FERRY TOO WIDE OR BERTH TOO NARROW?

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29890, 2 August 1962, Page 6

FERRY TOO WIDE OR BERTH TOO NARROW?

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 1. Workmen used pneumatic drills to out holes in concrete six inches thick alongside the tracks at the Aotea Quay railroad ferry today. A Railways Department foreman said that when concrete was poured along the sides, and in between the tracks, three large bolts -each side of the points were covered. •‘lf a derailment on a point were to occur we would have to hack away all the, concrete to get at the bolts,” he said. “The discharge and loading of railway waggons from Ute ship would be held up.” An area about two feet square is being dug out at each point Steel plates will cover the holes. Four excavations have so far been made.

Other workmen today continued toe job of cutting back toe wharf itself. Explosives were used yesterday to widen the berth of the Aramoana by about six inches. Though the berth was widened slightly before the ferry’s arrival another bite had to be taken out of it. A 15ft sliver was blasted off, exposing the steel reinforcing. The chief engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board (Mr D. S. G. Marchbanks) said the Aramoana had been taken into her berth several times, but the bento was “too tight a fit.” The alterations were necessary to allow her to come back further. “The ship was wider than we expected,” he said.