RAILWAY CONQUEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 80

RAILWAY CONQUEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.

The romance of railway construction was never more picturesquely told than by * writer in the World s Work (Engineering . number). The keynote of th» successful! construction engineer is resourcefulness.- , Be must be stopped by nothing in th« -world. . "Can you build a 1 per cent. lm# through 1 the Sierras!" I askfd, dubiously, . one of tlie consulting engineers of th« Western Pacific. "Sure we can — and wo will, he said, "for if you give an engineer enough moneyhe can*build any kind of a line anywhere.'" To-day the profile of that road shows -» maximum grade of only 1 per cent., 62ftj to the mite, through the snow-cappedt mountains tKat of ail others seemed most forbidding. ' _ The peaks of the Andes are renowned for their perpendicular precipices, and aa you look from the window of your car* riage clinging limpet-like to the mountain} face with a sheer drop of 5000 ft below*,,, you cannot resist a momentary shudder^ At such, places the line crawls along at narrow ledge, just wide enough to take the train, blasted and cut out of the solia rock. The train puffe and snorts along, then suddenly pulls up short. The engine} uncouples and backs away from, the train* "A breakdown?" you inquire alarmingly* "Noj only a V-Bwitch," nonchalantly replies your companion. He notices your bewilderment, and has* • tens to explain. "You see, we couldn't goi ' any farther round this, rock, as there i" 11 '^ enough room for a caterpillar to hang on.'f ' The summit of the peak is lost in th 4 clouds, while hardly discernible in the* ravine below is a straggling torrent. The* mountain side is as vertical as a wall. lit is a veritable cul-de-sac. A lood was out*

•f the question, as was also a tunned, -or Wasting of a, ridge to cany the line.. Consequently, oa & convenient projecting shelf jutting out of the motra,tain side the engineer has damped ihe ballast jnoved froip a.seijp&<Kiriog dotting;. Ilevelle<^ the? surface,., and. laid a short Uaein the io^no. of ; a-_X s cwfth,.ai twtf-tabl»~«t the ap©t. .lEhe engine backs: oat *toxthMJ turn-tabje jd^ar^on^^ide. the r3sr is; swung Jptraad ;#a£.ft Us . head,d&. brought- 4ri line wi^,^«.^tiser iegjdf Ma»e .letter, puffe ■up, and4*ook»;OO.^o ttop ether end «f the train. -Sethis zigzagging goes o& ©a> the track up.,the raogata|n side, resembling the teeth of^-saw^- T . .-..,-