MAIN TRUNK LINE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6123, 1 February 1907, Page 5

MAIN TRUNK LINE.

PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS WAIOURU NOW—NINXA BY EASTER. VIADUCT FOUNDATIONS SHOULD BE PUSHED ON. No. I. Travelling southward from Rotorua by the central coach route, a “Times** representative was recently enabled to pay a flying visit to tho southern and to part of the contra! section of tho North Island Main Trunk railway. By a personal inspection of tho lino south of Ohakuno, and by collecting reliable evidence as to operations northward of that rising*township of the AVaimarino, ho was i able to gather a good deal of information as to the pros and cons of tho big work and its prospect of completion before 1909. Good use has been made of a good summer, and novor did tho prospect of progress soem brighter. Tho atmosphere of the operations—tho morale of the workers —seems to have improved vastly on what it once was. BIG WORKS BETWEEN RAILHEADS. In order to give a tangible idea of the progress of tho works, the 42 mile gap between the present railheads is divided off into principal stations with their mileages, principal works being marked in in their proper order between tho stations, the order being from south,to north, and the mileages being calculated as from Marten: Miles. Waiouru, rail-head ... ... 69 Wangaehu bridge ... ... ... Ninia (Waione) station 79 Ohakuno station ... ... ... 85J Hapuawhonua viaduct ... ... Toanui viaduct ... ... ... Raetihi station ... ... ... 91i Mangaturuturu bridge ... ... —. Manganui-a-te-ao bridge ... ... Makatote viaduct ... ... ... Pukerimu spiral ... ... ... Ranrimu, rail-head ... ... HI Makatote viaduct is a contract, and the superstructures of Mauganui-a-to-ao and Mangaturuturu are also contracts, tho contractor in each case being Anderson and Co., of Christchurch. AH tho other work the Government is doing. ( IMPORTANCE OF KEY-WORKS. The main point about railway building in a broken country is to make tho completion of principal works coincide with the putting in hand of the formation ahead of them. The nearer tho rail-head can be kept to'the works in operation, tho cheaper is the cost of construction and* the food bill of tho men. Delay in connection with a big viaduct, bridge, tunnel, or cutting spells excessive carting and high cost of transport and living, and hampers operations generally. Specimen samples of such delays on this line are the Makohine viaduct and the bridge over the Wanganui river . at Matapunu (Taumarunui). Recently there has been some criticism in the’district to the effect that delay in starting tho Hapuawhenua and Toanui, vir.lucts will have, a similar hampering effect, and will render impossible the promised completion of the lino by the end of 1908. The departmental reply to this criticism is interesting and important, and is worth'stating in detail. 'Tho department does not fear that thoso works wilD retard completion, or that tho criticism referred to is sound. THE DEPARTMENTAL ARGUMENT. It is understood that the contractors for the Makatote viaduct, whose contract time expires in June next, estimate that they will be six or seven months over time, which will bring them to about January, 1908. Their contract for the superstructures of : tho two bridges mentioned will expire in February, 1903, and they estimate they will be finished by that date, if the department is ready in time with tho foundations and concrete piers. This the department, which has made a start with tho piers, says it can accomplish, so that Makatote and its two lesser neighbours should all ha ready before the Minister’s year-of-promiso is two months old. Tho overtime ait Makatote does not apparently affect the progress of the works, for the department does not. expect to complete the Pukerimu spiral before the beginning of 1908, and until then will not bo' prepared to advance the rails to Makatote. So the completion of the most northerly grouj, of works may be re duood, in anticipation, to that common date. This brings the lino to Raetihi, other work being easy. Skipping the six-mile gap between Raetihi and Ohakune, a similar calculation on paper may now bo made from tha southern railhead. Waiouru to Ohakuno appears to present no special cause for anxiety, : The big . cutting just north of,Waiouru, which is something like an eighteen months’ job, would have hung things up but for a bold stroke of policy in the shape of a loop-line, the object and nature of which will bo referred to again. There ,are bridges over the Wangaehu and lesser streams, but the whole of " the steel work for those, including the Mangawhero at Ohakune, is manufactured and; ready for erection, and foundations and piers are well in hand. - SIX MILES OF HEAVY WORK. If these are correct, the area for possible miscalculation and delay is reduced to the OhakuneRaetihi six-mile gap, which includes the Hapuawhonua* and Toanui via- . ducts," also a short steel girder bridge, a bridge over one of the tributaries of the Toanui, and a, bridge over tho Makotuku. The foundations of tha two big viaducts have not been started, but the steel work is well in hand. in tho Makohine workshops. The department anticipates to complete them by Juno, 1908, and it is on this point that local opinion is sceptical, la eighteen months a reasonable estimate? Probably Hapuawhonua roprecents quite t}ireo~(jusxrters of the tvoric involved in Makatote, and Makatote is taking two and a half years. That .would approximately indicate that 'Hapuawhonua requires some twentytwo mouths. But tho steel work is already in hand, and Hapuawhenua should he more easily constructed than Makatote owing to. the probability of the railhead being nearer. Still there is no doubt that the foundations of Hapuawhenua and Toanui must bo promptly put in hand it the Public Works engine is to run right through in 1908. The thing is physically possible, if key-works are not delayed*

Tlip department exp rcsur.r confidence a j to Iho viaducts, and saj .i that it tlrrro is any delay it will he in cnnneetioa v.-ith those earthworks wh j-.-li, nine june, thus, will sisll remain to ho cornpiered ill tiie M.x-miio yep. it is iuteivst ui'i; to note that .uakatote iviil ho iSii-l root hmy ami will have the hoi;?liL ot z'u iee-i. Impaii-. whenu.i will bo longer ij'TO feel.) but much lower, beint; i-15 loot in height. To.umi iviil be •)>'<! feet long aim 110 feet liij'ii. MansiiJiui-n-10-ao is a twospiui bridge doll feet long and 130 toot Ids'll, jiangnturutnrii is another two-spn'o hri'jfi", :iUO feet long, but only about OU feet bi:.di. LOURING iiijEAX). Moat of tho red notions in thn fortytwo mile gap between rail-bonds. Rnnriniu- vi au.uru, will bo elrected Imm Uio soutliern end. Just as tho lino has crawled up the valley of the flau-i-at.u i> tribute ry of tho Rangitikei) frum Taibapo ami Turangerere to vi’mnuru, so in the next two or three months it w ilt creep across tho \v aiourn tussock UaU into the vailcy oi til 0 iSaneaehii, ami, leaping that river, iviil, before winter, have passed through Ninia and penetrated a mho did a""quarter furtlier to the edge of the (/liakune bush. From Nima, to ho conquered by Kustertido, the gap to Uanrimu is thirty-two miles.- l»y February, lUCW, Uio department cxpeets to make a real iorward move from the north by completing the Spiral and Makatoto ami running into Uue'dii; and by that time it hopes that tho south lino will have passed Ihrour/h Ohakuno to the brink ot Unpua’tvbeaua, wliivb is 37 mile., from .Maiton, or one mid a half north of (JhakiimV and four and a half south of tvaetihi. Vv hereabout:? in tile four ami a halt miles north and south will join is not indicated. It is suuicicnt to foresee, as the dopartmeut confident Iv floes, tho reduction to a lour to six miles gap by February of next year.