Our Railways.

Otago Witness, Issue 1418, 25 January 1879, Page 10

Our Railways.

» . OPENING OF THE INVERCARGILL LINE. A few general statistical remarks concern* ing the line just completed by means of the connection will be o! interest npon the present occasion. The line from Dnnedin to Clutha has been bo long Opened and travelled; over that its principal features are thoroughly well known. The line was opened right through to Olntha at one and the same time, but contracts for its formation were let Lor sections separately, and w«re going on concurrently. From Dunedin to Green Island was let in three short sections, namely, Dunedirj, Caversham, and Kaikorai sections^ They were all let to one contractor (Mr A. J» Smyth). The tender for' the Danedin section was accepted March 6th, 1871, and the completion took place in November, 1872,; the contract amount being £4235 15s. The? Caversham and Kaikorai sections were ten:dtred for at one time, being accepted 2nd June, 1871 ; the former, which included the formation of the Caversham tunnel, being' completed May, 1873, at a total cost of £16,152 7s 5d ; the latter, concluded bat April, 1872, costing £4856 10s Od. The total length of these three sections was five miles and 55 chains, and the total cost for formation alone was in round figures £25,000. In addition to the formation contract, . Messrs Brogden and Sons took up the platelaying contract over the whole of the three sections, their tender being accepted26th March, 1873, and completed in December of the same year ; amount* £5408 3s sd. The Taieri contract, of * length of 34 miles 54£ chains, was let' in one section. Messrs Brogden and Sons were the contractors, for the amount of £142,000. This included formation and platelaying.. The tender was accepted 4th July 1872, and completed in March, 1876. The remaining portion of the line, up to the point at which the old Balclutha terminus was situ* ated, on the northern side of the present bridge, was also included in one contracts The distance was 10 miles 55 chains, the formation in which was at first contracted for by Messrs D. A. M'Leodand Co., butre-let to Messrs Blair and Wat*on. The tender waa accepted 18th Augcßt, 1871, and the work completed January, 1874; amount^ £16,278 3a 10d. The platelaying over above distance was done by Mr A. J. Smyth j tender accepted 7fch April, 1874; completed March, 1876 ; amount, £7279 6s 6d. The t ta! cost of this section therefore was about £23,500. So that for the whole of the lin* as at first opened, namely, to the oM terminus at Balclatha, the cost of formation! and platelaying was over £195,000, or very dope upon £200,000. The next section was a short one into Balclutha township — a distance of only 1 itiilu 22 chains in all ; and outside ef that was the contract for the Clutha bridgeMessrs Watson Brothers were the first ' accepted tenderers for tiuis large work, but ib was re-let to Mr James Mackay. Thetender was accepted on May 13vb, 1874, and the work was not completed until December, 1877, it» total amount being £17,668 17" 6d. For tbe section from the bridge into 4 Balclutha, Messrs Proudfoot and M 'Kay's teudtr was accepted on May 28 ih, 1877, andL the work was concluded in Marob, 1878, th« amount baiog £10,000. This portion of the line waa opened, and traffic extended into Balclutha township, in January, 1878. It reeds to be explained here that the date of completion mentioned above — in this, as in all tbe other contracts — means the date at which the work was taken over by the Public Works Department, and includes a. certain tjme during which the contractors were responsible for maintenance of th» line. The principal portion of the section now being opened was let in one contract to Messrs Proudfoot and Mackay on February 4th, 1877, for tbe amount of £37,600. Itr was that known as the Clinton section, fh« i distance being 16 miles 31. chains. The Toiro section, extending from the end of the Balclutha contract to the beginning of the; Clinton section, was constructed by "unemployed" labour, uuder the superintendence of Inspector M'Millan. Its lengtfc. was f(\nr miles, but of itß coat we are unable; to state particulars. The line between Clinton and Mataur*. was let in one section to Mr James M'Menamin, but that contractor failing during the progress of his work, the oontraot was token out of his bauds, and the portion uncompleted re let to Mr Lewis Litton. The? distance included in the contract was 25> miles 324 chains, and extended from the end. of the Clinton contract to the Mataur* River. Mr M'Menamin'e contract for the formation over the whole distance was ta haw been concluded on September 23xd* 1875, ami as Mr Luton did not conclude till April 20th, 1877, it will be seen 18 months was lost through the failing of the first contractor. The amount paid to M4Menainin was £8941 16a Id, and to Litton £16,300. In addition to this, the contract, for platelaymg over the whole distance waa let to Mr John Whitaker for £12,196 sa, sothat the total cost of the whole section waft in round numbers £37.500. A f»*w words may be added as to th« principal works upon the line from Dunedi* to Mutauta. The Clutha bridge — or, as itshould properly be called, the "Blair" biidgo, having b«en bo named when openea. by the Hon. Mr Larnaob. Minister of Public

Works — takes precedence aa the most important, It is the largest of the kind iv the Island, having seven main span** of 120 ft each, with a stone arch of 30ffc over the district road at its northern end. Its whole length is thus 870 ft, or very nearly 300 yards. It is built upon cast-iron cylinders of 7ft diameter, filled with concrete, most of them being sunk upon the bed-rock, and. some of them being 70 or 80 feet below the river-bed. The superstructure is of timber, with iron truss-glrders of the usual type. The other principal bridges are those at Taieri and Waihola. The Taieri bridge has four spans, the Waihola live spans, each of 80ft, and are built on iron cylinders of 4ft Gin diameter, filled also with concrete. Of the two tunnels, the Caversham one is the longer. Its length is 946 yards. The formation through which the cutting was made waa soft sandstone, and the_ construction was easy. The tunnel is bricked half a chain from each end. The Chain Hills tunnel is 506 yards in length. The formation met with was of schist with clay, and was alternately very hard and soft, .and liable to slips. The construction was difficult and datjgerous to the workmen employed. The tunnel is bricked throughout. The greatest difficulties in regard to the construction of the line were met with between Cavershani and Chain Hills, and the work was especially heavy at the Chain Hills end, where there are a series of curves of seven and a-half chains radius, occurring in a continuous gradient of 1 in 50. Over the remaining portions of the line no engineering difficulties were met with, neither are there any features worthy of remark. The formation through the Toiro and Clinton sections was generally light, and there werß only a few Btream bridges, of which that over the Kaihiku, of two 30 feet spans, is the largest. No ballast could be found along the route of the line, and the whole of that used had to be brought from East Gore, on the banks of the Mataura River. The stations upon the newly-completed Bection, and their respective distances from Invercargill, are :— Waitepeka, 83 miles 57 chains ; Toiro, 80 miles 67 chains ; Warepa, 77 miles 60 chains ; Kaihiku, 74 mile 365 chains ; Waiwera, 71 miles 50 chains ; Clinton, 65 miles 42 chains. As will be seen from the foregoing, the total cost of the construction of the line from Dunedin to this side of the Mataura River, a distance of very close upon 100 miles, has been in round numbers £300,000. This iB exclusive of the cost of the Toiro section, four miles in extent, completed by day labour.