Opening of the Wellington-Manasatu Railway

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 22, 3 August 1886, Page 2

Opening of the WellingtonManasatu Railway

Th£ opening of 'the 1 Lohgbuni*Otaki Section ' of ' the*' W^llington-Matia'^ajtu "Railway marks another step towards ihti complete and WoUeng"£delay«d 1 umon* between the' CSty of Wellington and the fairest portion of its-Proyincial District. The first train was run as an'i' excursion train,; starting { from Balmerston North >at « 12. 1 6 • and returning thither at 6 p.m. The good people of Palmeraton arid -the. neighbouring districts i. availed themselves iftitiltfW the opportunity ;affordsd 6t seeing the country, which "was a tertia incognita to most of them ;• and,Eur«peans and Natives crowded the platform at an ear^y iouro A train of JO or 12 carriages j had 'been provided, but these, were; soon , filled te over-. flowingandth^cry was «Stiil they com*.' 1 So every available "carriage was brought into and still' there was so reom ; so the latest comets had to fcundle into "open xattle trucks, and the train- at last moved off with its liTi»£i and certainly not silent 'freight of some passensrers. After passing the Lon'gburn- stai m* where \. fuxjbhtr contingent, of passengers appeared, thefjourWy^bn the Welling-ton-Manaw.atu Bailway proper qpmihenced, a^dift^ in ijiiC, £*&SWh,nss4£of the motion, as compared witii:ihe(ioverri- . aent : line, . wa^,' jipjipe&ji across some fine bush clearings, the Manawatu Eiver was 'crossed by tlje long and* substantial bridge which is' one of the most j if not the most j costly Tories on theiliiie. ; 'Then^across rito*© fine clearings the train, With engine ijn front, and engine in rear^ sped on. Then passing ; slicing the , edge; mi tb.e great swamp for miles, the .bush country was reached, .and on to Qsaki the ? line is completely enclosed bjr virgin forest oa either side, with' occasional fern blearinjgß. We can't :say'mufcli of the beatity t>f the ficerfery. ;, We;werie jforcibly remindeid'Tof ' the ;PiaMertt?ri, Feilding, and Fp'xljon lines' a few years ago, befoie the axe" and the fire had done their ;wor.k. ; iißut frop. rally^wje did see, we can safely predict that >b very short time will work wonders, and that at no distant >date the sfte of the firest will be . converted into rich green fields, ' and- smiling hoi^steadß^ whose'l^roduce :wiii; find a prSfitaWe^ marlcet in. Wellington by meaus of this, line, ' Fun and merrimeut reigned supremei., on.: board tHe" traini ai^d bvety one, spite of the Mcyus^hy; seemed thoroughly :to eii^jr 'the .trip. Tlje speed was very gbM, and the smooth running of the traiii^was ;the -bek evidence of the careful and substantial character Vof rlhe work done by f /tlje Company's engineers. Two v slight accidents occurred, to niar theotjierwi^e even tenor of our way. The axle of one of the carriages heated, fromja too-strict attention to ecenomy, on tlje part of, the government railway officials, in the shape of -the expenditure of grease ; and in one ef the cuttings 1 an unfortunate cow was met with, and it was,* as might be expected, 'so much the^worse for the coo, 1 which had its legs broken,., poor thing, and had to be destreyed: 'After a ' short" stay - at •Otiiki, aid a io'o.k at Otaki bridge, the train returned— we need hardly say by the sanie'route— andallagree'd that compared 'with some other open-, ings of rail^aylines at Palmerstpn, of which we have remembrance, they had enjoyed a most, pleasant and eminently •uccessful trip; ■-.■-.^ .'■■ •-■ ' 4 ", '