RAILWAY REQUIREMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 12399, 12 January 1905, Page 4

RAILWAY REQUIREMENTS

. SHIFTING SEACLDTP STATION. The heed of more accommodation primarily, and other things' in a contributory way, have made .it necessary to alter the position of the Seacliff railway station and siding. From a railway point of view Seacliff is an important place.. The configuration of the surrounding country makes it indispensable .as a crossing place; but the actual position of. the' present station is unsuitable for this purpose, in view of .the growing requirements of railway' traffic. Twenty-eight chains this tide of the Seacliff station that travellers know suitable conditions exist, hence the transference. There is at present' only room for one siding at Seacliff, apd it is a siding on a reverse<curve, which makes it.awkward. I 1 * Reveibe curve,” by the way, when translated into layman’s language, signifies two curves, one to the right and another to the left, like an emaciated “S.”) And this one siding has to do double duty, for it must accommodate one of two passing trains, and also the trucks, etc., necessary for local This produces further difficulty in two ways. Firstly, it makes it neoessary for one of the passing trains to run on to the siding and, because of the trucks in front, back off again before going on its way. Secondly, and most important of all, limited space means limited length of trains, and limited length of trains means that the goods traffic pu the main lino must bo chopped and curtailed to suit the limitations of Seacliff. And so the pressing importance of the proposed work is apparent. There are other things, too, to 'be spoken of further on, which make a move desirable. The new site has the initial advantage of -being on a straight piece of line. The station, instead of being on tbo seaward side, as it is now, will adjoin the district road, and will be fronted by a platform 400 ft long. Beyond this will be two sidings, stock yards, and loading bank, and there will, be access to the sidings from both ends. Incidentally the work will involve alterations to roads leading to private properties on the sea side. Mr F. W. M’Lean, district railway engineer, who kindly gave our representative the information embodied above, tells us that the work has already been begun, but it will be some months before the new lines, etc., will be ready for use.

In regard to the contributing cause mentioned, Nature has been steadily shifting Seacliff station for the past twenty-seven years. Since the -line was constructed in 1878 the land has moved i7ft in the direction of the ocean. The details'are curious. The line has, of course, been adjusted from time to time, but in the station itself the action "of the land slide is apparent. The south end of the platform is in its proper place, but about a third of the way along it begins to twist back out of alignment, marking the edge of the movement. Mr M'Lean tells us that in the area between this point and Hampden the same trouble is met with, and investigations show that similar geological conditions exist at different points inland. It is stated that there is a bed of papa rock lying at a fairly steep gradient below the surface, and that the action of moisture on this has the effect of causing the later deposits to slide gradually down to the sea. Steady movement is noticeable in the spur on which the Seacliff Asylum is situated, and recently a store nearly opposite the railway station there was found to be so twisted out of its former position that it had to be rebuilt. It seems ns though there were a belt of moving earth of this sort stretching across the island from the points indicated. In the figures given in regard to the shifting of the railway line, those of a speculative turn of mind may find material for some nice calculations. It would be interesting to know how long it will be before one will be able to pick up pieces of Central Otago on the sea shore.