THE STRATFORD RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15750, 27 October 1914, Page 5

THE STRATFORD RAILWAY.

; WORK AT NORTHERN END. 11 RAPID PROGRESS BEING MADE. [raosr orn ow.v coßitEsroxDENtrJ TArriuitrxri, Monday. i The construction work at the northern end of the Stratford-Main Trunk Railway I is being continued with much energy, signs j : of excellent progress being now apparent. for fully 10 miles from Okahukura, the I future junction. No fewer than 300 men including thos>? of the Public Works DeI partment and those employed on the tunnel contract, are now engaged on the work, tho men employed- by the. Public Works '• Department comprise thc*e engaged on various small contracts for lino formation, tnoso who are on co-operative work at I various cuttings and fillings and those who j I are doing certain odd jobs. Of the cuttings I i and _ fillings, which include hewing away! : a slice of mountain and filling up adjoin- I i ing depressions, only two email ones remain j to be completed between Okahukura and | the mouth of the main tunnel. Beyond the latter, four minor tunnels of from* three to eight chains, remain to be pierced and a certain amount of cutting and filling at the Ohtira side of the main tunnel has also to be completed. Most of the work is now in hand, the operations proceeding at many points simultaneously, and a contract for one of tho small tunnels was let this week. From Okahukura to the, beginning of Mr. Forrest's tunnel contract is a distance of lj miles. Then comes 63 chains of approach to the tunnel, on which a great deal of excavating had to be done besides diverting a small creek and leading it away on a new concrete bed. The boring of a mile-long tunnel through a mountain is a complicated undertaking. The office work alone is arduous. There are a complete sawmill to produce the timber required, an engineering shop to make and I repair machinery, and several other minor j industries. There is even a pretty little j school, just built, in which 35 children | of the workers are being educated. About I a. third of th? excavation of the tunnel has | now been done. It is proceeding at the r.it? of a chain a week at each end an | average of eight chains per month having j been recently maintained. If no nnexI prc|..,| le-t.-!. Ie- occurs the piercing of the tunnel should I*. complete by next April. So far nothing but papa rock has been met, and there is little variation in the "lav" of the rock, and only slight chances in its density. Only two men can work on the "face." With a pneumatic dr'll. one man makes, in the face, eleven holes, into which Ins mate, inserts plugs of gelignite, the explosion of which breaks away several cubit: yards of rock tint is removed in I trucko. Ventilation : s secured by current !of air drawr by means of a fife at the i open end. throutrh a long, tialit box. , running the length of the working. This, of course, makes a draught from the mouth ! Jof the tunnel to the face. There'is no I timberiiio of the tin.nel. but at every shift ! the roof is carefully examined, arid any j J jooccs of papa showing s.icns of breaking I i away are knocked off with a pick. In a! i short tine the contractor will require an | increased number of men to press on the work. ' j j That porl'on of th" ];.,,, which runs' i from Mnhi-ak-Mi 'the 1?, mile) to Mnt'ore ' will cross the Ohura River several times, firidtTM will be wired at those points. ' hut none of them will be difficult to build. 1 The procrrw of the work is most satis- ' factory and if continued at the present ; rate, th"re : s lit* 1" doubt t'-at the nro- , , n.i'-e mad" bv Mr M'-isjey at Ohtira nearly 1 two years atro will be literally fulfilled. I —— . ——