EAST COAST RAILWAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16360, 7 June 1927, Page 7

EAST COAST RAILWAY

NAPIER TO WAIROA WORK PUSHING AHEAD One-third finished and two-thirds in various stages of completion.—That, in a few words sums up the position of the construction work on the East Coast Railway between Napier and Wairoa, a work of first importance to the East Coast. A most important stage of development has now been entered upon, and if present, hopes are realised and the work goes on as it has done in the past two years, then in 18 months’ time the Public Works Department will lie in a position to handle stock and ordinary goods in the way of manure and wool, etc., between Waikokopu and the northern side of the Mohaka Hill on the one end, and between Napier and Waikare, a distance of 40 miles, on the other, leaving a gap of only 15 miles by railway or in road distance about 20 miles. A start, on an inspection was made from Eskdale, where the Public Works train was boarded. Sixteen nnd a half miles out from Napier Waipunga was reached, and nine or twelve months ago what was a hive of industry is now a city of Hie dead. All that is of interest at. Waipunga to-day is the assembly of the steel for the Mntavoura viaduct at, the 35 mile peg- The steel has just commenced to arrive within the last, week or so, having quickly followed the steel for the Waikoau viaduct, but more of that later. BIG WAIPUNGA JOBS.

Quite an important mile of the work was that at Waipunga station, completed now. of course, hut a glance was sufficient to show just how much time had been occupied and labor entailed in cutting the station yards out of a high bank and using the material to fill in two gullies on either side of the station. The first of these fillings is 118 ft. higli nnd the other 108 ft., each containing about 100,000 cubic yards of material, or, to give a better idea, as much material as what put into the Wostshoro embankment. They are, however, only two of the fillings on the line, but give a little idea of what had to bo tackled.

Moving on, the train reached Waikoau, 25 miles from Napier, but still there was no evidence of construction work. Over this strength everything is complete on the lino except for cleaning up and ballasting. However, Waikoau lias taken over Waipunga’s mantle, although even it has now entered upon a decline, and men are slowly moving forward to new work further ahead. Still, Waikoau is to-day a very important centre, important not only to the department, hut to the settlers in the district, also, for they oan noW use the linn for any goods that they require, and ship their produce to Napier or any part of the North Island. So far as (lie department is concerned Waikoau is its centre for big and important work ahead, including two viaducts not many miles distant. Branching off from Waikoau, sortie six miles inland, and reached by quite a good metalled road, is the department’s sawmill, which has now been working some two or three years. From the mill an excellent supply of mntai and rimu timber is being received for use in different ways on the railway. The present output from the mill is something like 4000 super feet, per day. THE WAIKOAU VIADUCT.

rushing on from Waikoau the railhead was at last reached, but it brought up at probably the most spectacular piece of workmanship at present to be seen on the whole line —the "Waikoau viaduct. The railhead is 28 miles out from Napier, but very shortly it will be pushed much further north,. even while work on the viaduct is still proceeding. In fact the rails for carrying the line on to the Matahoura stream, seven miles beyond the present railhead, are now coming to hand. With so many curves on the line, they being necessary , on account of the nature of the country, and the necessity to get a good grade, these rails have first to be bent. to suit the curves, but given all that in it is expected that, the rails will bo laid to the Matahoura stream before the end of the present year. Now’, to go back to the Waikoau viaduct. Alighting from the train one was at once struck with the magnitude of this one task alone. It seemed as though a young forest had sprung from the bed of the creek 200 feet below. This was the staging which has been in course of erection for six months • past, and which eavlv this month should be ready to support the steel beams of the viaduct as they are placed in position. The first of the steel for the work is already on the viaduct site and the party was privileged to see the first of the rivets pneumatically driven. ; For the viaduct the massive concrete abutments are all complete, in fact, everything is now shaping towards an early start with the viaduct itself, which when 'completed, will be 500 feet in length and 245 feet high. To the eye the staging appears a honeycomb of timber. It is ft credit to the skill of the engineer. From the creek bed to a height of 191 feet a perfect level has bad to be maintained, and a glance along , the topmost poltis as the staging con- j verges in shows how true and skilful has been the work, the tops being in j perfect alignment. _ . ■ I Stringy bark and Oregon is the timber contained in the staging, and just what work lias been put into it may be gauged from the fact that if all the round timber, i.n., telegraph pole shaped, was placed on end it would over four miles, whilst there is 100,(XX) super feet of square timber. No less than 19 tons of bolts have been used to bold the structure together, * It is anticipated that the construction of the viaduct will be completed towards the end of February next. BEADY FOR THE RAILS. From the Waikoau viaduct, to Matahoura most of the formation has been completed and made ready for the rails. Just after leaving the viaduct a steam shovel is busily engaged in a cutting, •but its work is expected to be completed with a week. There remains then but one more job for a steam shovel on this section, and to cut, that out wil’ take from two to three months. There are two station yards to receive attention, and then the Matahoura viaduct site is reached. Preliminary work for this next big undertaking has already been put m hand, ■ excavations some 35 to 40 feet into the cliff on oil her side of the gorge having been carried out, to take the concrete loundatlTlm next step once over the Matahoura (forge is on to Waikare, some 4U miles north of Napier. that is the froa( being aimed at and hoped to reach with the rails in about eighteen months time. Cleaning up will still be necessary along the line, but the estimate of those in charge is that the railway lrom Fskdale to Waikare will be ready tor handing over to the Railway Department in two years’ time. The object of those working from the Wairoa end is to complete the track as far as the tunnel, and with that in view the department is proceeding with the erection of the Wairoa bridge, some two miles out of Wairoa. Ibis bridge is going to be quite a.big structure', its length of 450 ft,. being divided into spans of lObft., which will be supported by massive concrete cylinders. Work on the/ bridge is now in the act of starting, .the rails being laid to the site, enabling the materials being assembled to be easily transferred.

