THE OTEPOPO TUNNEL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1243, 25 September 1875, Page 7

THE OTEPOPO TUNNEL.

The North Ofcago Times furnishes the following particulars of the Ofcepopo tunnel on the Oamaru ani Moeraki line, about 14 miles fiom Oamaru, aud which has just been completed. The tunnel cuts through a spur of Mount Charles, between the township of Herbert and the Otepnpo River. It is 13 chains long, 10 feet wide at the bottom, and 12 feet wide at the springs, with a circnlar arched top. At each end it ia faced with a sort of ironstone, easily worked, taken from Bedding's Hill, and the walls inside are of the same material, the arch beiug of brick. The latter, of which 180,000 were used, were made on the spot by the contractors. The walls of the tunnel are remarkably free from damp. Down one side of the bottom a glazed pipe drain will be laid. Inside the tunnel are five manholes, as they are called, or recesses, made in the side, walled with stone and arched with brick, like the rest of the tannel, for men who may be working there during the passage of a train, to stand in while the train passes. In the cuttings at each end of the tunnel are three of these manholes. The cuttings are about 15 chains long at each end. Iv January last all that had been done in connection with that work was the bottom-heading, as it is technically called, or small drive. It is now ready for the laying of sleepero ani rails, and so far as the tunnel itself is concerned, everything is fiuished. The contractors for the line are Messrs J. Brogden and Sons, and the subcontractor for the tunnel is Mr Mangham. From first to last, there lias been no accident ia connection with the work.