Blackball Bridge Repairs Will Be Finished Tomorrow

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 June 1950, Page 4

Blackball Bridge Repairs Will Be Finished Tomorrow

Better progress than was expected has been made and the temporary repairs to the Blackball combined rail and road bridge, which has been closed to all traffic since it was damaged in the recent floods, will be completed tomorrow afternoon. The “all clear” signal will be given at five o’clock tomorrow afternoon, but the first goods train will not pass over the bridge until seven o’clock on Monday morning. The bridge, however, will be open to rail traffic only and it is expected that it will be some time yet before permanent repairs are effected which will enable motor traffic to negotiate the bridge. An engine whistle heard by some residents in Blackball this morning « led to the belief that the bridge had been opened earlier than w*as expected, but it is understood that the whistle was only that of a work train which crossed the bridge to take repair equipment from one side of the , river to the other. It is also understood that the Railway Department’s crane, which has been engaged in the repair work, has also made a ■ number of crossings during the course of its work.

The damaged portion of the bridge has been replaced by 25ft temporary timber spans, but permanent repairs will be undertaken immediately. It is not expected that this work will impede the progress of rail traffic over the bridge, as coal trains from the Blackball and Roa mines will be “threaded through” and the crane will be taken back to Ngahere to allow the trains to pass over the bridge. Although coal production was stopped for a period some was brought from the Roa mine by motor vehicles via the “back road” into Greymouth. As from Monday, however, it will be transported by rail. While some of the workmen who have been engaged on the temporary repairs will be taken off the job, the majority of them will be engaged in carrying out permanent repairs on the bridge. This will entail the recovering of the portion of bridge that was washed away, and deposited some distance down stream, and its replacement so that motor traffic will also be able to use the bridge.