VIADUCT IN USE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19338, 31 May 1937, Page 2

VIADUCT IN USE

STRUCTURE AT MOHAKA FIRST TRAIN OVER TO-DAY The baptism of one of the most important connecting links on (be Gisborne-Nnpier railway will take place to-day. when the iirst train will pass over the Mohaka viaduct. The work of erecting the huge structure lias been completed, the last rivet lias pierced the surface of the immense frame, and now the viaduct is being brought into harness. To the people of Hawko's Bay. who have watched with interest the growth of tbe Fast Coast railway scheme since its resurrection early last year, it would seem that the baptismal' riles of the Mohaka viaduct should be carried out by nothing less than one of the great "iv" locomotives soon to make._ their appearance on the Napier-Wellington line. N"o railroad (riant drawing a line of line coaches will roar over tbe Mohaka Gorge to-day: instead, the ceremony will be the special care of a small Public Works engine, with a few open trucks trailing behind it. In place of the hundreds of cheering passengers which the imagination immediately associates with such an event, the "train" will carry ballast and equipment- for the railway.

The* laying of the rails across the viaduct, has been completed, as has the application of tbe iirst coating of paint. Tbe brilliant hue in which the structure has been painted will give way shortly to a more sombre shade, when a second coating—in. dull red—is to be applied.