RAILWAY RUMOURS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 275, 13 August 1908, Page 7

RAILWAY RUMOURS.

';l;' o— — REASSURING REPLIES. THE "BLACK"' TUNNEL. The disturbing rumour, published first by the "Taihape Times," that the "Black" tunnel, on the Main Trunk line between Toi Toi and Mangaweka is in a very unsafe condition, finds ( no acceptance in official quarters. The allegation is that a hole exists in the tunnel,, through which the waters .of,, tho Rangitikeif River can be seen. Mr. R. W. Holmes,; 'Engineer-in-Chief• to the Public Works Department, states that there is a hole through the flank of the tunnel, but it was bored, according to a common custom, fdr the ejection of the. tunnel spoil, and is ;iii no way a source of danger.

.The Railway Department, which has charge of this portion of the line, has received no information that anything is the matter with the tunnel, _ though, together with tho permanent way, it is inspected every morning by a competent man, and further inspected once a week by a railway gang and officer in charge. The " information given to the "Taihapo Times'- further Btated that before the special Parliamentary train went over the line, a gaiig of men wero engaged in shifting the rails-laid through the tunnel further 111 from the river wall ? with the idea, so it was suggested, of "putting less weight on that side,.of,the track in which the defect was supposed'to exist. The explanation of this is very. simple. In rounding a curve—and this ;tunnel is built on a curve—a, train is always slightly canted, so that if the lines were laid through the middle of the tunnel, "there, would be ldss clearance! room on one side than the other. Moreover, the impact of successive trains against the higher outer rail has' a tendency to force tho track over—iti railway language, thero is a "creep." Every day surface men are employed all over the lines of tho Dominion, correcting the "creep" tendency oil curves. Wide£ carriages are now to be used on tho Main Trunk line, and beforo the Parliamentary train went through. the lines were shifted in the "Black" ' tunnel, to , allow moro clearance on "the sido to which trains lean.

Closely connected with 'this explanation is 'a rumour which reaches us through a correspondent, that the _ special _ Parliamentary train,. containing wider carriages than those generally used, actually bumped the sides of some of the tunnels on the Manawatu line. It was suggested that if a train struck the side of. a tunnel when entering, the consequences might be serious. The railway authorities, however, deny the rumour. There seemed a possibility that the wider carriages might be too wide for somo of the oldest tunnels on the Government line, which are of narrower gauge than those more recently constructed, but the Department states that by adjusting the lines in the usual manner ■ to allow for natural canting, ample clear- , . ance is allowed on both' sides of the cars, and scraping is quite impossible. The Department Was convinccd 'of this from measurements, but to make' assurance doubly sure, a preliminary train," containing some of '■ the wider carriages, was sent over the line before the Parliamentary'"special" made its journey.'. There was no jarring, and none was 'experienced with the legislators' train. An independent authority thought that, allowing for the swaying of a train, it might bo possible" for extreme carriages to touch the sido of a tunnel when travel sing a curve. The contact would hardly cause a scratch, and would be quite free from danger lo tho tunnel fabric.