AUCKLAND'S RAIL PORTAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19929, 24 April 1928, Page 8

AUCKLAND'S RAIL PORTAL

SCENES ON NEW LINE. HILL, DALE AND BEA. THE WESTFIELD DEVIATION. FINE APPROACH TO THE CITY. Now that worktrains can traverse the whole length of the Westfield deviation except half a mile at the southern end, it is possible to get some idea of the new approach to Auckland as railway passengers will see it two or three years hence. Rakes of tip-trucks pulled by miniature locomotives have been running freely between Campbell's Point and Panmure for more than a week and by next month a start will be made with laying one of the two lines of permanent track. From Campbell's Point across Hobson Bay and the Orakei Basin up the Purewa Valley to the tunnel, and for a mile or more beyond, the formation is complete. There is much work to be done in the rock-cutting at the foot of Mount -Wellington, but stone there is being taken out only as fast as it can be used for concrete work, metalling the waterfront road and such purposes. Consequently, the work-trains climb np on to the bank at one side of the line and return t-o the permanent level a little further on. The first obstacle is met with at the bridge which carries the Mount Wellington highway over the line near Sylvia Park station. This steel and concrete structure is still in the wood-box stage and the space underneath it is a mass of falsework. In a few weeks it should be ready for use by road traffic. An Old Lava Bed. In the station yard not far beyond gangs of men are having a hard struggle with the volcanic basalt which has been found all over the area to be excavated. There was no reason to expect anything but clay and papa on the station site, as there were no surface signs and rock had not been found in excavations on the freezing works property next door. However, between 4ft. and sft. down an old lava bed was struck. Even after altering the levels and raising the whole yard about sft., there remain several feet of rock to be removed from an area of two or three acres. Pneumatic gads, operated by a petrol-driven compressor, are being used. Most of the stone will doubtless find its way to the waterfront road. Railway travellers of the future will have a quick and pleasant run to Auckland over the new line. There will be no more toiling np tho Remuera hill, over 200 ft. high, with its grade of one in 40. The highest point of the deviation—the tunnel—is only 70ft. above sealevel and nowhere is there a grade more than ' a third as steep as the worst on the old route. Leaving the factories of Westfield behind, the passenger will be whirled through pleasant, green rolling country, dotted with neat bungalows where now cows graze and Chinese grow vegetables. He will see the old fortress cone of Mount Wellington on the left and on the right, in a wide panorama, the Tamaki River, with its many inlets, and the Hunua Hills beyond. A little further on he will have a glimpse of the Hauraki Gulf, its islands and the Coromandel Range, blue in the distance. Through the Tunnel to the City. Then comes the tunnel. It is not cramped, but spacious and quite level, and trains will make a short journey of it Emerging into the deep approachcutting, the traveller will find himself in a bottom-land as yet unknown to Aucklanders, a dell with tall manuka, Wattles and cabbage-trees clothing its sides. A little lower down, past the stones of the Purewa Cemetery, the valley opens out and the creek becomes a tidal inlet. One reach, running off to the north-east, with bush upon its far bank, might almost be a piece of North Auckland set down in Tamaki It is to be hoped the church trustees who own the bush will never permit it to be cleared. Across the curious Orakei Basin and through the great cutting in the neck runs the line. It is then that the great expanse of Auckland's Harbour opens out. On the right will be the garden suburb of Orakei and beyond its tree-clad cliffs Rangitoto and the cones of Devonport will come into view. Certainly by that time the waterfront roadway will be in regular use, carrying its streams of motor vehicles. On the left, as the train rushes over the mile-long embankment, will be the pleasant slopes of Remuera and Parnell, dotted with houses and trees, then beautiful little Judge's Bay, with its park, baths and historic little chapel and, lastly, by way of contrast, railway yards, warehouses and the fine new Auckland station.

Tiie new line will bring together most happily the rail and sea gates of Auckland.