MOHAKA VIADUCT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 246, 14 September 1940, Page 8

MOHAKA VIADUCT.

ADDRESS TO LUNCH CLUB

High tributes to the men who were actively engaged in the construction of the Mohaka Viaduct, on the East Coast railway, were paid by Mr •J. H. Ingley in the course of an address to the Citizens’ Lunch Club, yesterday, dealing with the viaduct. Air Ingley was engaged in the clerical work in connection with the construction. Those men, continued the speaker, had worked at heights of up to 300 feet without a thought of danger, when they had perhaps only an 18-inch steel girder to hold on to. So as to save time, the men discarded their safety belts to enable them to work at top speed without hindrance. The viaduct is situated about 50 miles from Napier on the main road to AVajroa. There are five viaducts on this line, but the Mohaka is by far the largest, being the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. From the normal water level of the Mohaka River to the rails on the viaduct, the height is 312 ft, while to the top of the windshield erected on the viaduct it is another 12ft, making a total height of 324 ft. From the concrete abutments on either side of the gorge the distance is 908 ft. The concrete foundations for the piles are 6Gft deep, and were set with the use of compressed air. Work on the viaduct was abandoned at the time of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931, but was resumed a few years later. The total weight of the steel contained, in the viaduct is only 1250 tons, all the steel being fabricated to enforce rigidity and lightness. After a description of the! viaduct, Mr Ingley showed a number of films taken when the viaduct was in various stages of construction. He also outlined the progress of the work at each stage. The speaker was thanked on the motion of the chairman (Mr H. .J. Christensen). A welcome was extended to Air H. S. McKenzie, of Palmerston North. Air J. H. Stevens was elected the club’s delegate to the reception committee for British children.