Railway-Building 70 Years Ago

Northern Advocate, 25 January 1939, Page 11

Railway-Building 70 Years Ago

Interesting associations with the early days of railway construction in New Zealand are recalled by Mr A. Lucas, Sen., aged- 87, an ex-inspector for the . Public Works Department. >, Mr Lucas joined the department 70 years ago.

His home is now at Te Karaka, Gisborne, but he is spending a week’s holiday with his nephew, Mr G. W. Bennett, Main’s Avenue, Whangarei. Mr Bennett, who is only 17 years younger than his uncle, is himself a retired railway servant. / Mr Lucas’s earliest association with railway construction was in the surveying of the line between Upper Hutt and Featherston, at the lower end of the Wairarapa district. Surveying Rimutaka Line. He was engag&d as helad chainnjanover the difficult stretch of track 'across the Rimutaka Ranges, including the. unique section from Cross

Creek to Summit, on the eastern side of the range. .. .... - - •

- Here the famous Rimutaka incline, running on a grade of as steep las one •in 16, - necessitated the use of the centre-jrail system and special Fell engines.

It is more than 60 years since this section of lino was opened, linking Wairarapa with Wellington by rail.

Mr Lucas was also one of the officers in charge of the final stages of construction when the two ends of the Main Trunk line were linked just north of Horopito, near Ohakune. He was present when the last of the rails were joined in 1908. ‘‘Josephine’s’* Last Days, Most New Zealanders interested in the railway history of the Doininion have read of the old “Josephine,” the Fairley articulated locomotive, which was once the crack express engine of South Island lines.,

Mr Lucas told a reporter. that this old engine ended its days- hauling ballast trains" between Mangawekti and Taihape when that section of the Main Trunk was being built. Other sections of line on. the construction of which Mr Lucas officiated as inspector were those between Eketahuna (and Woodville, in the Northern Wairarapa, and between Springfield and Arthur’s PaSs, 'in the South Island. , ,

In all, Mr Lucas spent. 44 years as an employee of the Public Works Department, retiring when 65 yehrs of age.

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