OVER THE MAIN TRUNK.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12391, 15 February 1908, Page 7

OVER THE MAIN TRUNK.

(Contributed),

The route through that portion of the touutry which is now the last liuk in tli* iron road which is to connect AucKiand with the southern parts of the Dominion appears to be shrouded in mystery to some people, while others continue to associate it with the Wanganui River trip, so long known a» the "Overland." Even among those who actually set out to make the journey there is found a good deal of uncertainty as to how they are to accomplish it. A short description by one who Las recently made the trip may, therefore, not be amiss. It is in reality simple enough and should contain no terrors even for the unexperienced traveller, provided he is hardy enough to .withstand a bumpy coach drive of some 20 miles, and the insinuating attentions of a little puniice dust.

Travelling by the mail train fron: north or south, the would-be tourist changes into the branch train at Marton, and arrives shortly after five o'clock in the evening at Taihape. This ia the first day's stage. It is quite possible to go further on the same- night, but nothing is gained by so doing. Taihape is a place of sotre importance. It has a quite modern Post Office, bank, and Courthouse buildings, and some pretensions to drainage, gas, and water. In sham contrast to these evidences of civilisation are the blackened stumps still occupying some of the town sections. Taihape hea among the everlasting hills, and evening brought a pall of smoke from the bush fires, makthe night sleepleisly hot. Next morning the journey is continued at 8.30, still by, the ordinary Government train, tmtil Mataroa is reached, some six milos distant. This is the terminus of the line controlled by the Railway Department, and the pass?ngers disembark to join the Public Works Department'? train, .whigh rattles away at a good rate over the new line, passing round a horseshoe tend about talf a mile or more to get about 100 yards on its journey, and shortly afterwards arriving at Turangarore. Ruapehu can be seen here from the train, but the ctly other sights are two houses and four station buildings. After passing this station, the train winds among bleak hills devoid of any growth but tussock grass and dwarfed flax, the latter sheltering in the hollows. Abandoned workmen's camps are seen close to the line; cabin 3 dug out of the ground, and chimney flues cut in the banks presenting a curious effect.

At 11 o'clock Waiouru station is reached, eituated on the margin of the desolate Kaimanawa Plain, 2639 feet above* the sea. Ttuapchp is seen again now,, right straight ahgad. pie ;Goyer,nment seem .'to be making, ampje provision here- in the way of an engine depot and large station yard, and at present there is very little, else in view. A little further on, is- a large camp for the workmen" employed on what will.be the permanent line, the train just here running on a temporary loop while' the line proper ia being completed. Karioi comes qext, on the further; .side of the Kairaanawa ..Plain, and now we -pick up the bush scenery again; with its 'accompanying chorus of locusts,, which, as on the previi ous day on the .Hunterville branch, make their ' song heard above the rattle and roar- of the passing train. A considerable number ' of sheep ' are said to find good pickings among the tussock on the plain, though to the eye of the unitiated it would appear to be .a question of acres to the sheep,, rather -than sheep. ,to the acre. The plain is, however, very 'well watered. - The bush is- -welcome' after the dusty stretch oi.nlaitt, a«4- juat before.- arrivxp^v at Rangitawa the "train runs through a forest of graceful birch, splashed here ana there with the brilliant red of the rata blossom. SHops are being built at this spot in the heart of the forest, in anticipation of the days that are to be. Ohakune is four miles further on, and here our 30mile train journey from Mataroa ends ac mid-day. Tho coaches meet the train, which runs right up into the virgin bush, the foliage of the huge treee arching overhead. Quite an imposing array pf vehicles — about nine in number — awaits the passengers, who can step off the train on to the wooden platform improvised Trom fnl!en logs, and board the coach without getting to the ground. is a strange sight this, the train run right in among the trees, which have not here been cleared from the side ' f the titck, and the collection of coaches in the heart of the bush. The overland route affords sights which • ill rot be available when the train tears through from Auckland to Wellington in some 20 hours. Some of the vehicles go to the Ohakune settlement (this is pronounced Oh-ha-k"une, with a strong accent on the "ha"), while five are requisitioned to convey the overland passengers. About a dozen board our coach, and with five good horses — three in, the lead — we are soon rattling along over a good service road which is metalled from quarries situated at convenient spots along the route. The metal is coarse in places, and one jocular passenger estimated 433 bumps in the first quarter of tn hour, and then declared his inability to keep further tally! A telephone wire accompanies the road, suspended to trees along the track, hanging in loops and jerking round angles which would make a city lineman phed tears. Presently we reach" a little bush settlement palled Te Raungakapu, where a mail is delivered and the passengers regile themselves with hop beer. Tha railway line is crossed at this spot by the road which afterwards climbs up a thickly wooded hill, winding in and out to negotiate the gullies. Away down below — 300 feet, the driver will tell you— is the railway track, it-splf more thai 2600 feet above the sea, .<?o that the road just here must b« nearly 3000 feet high. The line is croosed again at Taonui Viaduct, which is already plaaked and railed, and waiting the rail connection on fither side. Passengers are invited to walk across the viaduct some of the more adventurous spirits io co while the coach winds round the road underneath. It is about 100 feet high and is built on a distinct curve, but the' iron and wire railing gives one a sense of security.

