PROVINCIAL LIGHT RAILWAYS.

Western Star, Issue 139, 6 May 1876, Page 3

PROVINCIAL LIGHT RAILWAYS.

It is sincerely to be hoped that the Western Railways on completion will not be in a similar plight to that dejcril • | by a correspondent sf tiie North Otago Times. In referring to the Awamoko branch line, he says; —‘It may be interesting to many to learn the facts concerning this small but interesting Provincial work. The tramway, as nearly every resident is aware, inter* sects the extensive flats or open plains watered and fertilised by the Awamoko Creek and Waitaki River. From its junction with the Waitaki line to its termination in the Gorge, where mingle the waters of the Maerewhenua and the Waitaki, the length of the line is 21 miles. The tramway as completed, I believe, some twelve months ago by the contractor —Mr Proudfoot—was found to be shamefully imperfect, dangerous, and utterly unfit for traffic. As a natural consequence it was condemned, fresh levels had to be taken and the work bad to undergo reconstruction —this time under the direct control of the Provincial Government. A start was made shortly before last Christmas, and since the commencement of the year up to the present time about 100 men have been employed constantly on the work. Of the magnitude of the labour involved some idea may be formed when it is stated that every sleeper has had to be detached from the rails, lifted, scarfed with the adze, relaid, dogged, and. subsequently packed. The levels throughout have been altered, and the road has been raised and depressed in places, necessitating a large expenditure for additional ballast. The. rails, many of them bent through the cranky deflections in the contractor’s handiwork, have had tO' be straightened. In short, an amount,of work lias been performed almost equivalent to the construction of a new tramway. Meanwhile the goods traffic lias never been suspended, and at great inconvenience to those employed, the imminent risk to the guard, driver, and stoker, the. iron horse has pursued his perilous journey as far as Papakaio and Maerewhenua almost daily. It need, therefore, occasion no surprise that several times “ Puffing Billy” has shown serious symptoms of insubordination, and a disposition to forsake Mr Proudfoot’s patent Provincial locomotive corkscrew for a less tortuous path of his own invention. Thus it happened, that little more than a week ago, Mr Mackenzie, the guardian angel of the van, always equal to any emergency, in order te avoid a threatened accident, performed a flying leap, that might well have raised a blush on the bronzed countenance of an accomplished Japanese acrobat.