Thames to Kopu Railway.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4907, 1 October 1884, Page 2

Thames to Kopu Railway.

This peice of line, 4J miles in length and the first section of the long wished* for ThamesTeAroha railway, is now very nearly completed, the contractors coa* sidering that they have not more than a month's work ahead.- The line commences at Goods Wharf, where there is a station with three side-lines, and with one curve reaches Shortland, where another station (also with threee branch lines) is laid out between Richmond and WiU loughby streets. Prom here there are two curves before the Kattaeranga bridge is reached, and from that stage to Totara Point is a straight run of a mile; here there is s slight bend, and then another straight piece to Kopu, where a turn to the left is made, and you find yourself at the end of the contract, the station being on the south side of the road to the wharf. The main line is ballasted throughout, and with the exception of a little fencing there is hardly anything to do on the south side of Totara. Attention vrill then bo turned to the Shortland. and Grahamstowa stations, which require levelling and ballasting, and there is also some fencing to be done here. The contractors have used many thousand tons of mullock and gravel in forma* tion and ballasting, most of it being * obtained from a hill at Totara Point. This hill is well suitsd for the work, there being a layer of cement (evidently the old bed of a river, as the gravel is all watersorn) quite 20ft thick. After removing the surface soil, this cement is blasted and picked down into passes, from which the waggons are filled and removed to their destination by a small locomotive. There are about 30 men employed altogether, and the total contract money will . be about £3000. It is to be hoped that the section to Hikutaia will be* let this session of Parliament, as it would greatly tend to reliere the depression existing here, by giving employment to a large number o,f men, and would also encourage the settlement of the back country, which. would mean; increased prosperity to the Thames.