FORCING A RAILROAD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9308, 7 August 1908, Page 4

FORCING A RAILROAD.

FKOM BROKEN RIVER FORWARD j TUNNELS AND BRIDGES. A ROUGH SURVEY. Tliero is no trade or occupation which does not present, from the inside, a sordid aspect ; but tho majority of the moro important have a picturesquo value that must appeal strongly to tho casual eye. To an exaggerated extent such is the -case '-vitb engineering works, and a brief sojourn among the builders of a railroad among the mountains is crowded with interest.. The Midland Railway, which at present terminates on the Canterbury side at Broken River, is being pushed on through very rough country. Ten tunnels intervene between Springfield and Broken River, but. the number of tunnels is scarcely a measure of the country's picturesquo value. Still, the short run into Broken River, include a good view of Patterson's Creek, with its fine bridge, and a very brief glimpse of Staircase Gully's magnificent depth, besides introducing the traveller to some of the finest roaches of the Waimakariri. At present, tho new Weet Coast road, traversed by coach, takes the passengers via Arthur's Pass, to the Otira (Jorge. So far, the railway works extend, in a more or less embryonic state, perhaps a dozen miles towards the Bealey, where the construction of the Arthur's Pass tunnel is; in progress. The greater length of the work is only being partially gqno on, with at present, mostly to give occupation to the men who have lately been unemployed. Pour tunnek are being constructed in the first mile beyond. Broken Riy,er. Thenceforward, though the way is rough, cuttings will suffice to pass the spurs, as far as Arthurs Pass. Broken River itself is a place of extreme weathers, splendid views, and risky tracks. In bad weather, which local gossip assures the stranger is not frequent, there is snow and a saw-edged southerly. Snow-like i feathers, *" Irish " enow like coarse salt, and snow like sago, drive into one's face, and home-made anemometers put up records for windspeeds tkab would do credit to Munchausen; dropp of water freeze as they fall, and the doge and poultry herd together for comfort. Work ceases. But on a fine day, lon the high parts of the coach road, one can see a prospect of enchanting variety. The finished railway, ending officially in a fine bridge and a neat station , runs on among' a settlement of , corrugated iron houses, and loses itself in excavation^. The brawling Waimakariri, reduced partly in fact and partly by distance, to an insignificant stream, finds a noisy, pebble-rolling way among buttresses of slaty rock. Up stream it winds round a sturdy shoulder, but a slight shifting on the part of the observer will unveil its windings upwards I into the wide valley, back-grounded ' with distant mountains, towards which the road to Westland runs. Tracks, built for workmen of catlike agility, betray the stranger, and lead him to edges of rocky precipices; little rainfed, snow-fed or spring-fed streams trickle down the l high banks beside him, or freeze into huge icicles. The gradual thaw of advancing day releases frost-loosened particles, and chips, pebbles and boulders slide and rumble down steep faces every minute. The 1 pursuit of these tracks is almost sure to lead an adventurous stranger downward to the new railway track, either between the tunnels or near one of the low-lying camps, and as no objection seems to be raised to visitors who pass I the test of the back-etairs, he may rea- ! sonably investigate the works. One of the tunnels is practically finished, the others are variously advanced, all are well forward. Tunnels and bridges are the chief characteristics of these wild railway lines, and the construction of both demand the exercise of fine skill on the part of the sur- ! veyor, the engineer and the workmen. In the case of the tunnels, the engineer lays out, by means of pegs, each advancing section, and the tunnel is .drilled', blasted, picked and shovelled towards completion. The first work is , the dfiving of the " bottom head," a comparatively small, square passage, and after this has been timbered stoutly, to prevent loose material falling, the cutting out of the extra width ! and height proceeds. An essential tool j i ik modern tunnelling work is the pneu- , niatic machine drill. A stout cross- , I bar is fixed across ifre working space. ! On this slides a heavy appliance, consisting substantially of a cylinder, a piston, and valve gear slides, capable of adjustment in any direction. A steam engine and an air-compresser supply air, at a pressure of 801 b per , square inch, to a iarge equipment of these tools, driving it to the various points of consumptjon through' a system of pipes. A drill is fastened to the pieton-rocl and tho admission of the compressed air seta the drill a-pecking at the rock with furious and untiring vigour, lue chips fly, the hole advances, and gelignite finishes the destruction. So, ''gradually, the rock is bored with a ! hole come twenty feet high and sixteen feet wide. Timbers are built up, forming ribs of gracefully-curved outline, and are clothed with planks. Nearly to the full height of the tunnel con- : crete ia packxT in between the planks I and the ragged reck surface. A section of the top is evenly lined with big concrete blocks, weighing about /UUJO each laid in cement and allowed to remain a week before the supporting i timbers arc removed, and co the tunnel acquires a handsome interior. I lie tunnel work is capable of almost con- : tinuous progress, being sheltered from all sorts of weather. It is cc°! l n Rummer and warm in winter but it is the hardest toil on the line. Every de--1 tail of the work is full of interest : the men themselves, skilled m various i ways with various tools; the tools, 1 come simple, others very complex ; the changing " ground," with its everlasting possibilities of unexpected qualities. Sometimes the rock us so nar<l that drills need much persuading before they will hite; sometimes it cuts well, and clears away easily, sometimes there is a patch of soil that is almost tco treacherous to tunnel through at all. Horses work in the tunnels. Knowing beas'e they have learnt to do witn the minimum of orders, and have fined down their labour to the irreducible minimum, and display othww'ifi* gr*»* 1 sagacity. I After groping through. » curved. ! dark tunnel, with a» ater , and mud to th<» ankles, meeting occasional obstacles in the way of a hanging armoured hose or a derelict tool oiest, one welcomes the daylight, even if it gives, but the view of a steep tip-head and. another tunnel beyond. The succeeding bunnels become, easier ; brattices become familiar objects; one hails a rough-coated pony cheerfully in the. dark, and eventually comeß out looking over Sloven's Creek. Here there are -dvidences, in the shape of concrete piers, that a great steel viaduct is to be thrown across the wide gully; and the great, unspanned air space looks even moro forbiddingly large on account of the small concrete slabs so far below. A spur on the far side says.. "Tunnel" quite clearly; but the engineers,, sampling the f liable shingle of winch it is built, say "Cutti"~ " ip a loader voice, and there a cutting is boing made. And that is as far as one can say

the worka havo really advanced. About eighteen months ago soveraJ miles more of the formation wer«i being ov r lined, and incidentally a swamp in which plentiful remains cf nioas were found was traversed, but anxiety to complete the North Island Main Trunk lin« caused the withdrawal 01 ail the men on that advanced section. JNow their work is being- resumed by a late contingent of men from Chnstohurcn. There is no official information upon the subject, but the rumour runs at Broken River that the construction of the intervening section will now be pushed on. so :ia to meet the Arthur's Pass tunnel as early as possible. The short section of railway works near Broken River, passing ainciig^ rocky precipices, steep shingle slido-.. of colossal eize, and giving frequent glimpses of the tortuous bed of the Waimakariri and its tributaries, is among tlje ir^st remarkable Potions dfvrailwfrj: in New Zealand. Some ) question has

I been aroused an to wlwiher fbe railway, and piirtuMjlariy tne tuimel ovor Arthur's Pasc, will 10b tiie tourist of much of tho beauty of th« trip to the West Coast. It is said, however, that little interest will bo cut out. and that practically the only important v sighv " missed will bo the- mountain lilies* at the summit of tho PaeK.