RAILS FOR DEVIATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 204, 30 August 1943, Page 4

RAILS FOR DEVIATION

UNLOADED AT TURAKINA WORK TO RESUME SOON More than 1200 steel rails, weighing 90ib. to the yard, iiave arrived at Turakina for the main-line deviation which will shorten the distance between Wanganui and Marton by four and a-half miles and eliminate three steep gradients. Work on the deviation was started in 1936, but its completion was delayed by the outbreak of war. Further consignments of rails, some of which will be located at the Okoia end, have yet to arrive. Replying to a question in the Hous* of Representatives, asked by Mr. W. J. Polson, M.P. for Stratford, the Minister of Railways, Hon. R. Semple, said recently that if rails were available men would be diverted to the Tura-kina-Okoia deviation when their present work ceased in about three months’ time. Mr. Polson had asked if anything was being done about the deviation. The new rails arrived at Turakina loaded on platform wagons, within recent weeks. They have been un-t loaded by gangs of men and stacked in ’ readiness for immediate use when required. Though th? distance being saved is not great, the time gained will be considerable when trains use the deviation. With the aid of three tunnels, the new track will run through practically level country, the maximum grade being 1 in 70, comparea with I in 35 on the Wangaehu and Okoia “banks.” In addition, several sharp curves, which also reduce the speed of trains and increase haulage difficulties, will be eliminated. Tunnels, road bed and culverts for the deviation have been completed and the concrete piers for two steel bridges are in position. These bridges will span the Turakina and the Wangaehu Rivers. Girders for the bridges have already been stored in convenient positions. The Turakina railway station will remain at its present site, but Ratana will be eliminated. The’ Wangaehu station will be moved further up the valley, and Fordell will be moved to the Matarawa Valley. The platform formations and other work necessary for these stations have been finished. Longest tunnel on the deviation is near the southern end and has a length of 104 chains. It emerges near the Turakina River, where the line will run direct to the station. The Deniair tunnel, at the Okoia end, has a length of 72 chains. The third tunnel, about the centre of the deviation, has a length of three and a-half chains. The length of th? deviation is slightly more fhan 11 miles and thousands of sleepers will be required. The traveller by rail does not realise that in every mile of main-line track his train passes over there is an average of about 2400 sleepers. If the section embraces many curves, crossings or switches, this average is higher. Apart from plate-laying, the removel of stations and the completion of two bridges, little work requires to be done on the deviation. The heaviest undertaking of all. that of boring the three tunnels, was completed some time ago and if the war had not Intervened trains would have been running on the new line to-day. It is probable that when the deviation is finished fewer freight, trains will operate between Marton and Wanganui. The gradients between Okoia and Turakina are so severe that the average freight train leaving Wanganui with a single locomotive is only half the size of a similar train running from Marton to Palmerston. North. When traffic is heavy assisting engines are required. As part of the department's policy to provide a maximum grade of 1 in 70 all the way from Wellington to Aramoho, the grade of 1 in 50 at Gower’s Cutting, a few miles south of Turakina. will he eased. This work was started before Ihe war. but was among the schemes temporarily suspended because of the shortage of materials and men. Passenger trains between Marton and Aramoho will run to faster schedules after the deviation is ready for use, but the Westmere “bank,” just north of Aramoho, will still reduce loading limits and running times for journeys to and from Taranaki. The Westmere, incidentally, is the longest sustained grade on the section, and with the exception of the Rimutakas is one of the most difficult “banks” in the North Island. For the greater portion of the climb to Westmere the grade is 1 in 36 and 1 in 35. found in the type of international economy adopted after the war. Equal pay for equal work had long been a burning question among the women of America, and the general feeling was that where a woman was doing the same work as a man and just as efficiently she should be entitled to the same remuneration. To a question whether there was any prospect of the President visiting New Zealand some time, Mrs. Roosevelt replied with a smile that he would have loved to accompany her on the trip.