Chapter IV.-The Rail.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 315, 7 November 1855, Page 4

Chapter IV.-The Rail.

" A bridge mates a town ; a river mates a town ; a canal make= a town ; but a railroad is bridge, riyer, thoroughfare, canal, all in oae ; Tvhax a whappin large place that would make, woultl'nt it ?"—Sayings and Doinss of Sam Slick. In the first place, it may be worth while to say that the idea or" using steam locomotive power in the present early state of the Settlement, is out of the question- Even taking the most exaggerated estimate of our probable export during the next three years, the net receipts from the working of a locomotive line would not be sufficient to pay the interest of the capital that would have to be raised, much less to provide for the renewal of locomotive plant and rollingstock. ° Moreover, although it would be quite practicable to take a locomotive line to Gollan's Bay, by a low level tunnel under Evan's Pass, yet to run a locomotive train on the road now constructing between Sumner valley and Lyttelton would be an engineeiing impossibility. Rejecting then the idea of a locomotive line, let v? consider what advantag- would be gained by laying down a light railway t i be worked by horse power between Christchurch jr.:d Lyttelton. The ij.-ist route for such a line would be on the sy.ith-side of the Heathcole, crossing that r!v«r some way above the head of the iiavi^-.iion at Chrisichureh Quay, and comwyr :! . the Old Ferry info the line of the Sumuer road as at present laid out. which it would follow iiil the way to Lyttelion, except ai .Moabone Point, v'vhere it would be necessary to go round, instead of over, the spur. i\,i s p u rti<;n of the road would be exp'iiissv.;. us it would have to be formed in euib;i;ik,,, (jn t at the foot of the cliffs, wliere the depth of water is cotisideraltle. Th«ir« is plenty of width from the Old Ferry as far as .Susnner, to allow of a tramway bc-inyr woiked at I Ik* sidy of the hifrh)oad, without iijconvt-.nei.ce t v the public; out from Sumner to Lyttdlon, the road woulri have to be given "up «uiirely to the Iran-may, as it would be nnpu.ssibje'to work

the inclines in conjunction with ordinary traffic. From Christchurch to Sumner the road would' be practically a dead level ; and it would be a simple mutter to lay down cross sleepers and longitudinal hardwood rails, which would take our trifling traffic for two or three years*, by which time iron rails might be procured .from England and screwed down to the wooden rails. On a railway of this kind, two horses would with ease draw six carriages, each taking two tons dead weight at the rate of 2^ miles per hour, and would take this load to Sumner and back as an ordinary day's work. From Sumner to Lyttelton a wooden railway would not answer, as nothing but iron rails would stand the grinding on the curves and the friction on the inclines. This portion of the work must, therefore, necessarily be postponed, until rails can be procured from England, but in all probability the iron work could be obtained quite as soon as the road will be ready to receive it. There would be little saved in the tractive power on this portion of the road, as three horses would be required to each two ton-waggon on the inclines, but the risk which would attend ordinary dray traffic on a narrow road would be entirely removed, and this would-be no light gain. Whether the use of a tramway on this portion of the road would save anything in the cost of carriage is therefore a very doubtful matter. We may sum up the railway question thus: ' " The use of locomotive power is out of the question for some years to come. The laying down of a tramway between Lyttelton and Sumner would enable the traffic to be carried on. without risk, but would not diminish the cost of carriage. The construction of a light wooden railway between Sumner and Christchurch, to be worked by horses, would greatly diminish the cost of cai-riage, and would not interfere with the use of the road for ordinary traffic.