We climb up into our seate again and presently reach the township of Horopito, which was recently sold by public auction. Here the fireg had" come very close, threatening the tents and shanties which the residents were busllj engaged 7 in protecting. An amateur fire brigade occupied the roof of one building, extinguishing eparke by the aid of a water jug. Horopitp had quite an ancient history. Yeare ago,.settlers went there, took up sections, and after clearing, fencing and grassing, found themselves cut off in, the winter by the impassable roads, and finally growing sick of the whole business, forfeited their rune :ind left for pastures new. That was t«to years ago. Only one man stayed on fo reap the harvest of free grazing on his neighbours' abandoned sections. The land passed back into the hands of the Government, and was recently sold again. Resi deuts of Horopito use the useful rata vine for clothes linjs and when stretched taut it appears to answer admirably, the clothes being tied on with string. From a long Stretch of level road RuapeliM is seen on the right, and <<n the left, at the end of a vista of forest trees, E<rmont is sometimes visible. Large quantities or the puketoitoi shrub are seen just here which is for all the world like the cabbage . palm, with leaves resembling something between the flax and cactus plants. It belongs to the rubber tribe and its leaves are siud to be capable of stretching four inches to the foot, A proposal is

afoot to experiment in croasing it with flax to produce an improved *ibre. At Mangaturnturu, which means "sulphur stream," there is another viaduct, and a suspension footbridge across the creek. The men are requested to walk hero, and one wag— a heavy man— takes a delight in rocking the bridge like a ship at sea. He could not do it were there not two aide ropes to hang on by. The creek is only a foot or two deep, and not very wide, but the ladies in the coaches make a rough passage bumping over the stones. Its waters are saicbto be bad for horses, but provided the writer with a very refreshing draught. We come next to Manganui-o-te-Ao, where the coach turns a bend, and there suddenly comes into sight an immense pillar of concrete standing 92ft high against a background of dark green bush foliage. This its one of the piers for the viaduct, the two ends of which are seen higher up at the rail level on either side at an altitude of 100 ft.

