WADESTOWN TRAM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 992, 6 December 1910, Page 5

WADESTOWN TRAM.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK. v ■ TO FINISH IN SIX MONTHS. ' : V The TVadestown tramway works h<lT?.' now reached, a stage which enables th« visitor to. realise that this latest addition to the suburban' car routes, whatever its': other merits and demerits, is an interesting, example of a series of topographical difficulties overcome by engineering skill. '■' .' : •..- -...: From the intersection of Tinakori Roadjiud Park Street, where the new line leave the Karori track, to the Queen's: I ark, ho work has yet been done. Some , special and rather complicated material;: lor.the junction has'yet to arrive froraiHome. The track will run..along".tin* road that goes through the lower part of Queens Park, and this road is to be widened and straightened, partly by ctifctmg away from the hillside on the left,: and partly by throwing out spoil on the/ right, llus'has necessitated .the. construct won of a big concrete retaining wall oni the lower, or Grant Road, side of the', track. Hie wall is nearly completed,.anil' the tipping of the spoil lias been begun.-'--A Remarkable Wall. . V^'.

A little iurther on, where the' track: ""' winds through Goldie's Brae, a rather -'rev '?.-'": ma.rkable forro-concrcte' retaining wall hasbeen built. Kails were planted almost'-'t perpendicularly in the ground in pairs; '■ and other rails were laid nearly horizontally, resting at one end on the tops of the. : :'i) upright ones, and having their other ends -\'v embedded in the roadway. Tho spaces : (several feet wide) between the uprights -' iV i were filled with'panels of reinforced con- V ! Crete, and the uprights ' themselves were ■'"'■■ surrounded with concrete. •" Tlie horfc : ■ ' zontal rails project beyond the wall, and :"T;-i torm the main support of a reinforced - : concrete footpath, which overhangs the. ■" Wall like a gallery. This will no doubt --'■•, tea favourite place, for leaning over the '■'■■■■' railing, and enjoying the fine' View of- thoi : - city and harbour, Mount .Victoria, and l ' the more distant hills., .'. ■-• ."• :■■ -<H

The Big Cutting. .■'...'•'.; Just round the next bend, where the 7;?T* Hutt Valley, with Petoue iu the. fore- •'--- : Kround and the Riniutakas beyond, comes v''lino view, tlioro is another retaining wall■' V;::.!. of similar construction, but without the gallery-path. It is nearly \ finished. : '■•<' Atauy.tons of spoil-have been tipped into.-'.'-'.'-". : ? the big .gully which the track now sldTts, : "•?• the upper part of.it, at the elbow of the" - .v road,/ being now a wide level piece of' ' ■ made ground. After passings the clboir, ~:'4 the. track, which has been steadily mount- ■':<-*:' mg -all the way, turns rather ' sharply,: 1 ' : '1 into the hillside and enters a big cuttings '■"■V'i ihe maximum, depth of the' cutting ia •'; 'Yi about 40 feet, and the sides in'the yellow '' -4 rotten rock" have a slope' of i vertical to 3 horizontal.-...This','cutting is not yet '■■■''■'.-\ finished. . The line hero..makes:about a- ; X'/J horse-shoe, and after emerging from the ■■ i cutting turns, away again, crosses a gully, ..■"-" on an. embankment nearly as high as the -i-rt cutting is deep, traverses : another 'big " l " ■ cutting, and another gully, and yet an-■!'-.'.:?-other cutting (whore a new concrete wall-'-, v- ■" 24 feet high keeps up a -bank ..which 'iXH Slipped some time ago), and comes out' ' ! K-' among the houses of the little. Tijjl ' V' suburb just nt the top of Pitt Street, by v;Y,, the Anglican Church. , .' ; . ■>•',':' !l 4 . ■' The Terminus. ''-.'. '"- i^ . A resident's neat lawn has just beenf ■; -■ invaded by . the -, pick ' and shovel: at. this-' ":■■ ;.• point. -The', track .will. run. along' the? .. ■ main road for 10 or 12 chains;to ElizaiethT- :'■■;: Street, and this will involvo a certain; •-. amount of filling and excavating, and!' T-V the lopping off of,'a few strips 'aiidi -.:.. corners of private property.' There : are'■■ •■' no embankments to be made anywhere, • j> and the completion of, the big cutting 1 '■■ : ' : beyond Goldie's Brae is the-. principal ;, work still left for the navvies. •'■. ■. ;.:.,. ■ The rails' are." on ■ order, and should; '~' be here early in the New Tear. . Tha . : .. wooden sleepers came to hand yesterday. l ' ■It was originally "understood that-tha "!■".'■. tramway would bo completed about the ''. middle of next year,, but from present! .'■'>-'•' appearances the . v.-ork will be finished'- '■ well before that time. ■ '■■■:"•