RAILWAY JUNCTION

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 17

RAILWAY JUNCTION

STB AT FORD’S IMPORTANCE. EFFECT OF COAL DEVELOPMENT. Stratford is destined io be an important railway junction as soon as the line is linked up with the Ohura section. And even before then. The Tangarakau coal measures, regarded by authorities as the most extensive in the Dominion, are to be shortly exploited by a powerful Taranaki company. Gangs of men numbering over 70 are now engaged in building a tramline from the Tangarakau Flat to the mine in' the gorge of that name. Most of the line is finished, but slips have had to be removed, and now the builders are able to make a start with a big bridge across the river. This should be finished in September, and the whole of the other work should be completed about the same time. The Public Works Department are putting in a siding at the Flat, and the company’s engineers are engaged in driving piles and doing other work pre*

paratory to the erection of the bins and installing a screening plant. A great deal of the company s plant has come to hand, including an engine, which is used on the tramline' hauling bridge material, etc. When the company is in full operation the output of coal should be from 350 to 450 tons ft day, all of which will pass through Stratford, which will also benefit from the wages paid to the 300 men it is expected will bo employed at the mines.