At three o'clock we reach the f.amou9 Makatote Viaduct. This is not yet completed, but the work progresses from both ends simultaneously, leaving a yawning chasm in the middle. Our Jehu must have his little joke, and calls for volunteers to walk across: The viaduct and gorge are an impressive sight. The former towers up 296 ft and when the coach- passes underneath it and reaches the foot of the steep decline it almost makes one shudder to look up and think .of the trains crossing at that giddy height. To the consolation of the nervous be it said that the train will cross through a kind of covered-in cage. It is rather curious to note that the biggest viaduct in the line, and one which is already becoming known as an example of colonial engineering skill, merely crosses a little creek a few feet wide. The existing coach bridge over the same stream is only 20 or 25 feet' high (the old one was a simple structure of logs still smaller) while the viaduct is 899 feet long — nearly 300 yards. The constantly altering altitude of coach and rail routes in relation to each other, the one now above, now below, makes one ponder on the difference between railway and road construction. Climbing the bush-clad slope on the further side, a magnificent panorama of bush country is seen stretching away for miles and miles, and at the top of the grade are the large engineering works of Messrs Andersons', Ltd. — a foundry inthe forest primeval ! At Makatote a halt is made for lunch, and the word is passed round to look sharp so that our coach may get away first in front of the others, for a stretch of seven miles of dusty pumic roa4 awaits ,ue, , one > through the bush from Makatote to Erua., .a,nd the .ie-, maining six across the Waimarino Plains. Pumice* roads .have .the peculiarity of affording splendid, travelling* in winter, but very* very dusty transit in summer. A fine, flour-like deposit covers clothes, ears, and hair, making one veritably grey-head-ed, and converting coloured things to grey in a manner, which, for speed, would make the fortune of any dyer. . >

Erua marks the border of the Waimarino Plains, and the next station is .six miles away at the other side. The road winds along, skirting, the bush here and there, and the pumice dust rises in an impenetrable cloud. Fortunately there was ' a breeze across our' track, but the dust was still bad enough to totally obscure a horse and dray drawn. up at- the side of the road to allow us to pass. Then 'when approaching Waimarino station, curious black spots are noticed in .the pumice cuttings, and these, the driver tells. us, are oharcoal. "They are quite numerous, and his theory is that Ruapehu,, in some past age, has devastated the bush on the plain, converting the forest into charcoal and smothering it feet deep with a deposit of pumice. Certainly the quantity of charred logs unearthed in the railway cutting quite close to the station lends colour to this idea.

Our dusty drive, variously estimated at 18 to 20 miles, etwls at Waimarino station at 3.45, and joining the Public Works train, another 22 minutes takes us the seven miles into Raurimu, down the famous Spiral. This is regarded as one of the railroad engineering wonders of the world, and it provided a solution to a problem which baffled the surveyors for two years before they hit upon this means of getting out of the cul de sac into which the line runs at Raurimu. There are two tunnels in the Spiral. At the top the line makes a complete circle, and the train passes over the top of a tunnel which it afterwards runs through. The constant twisting and -turnings are a little bit bewildering, Raurimu, on the flat below, now appearing on the left hand, and now on the right. The train descends more than 700 feet in the seven miles between Waimarino and Raurimu, and in the last mile drops 400 feet. There is, however, nothing wildly sensational in the descent. True, there is a cutting 64 feet deep and banks 90 and 110 feet high, but the curves are said to be only 8} and 8$ chains radius, with one of 7£ on the lower level, near the' station.

Raurimu is practically deserted now, compared with what it was when an enormous canvas town flourished there a couple of years ago. A run of another hour and 40 minutes through bush scenery, which has become familiar, brings the journey's end for the second day, and over a bridge a little south of Taumarunui we pass from the Wellington into the Auckland Province. At Taumarunui the Government train is picked up next morning, and the journey from there to Auckland is more or less familiar tb most people.

The through trip at present means three days' travelling, but there are no gigantic difficulties to be faced. Good accommodation is obtainable at both stopping' places — Taihape and Taumarunui, though it is advisable to telegraph beforehand to secure same, as also to Ohakune to reserve a seat on the coach. A big timber trade is expected when the line is opened right through, about the ' end of the present year, and it is said that no less than 30 sawmill ventures are waiting to commence operations near Ohakune. Indeed, the future is full of possibilities, and the opening of the North Island Main Trunk Line will probably mark a new era in the history of our Dominion.