowing that if they ever let the state's finances slip ever so slightly by continuing to provide services and building infrastructure which will be important beyond the next electoral cycle, their political opponents will play "gotcha" and the tabloid media will go along with it. These days the peanut gallery dictates policy but back in the 1800's people like John Whitton thought they were building for a millennium. Without them, none of us would have the economies that our far sighted leaders are squandering on a daily basis to ensure that they retain their well-padded backsides on the well-padded seats of government cars.

This sculpture stands as a belated commemoration of the kind of person who once lived and worked in western societies, but is all too rare now.

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