OTIRA TUNNEL

Hokitika Guardian, 5 February 1921, Page 1

OTIRA TUNNEL

HOW THE THIP WAS MADE. The trip under the Alps from the West Coast to Canterbury was thoroughly interesting. Dressed with gumboots, oilskins and sou’-westers over their ordinary clothes, members of the party boarded a shingle train that left the Otira end at twelve o’clock. For the first two miles or more, the sensation was almost akin to that caused by a journey at night on top of a tramrailer. The difference was that overhead tlie rounded arch of the tunnel confined all view. Another was that

far behind was a faint pin-point of light. When it disappeared, noises in front began to make themselves heard. A rattle would come out of the dark-

ness as someone prepared a rake of trucks for the ballast dump outside. tVhen the electiic locomotive stopped a few yards past the three mile and a quarter peg there was no doubt that serious operations were in progress ! fairly close at hand. Carbide lamps ' twinkled as men moved backwards and forwards to shovel away the loose rock. The whine of the rock-drill accompanied the clang of shovel and the sharp metallic note of pick. Climbing up an iron ladder through to a staging below the roof proper, the visitors were shown exactly what the word "lining” means when applied to tunnel work. Big blocks of concrete were being hoisted up to men on the arch, and then placed in position, with loose nibble between them and the solid rock. The engineers pointed out that at this place a double thickness of concrete was being used because of the tremendous nature of the country. Further on, the main attack against the hill was being conducted. Holes bored in the main face were waiting for the men with the gelignite, and timber supports were in readiness to buttress up any weak spot. The next twenty chains of the trip held little but discomfort. Because the top here was still unexcavated, progress had to be made in a semi-crouching attitude, with a regular mill-race of water splashing against gumboots, and making footholds insecure. The opened-out space at the Bealey end was welcomed, and, after a brief inspection of the operations on this face the party mounted a Canterbury-bound train. Less than eighty minutes after leaving Otira the familiar ground round the Arthur’s Pass railway station camp into sight. To complete the picture, the Midland train steamed up at the same moment. There was a challenging contrast between the arrival of the two trains. Perhaps by Easter, 1922, thure will lie no need for passengers to look upon Arthur’s Pass as a "Change Here,” stop. Some time next year, at any rate, the engines will change, hut the carriages will go on.