THE BLOCKADE OF THE RAILWAY.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 106, 26 March 1880, Page 3

THE BLOCKADE OF THE RAILWAY.

On Wednesday postal communication with Picton, whieh had been interrupted for some days by the weather and the flood, was resumed. A train consisting of the ballast engine and a luggage van was dispatched from Opawa at a quarter to four o’clock, having on board the mails and the Chief Postmaster, Mr Henderson, the railway contractor, Mr Chalmers, the Inspector, Mr Bassett, the station-master, and two others. A - van foments had been made for the mail from Pic on to be scut by road and to nret the train at Para, through communication being interrupted by rail in consequence of the damage done to a

bridge near Koromiko, added to the lan slips at the Elevation, and by road by the breaking down of a bridge at Allport s Flat. The train arrived safely fit Para about five o’clock after one or two interruptions, the principal one being caused by the earthwork being washed away from underneath the sleepers and displacing several of them near Mudford’s Flat. On the train arriving at Tua Marina, a gang of “surfacemen who were employed in “packing” the line in that locality were taken on board with their picks, shovels, and crowbars, and with the assistance of the passengers in the train they restored the displaced timbers to something like their normal condition after a stoppage of about half-au-hour, and then proceeded to Para where the mails ftom Picton awaited the train. There were also on the platform Mr Seymour, of the Railway Department, and Mr Stone, the Inspecting Engineer from Nelson, who made arrangements to go over the line with Mr Henderson next day and have the bridge at Koromiko repaired, the work at the 'andslip attended to, and the line got into working order again as soon as possible. It will however, from what we hear, take a week or ten days before the line is fit for general traffic to be resumed. Ihe mails were conveyed in the same manner yesterday and this arrangement will probably be continued until communication can be reestablished by road by which it will be conveyed until the fine is in working order .•'.gain. There appears to have been little or no damage done to the line between • Ipawa and Tua Marina, but at that place the effects of the flood are very manifest, or at all events we 'e so on Wednesday. The Tua Marina stream has been several feet over the line for some miles, and, the permanent w r ay will require “packing in many places, and sundry ulverts will have to be repaired. In the township of Lua Marina the water, during the late flood, when at its highest was about seven feet above the level of the road, and oi er the top rails of the fences. At Allport s I lat the men are busy at work at the bridge and e. pect to have the damage repaired in a few days. Great credit is due to Mr Winstanley the Chief Postmaster, for the promptitude displayed by him in the matter of making arrangements to have the mails sent through without unnecessary delay, and to Mr Henderson, the contractor for the railway, who has placed his engine and men at the service of the Government, and expressed his willingness to lend every assistance, when he might, if he pleased, have thrown many difficulties in the way. The mails from Picton were brought into Blenheim and sorted into the boxes by seven o’clock on Wednesday evening the train stopping at the intermediate stations to deliver letters and papers both in going and returning.