BUILDING FEAT
HUGE MOHAKA VIADUCT. Per Press Association. HASTINGS, Nov. 20. New Zealand’s mightiest bridge, that over the Mohaka River, on the East Coast railway line, is nearly onethird finished and is expected to bo completed by next June. At the deepest part the bottom of the gorge is 310 feet below the level o fthe railway line, and from bank to bank the distance is 900 feet. AVhen it is completed the viaduct
will be, discounting the Sydney Harbour bridge, the biggest railway trestle in the Southern Hemisphere. The total weight of steel to be used is between 1700 and 1800 tons, of which 540 tons have already been erected. 21.000 of the 90,000 rivets required being used in the process. At present the girders upon which the railway line will be laid span two towers on the Napier side of the gorge. The lower, nearest the bank, is 40 feet high, the next 200 feet and the next tower to grow, one of the two tallest, will be 310 feet from the river level to rail level. About 50 men are actually engaged
in the bridge-building, but a further 20 are engaged in such tasks as clearing the line and overhauling steel.
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Bibliographic details
Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 11
Word Count
204BUILDING FEAT Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 304, 21 November 1936, Page 11
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