THE TUAPEKA RAILWAY WORKS.

Evening Star, Issue 3499, 11 May 1874, Page 3

THE TUAPEKA RAILWAY WORKS.

We had an opportunity the other day of examining the tunnel at present being out bj Mr Hunter, contractor, on the Glenore section of the Tuapeka railway, and which . seems to be rather a tedious work. The length of the tunnel, when completed, will be 450 yards, of which 120fb has been driven .: at the Manuka Creek end. At the entrance the face is 70ft of rock, and the tunnel itself is cut through solid bluestone rock, said to be of the hardest description ever found in the Colony. It contains throughout streaks or leaders of white quartz. 'Jhe driving is being carried out in three shifts, nine men v; being at work at a time, and even in this 3? a y>-Iroip- the hardness of tpe stone, only , -plow progress can be made. At the other . epd the tunnelling has not yet been com- - fenced, the workmen b§ing engaged opening up : the cutting leading thereto, where ■ toe face will also be 7bft of the same description of rock”, which in all likelihood extends . the .whole length of the tunnel, In order . the more expeditiously to push on the work, Mr Hunter has ordered from Mr Wilson’s foundry, Dunedin, a rock boring apparatus, upou the same principle as the Burleigh rockdrilling machine, and which will comprise Steam engine and air pumps, with air receiver, &o. will be the first machine . P? the kind “ ever manufactured in the Colony, and Mr Hunter expects to have , |t at work |n the course of a few weeks. Through the hardest granite the drill progresses at the almost incredible rate of from 6m, to I3i%per minute, and one drill point will go through 2Q£t of Aberdeen granite without sharpening. It is not only an immense saving as compared with Hand labor; Dut-it is so . extremely simple that any laborer can attend to it. it i| pot liable to get pf order,. snd it can be .wrought dnoany angle. In case of any mistake. occurring in the manufacture of the Coloniai-mad e ;article, ; Mr Hunter has ordered another from Home, so that in all likelihood he will shortly have Pn. e w ork at each end pf the tunnel. In this work Mr Hunter has been using the blasting compound known as “Lithofracteur» which is nine times the strength of ordinary blasting powder, and is a saving of : from 40 to 50 per cent, in labor. With such ha ? Q . e8 ’ the unexpected mmculties ho has to contend with, there is very little doubt Mr Hunter will be quite able to, complete the work in the contract time, of which about fifteen months have vet tornn.—‘Bruce Herald.*