MOHAKA VIADUCT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 40, 3 March 1937, Page 4

MOHAKA VIADUCT

Last Steel lower Now Completed READY FOR GIRDERS The last of the steel fowers or trestles in the big viaduct at Mohaka, on the route of the Wairoa-Napier Tailwayj has been completed and is almost ready to receive the two pairs of girders to bridge spans of 100ft. and 85ft. to complete the roadway over the Mohaka River, the highest in the Southern Hemisphere. The erection of the last trestle took the staff, under the capable engineering heads, 35 hours. Only seven men took part in the work, and they are very proud of their achievement. Though the sleepers have all been laid south and north of the viaduct, there is much yet to be done before the word "finis" can be written in respect to this important undertaking. Ballasting is being carried out on both sectiona, there being six trains per day on the south side. On the north side the second "lift" has been completed, and the ballasting is now on the third and last. The first "lift" — of rails — has been completed on the south side, and the trucks are transporting a splendid class of metal from Messns Smith Bros. and Annett's river dufcip at Huramua. At a distance the huge viaduct appoars very slender, but a close up view shows that there is a greafc mass of heavy steel in the trestles, and though the run across will be thrilling no one need feel uneasy, even in the heaviest westerlies. No sleepers have yet been laid on the bridge proper, though the laden trucks can still travel out some distance from the north bank on temporary rails. The work is a month ahead of its sehedule time, and the clinching of the last rivet does not now seem rar distant.