THE MAIN TRUNK LINE

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 420, 6 August 1908, Page 3

THE MAIN TRUNK LINE

Railheads Joined. A Review of the Work. For weary years the North Island Main Trunk Railway has been a twoheaded monster, but on Monday, says the Post, the two heads were knocked together so that Parliamentarians may see Stars and Stripes in plenty, at Auckland next week. The joyful collision happened on the Manganni-o-te-ao Bridge, which is nearly 114 miles from Te Awamutn, or about 215 miles from Auckland, and 9G miles from Marton, or 212 miles from Wellington ; the bridge is almost exactly half-way between Auckland and Wellington, which arc 426 miles apart by rail. Daring the session of 188 L the central route for the railway was adopted. At that time there, was a railway from Wellington to Marton (116 miles), and from Auckland to Te Awamutn (100 miles). It was estimated that the gap would require 216 miles of rail, but the connection has been made with 210. The permanent surveys were commenced at the end of 1884, and the first sod was turned by Sir Robert Stout early in 1885. on the south bank of the Punui River, near Te Awamutn. Contraction work was begun sti’aight away, and lias continued intermittently to the present day. At one time an army of 2,500 men earned their living on this great track. Last June the number had shrunk to 1900, and has been gradually dwindling as the work advanced. Bridges, viaducts, embankments, tunnels, spirals give the line abundance of variety. The train will whirl over ravines, climb over great hills, dart through mountains. From the huge and lofty viaducts of Makatote, Makohine, Hapuwhenua, Mangaweka, Waiteti, and others, the passengers will be able to safely have a sensation of giddiness if they care to look down upon the torrents far below. Among the biggest bridges are those over the Toitoi, the Mangaturuturu, the Manganui-o-te-ao, and the Wanganui. The tunnels total eighteen. The principal ones are at Poro-o-torao (63 chains —about three-quarters of a mile), Mataroa (30 chains), Tainape (21 chains) Powhakaroa (21 chains). Between Utiku and Mangaweka there are two tunnels, one 20 chains, and the other 27 chains.

Formidable embankments include one at Mangaweka (9G feet deep), one at Raurimu (112 feet and one near Waiouru (90 feet). A “ star turn ” of the line is the “ corkscrew " or spiral, near Raurimu, where the train climbs a mountain in serpentine style. The line ascends gradually all the way from Marton to Waiouru, with the exception of a few slight drops over three or four stretches. The metalled way is about 2,660 feet above sea level at,Waiouru (a gain of 2,200 feet in the run from Marton). The line then falls about 600 feet to Ohakuue, and rises again to Waimarino till it is 2,650 feet above the sea. Once more the rails desceud, till by the time Taumaranui is reached, the drop is 2,000 feet. From this station the track moimts about 550 feet to the Porotatarao tunnel, and again slopes down till it is at an elevation of only about 18 feet at Te Kuiti, and remains approximately on that level to Te Awamutu.

“ Very great difficulty,” Fays Mr R. W. Holmes, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, “ was experienced in locating the line southward from Waiouru, and northward from Waimarino, because the country tails away very rapidly from those points. This necessitated special artifices to obtain sufficient length of line for the required grades. The loop at Turangarere and the spiral at Raurimu were required for those purposes.” About 35 imles of the line were constructed by contract years ago ; the Makatote viaduct and the Wanganui bridge, and two smaller badges were built by contract; the superstructures of about 20 bridges were done by contract and erected by the Public Works Department. All the other work, including foundations for all bridges, was done by the department, mostly under the co-operative contract system. Whether that was the best possible system for the construction and for the taxpayer, is still open to argument. Up to the 31st March last, the permanent way had cost £2,500,000, which included the expenditure 011 station buildings up to that date. There are many thousands of pounds yet to be spent on buildings and in trimming up the line before the construction can be said to *be finished, and there is rolling stock to be added to the bill.

There is still a great deal of work to be done before the through service can be established. At Waiouru a couple of miles of the line are only halfballasted, and further stretches at Ohakune and Horopito are in the same condition. Several cuttings have also to be “ finished off,” some station buildings have yet to be completed, and the erection of workmen’s cottages will take some time. The line, however, is sufficiently forward to allow a special train (that will take the Parliamentary party to Auckland for the reception to the American fleet) to run over it. In an interview with a Post reporter, the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. W. Hall-Jones) said his promise to have the rails connected this year had been realised five months earlier than anticipated. Mr Hall-Jones was not in a position to say when the through express service would be inaugurated, but arrangements to run passengers through without coaching would be completed promptly. The line would be handed over to the Railway Depart" ment on November Ist, and in the interval a public works train over the more-recently constructed portion of the line and the ordinary service over the northern and southern section would give a two days’ journey between Auckland and the capital. Ballast trains are now running across the Manganui-o-te-ao viaduct (where the rails were joined) and the work ot ballasting will he vigorously pushed ahead to get the track in the best possible state for the Parliamentary “ special,” which will leave Wellington at about n p.m. on Friday next and reach Auckland about 6 o’c lock the next evening.