From the Wairoa Bridge to the Waihim, tunnel, a distance of nine miles, the country is light, and practically i nothing has been done there yet. The idea of the department is when [ the Wairoa bridge is m sight of' completion' to put on a number of s. teams and men to clean up the lYmndalioir work. NEARLY HALF COMPLETED. The Wailina tunnel will he 15 chains m length. Work on it lias been in Immi some time, and to date about seven chains, or nearly hall, has been completed on tile north end. On the south end I lie approach cutting is still in' hand. It. is here that the engineers have had to deal with fairly extensive slip country, and it has held up progress. The trouble, however, has now been satisfticforily dealt with, and if it seems necessary to keep to programme another tunnel party will be put- on at the south end. The vVaihua tunnel should be completed in eight months if worked from just the one end, but that tune will be reduced if the other gang is put on. The next big job will be the Wailina. river bridge, about 830 ft. long, but practically nothing lias been done for that yet. From Hie Wailina tunnel south to the foot of the Mohaka bill, the country is again of a comparatively light nature. Considerable formation is already in hand along that stretch, and it is proposed to have it all completed by the tune the Waihua tunnel and Wairoa bridge are finished. When n point about 14£ miles from Wairoa is reached the line leaves the main Napier road and proceeds up the Te lvumi Valley towards the divide in the country and to where the Mohaka tunnel of 32 chains goes through the hills to the Mohaka river valley. The country from where the main road is left is of a heavy nature. Already two steam shovels are hard at work there, and another is to go in very shortly. Most of the preparation for the earthwork on this stretch lyis been completed, and it is now a straight out steam shovel job to reach the tunnel on the north end. This work on the north end of the Mohaka tunnel, it is expected, will be completed in 12 months’ time. This will allow the materials from the tunnel and other work to be transported by train. THE TWO BIG VIADUCTS. Beyond the Mohaka tunnel are two big viaducts, the first being over the Maungataurauga stream, HOOft. long and 2201 T, high, and the other over the Mohaka river, 940 ft. long and 320 ft. high. Both of these viaducts are in course of design at Wellington. Between the Mohaka tunnel and the Mohaka river, a distance of 3-j miles, no formation work has yet been done, but south of the Mohaka the work carried out has been fairly extensive, the object being to facilitate the supply of metal for concrete for the tunnels, the source of the metal being the Mohaka river. \ On Ibis stretch there are two tunnels under const ruction at, Chimney Greek. The northernmost :one of 16 chains has been completed for several chains on its north end, whilst on the south end a heading lias been driven which should meet the completed work in about a fortnight's time. The second Chimney Creek tunnel, when finished, will be 141,chains long. It has been completed for 2£ chains on the north end, but on the south side a steam shovel is at work completing the approach cutting. That work finished, the bottom heading will he driven, to meet the completed work, similar to what is/being done in No. 1 tunnel at Chimney' Creek. Between the two tunnels the formaltion work has been completed. Cuming a hit further south there is a very large titling at Kiwi Creek. This is ,in hand at present, a tunnel having been .driven to act as a waterway for the creek. The material for this filling is coming out of the approach cutting to No. 2 tunnel at Chimney Creek, When completed the lilting will' contain 100,000 cubic yards of material, the same as the two fillings at Waipunga, and of that quantity about 60,000 cubic yards have been put in. END OF CONSTRUCTION WORK. That is the end of the construction work on the northern section. There is now a gap of SJ, miles to Matahoura with very little construction work earned out. However, the country is comparatively light and will not take long to complete. The crossing of the Waikare river nevertheless intervenes, and a viaduct 530 ft. over this has to be constructed at ft height of 250 ft. That- gives some indication of the progress being made by the I’ublio Works Department with its construction of Die East Coast railway. On the numerous sections over 500 men are employed, 31 being engaged between Wairoa and Waiknre, and 220 between J'lskdale and Waikiii'e. To accommodate tDeni, practically i lie same number oil lints have had to be erected, fully 150 being four-roomed lints for the married men oil the. line, find the remaining 400 being one-roomed lints far si n fir If*, rnon.—TT IT PT^vnlrl