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Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1932, Page 6

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STRATFORD-MAIN TRUNK PIEHCmC OF LAST TUNNEL celebration undbb hill IMPORTANCE TO TARANAKI Dim but impressive -scenes were executed in the centre of No. 4 tunnel on railway construction works midway between Tahora and Ohura yesterday. There in the gloom 700 feet below the top of the ridge the gangs from the headworks of the eastern - and western sections congregated in the light of tiny acetylene lamps while the Mayor of Stratford, Mr. Percy Thomson, assisted by Mr. P. Keller, district engineer, and Messrs. B. C. Annand and R. R. Dawbsr, assistant engineers respectively, of the two sections, celebrated the piercing of the last tunnel on the route to connect Taranaki with the Main Trunk. It was a ceremony as impressive as it was unusual. Flickering lights played games with grotesque shadows dancing on piles of timber and the faces of the men, while behind the group of about 40 men was the rough round hole that linked the two ends of the tunnel and spelt completion to months of labour. “Work on this railway has been going on for 30 years but at last we can see daylight ahead,” said Mr. Thomson, indicating the point where. the tunnel was holed through at 10 o'clock last Friday ni g ht by Foreman Martin. “I am delight-, ed to-dAy to be’able to assist at this important celebration, for I believe it to be symbolic of the future. That hole indicates the overcoming, of the last real obstacle in the construction of the line. We are now able to see daylight through it, and I believe that we are at this stage also able to see daylight ahead in the affairs of the world. May this hole in the tunnel be & symbol of the dawn of brighter and better days.” DATE FOR COMPLETION.

Mr. Thomson said the district engineer had promised to have • the line ready to hand over to the Railway Department by ths end of the financial year in March next. It had been an exceedingly, difficult task for the engineer, and he extended his wannest congratulations, to Mr. Keller, his assistants and the-men wno took part in the construction. At Stratford the people were looking forward to the day when instead of a long journey to Auckland via Marton they would ba able to make the journey through the Ohura at a saving of from 12 to 13 hours. The piercing of the last tunnel had brought that day nearer. Mr. Keller addressed the men, congratulating them upon their work, after which, at the invitation of Mr. Thomson, who was the first official person to scramble through the hole, the occasion was celebrated in the time-honoured manner. There are between Tahora and Ohura no fewer than 24 tunnels. That these are no mean tunnels is shown by the fact that of the 23 miles journey exactly four miles are travelled underground. .The historic No. 4 tunnel is not the longest. It has only 52| chains of actual length. Of this 221 chains was completed from the eastern end, 284- from the western end and 2 chains remain to be concreted at the point of junction, _ The permanent way is laid to within a short distance of the eastern end of the tunnel, and from the point of junction it is exactly 34i miles to Okahukura on the Main Trunk. A goods and passenger service is already in daily use over this section as far as Heao, about 30 miles, from Okahukura, but the permanent way is laid a fair distance beyond. In other words, only two. and a quarter miles lie between the rail’heads of the two sections of tiv* permanent way. ARDUOUS. CONSTRUCTION. It is now possible to ride by Public Works train over the whole eastern section from Tahora, travelling first over the section down to Tangarakau Flat, then through the big. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 tunnels to the approach of No. 4. Few . who today ride over this track can realise in the completed line the arduous nature, of the construction which has been in active progress there, since early in 1925, when the concentration camp at the Flat was first laid out. . Of the huge trestle filling unmediately beyond No. 1 tunnel, which called for months of labour, including the building of a by-pass tunnel for the stream and the transport of thousands oi feet ot timber, only an ordinary, high railway embankment can be seen, And so it is with the other big works. All are hidden m the efficiency Of the new track, and no-one unfamiliar with the romance of the road would suspect the .number of diversions, bypasses, bridges, corduroy tracks, jiggs and trestling that- were necessary before the foundation of the permanent way could even be started. , The bush that had to come down, the Rtickv papa pug that had to be moved and the water that had to be turned all escape notice in th® rushing speed of the train, and only the tunnels remain to command attention. Even in the tunnels there are works unseen that reflect the courage, perseverance and ingenuity of the engmeera. In the centre of, the ridge pierced by No. 4 tunnel the land drops to g V containing a small stream. The floor 0 the gully was too high to allow the stream to be taken under the tunnel and too to permit the tunnel to be broken and a bridge built. What did the engineers doT They made a temporary dam, ran thes tunnel straight through and used the outage curve of the concrete as a 0 the stream on its course. s P e - ial ■ forcement was. necessary for this work, and a protective surge chamber had also to be formed. , . Beyond No. 4 tunnel the watershed » towards the Haeo ate change comes over the country. It w more open and easy, but right through to Ohura a tremendous amount of tunnelling was required. There are 14 tunnels in this section, and the Okahukura tunnel, 75 chains long, is the longest m operation in the North Island. Yesterday the last .girder of the bridge spanning the Haeo was lowered into place. As an indication of the importance of the line it might be stated that it is only eight miles further. to travel from Wanganui to Auckland by the new route than by the old, so that from any station north of Wanganui the Stratford route is appreciably shorter. From New Plymouth it ia only 286 miles to Auckland as against 479 miles. Just 89 miles separates Stratford from : Okahukura, and the total distance between Wellington and Auckland by the new route is only 55 miles longer, than the direct mid-island Main Trunk line.