DAMAGE TO THE RAILWAY LINES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 30 June 1880, Page 2

DAMAGE TO THE RAILWAY LINES.

The heavy rain of the past few days has occasioned some amount of damage to the railway lines both north and south, while the flooded state of part of the lines has also interfered very considerably with the running of trains. The land at Waimate> junction was so flooded this morning that, the early trains between Tiniaru and! Oamaru were unable to proceed in thoir proper directions, and the passengers hadl to be transferred from one train to the* other, and the trains sent back again to their starting points instead of performing; the through journey. The damage on the line was, however, repaired this morning, so that the express train could come through to Oamaru. The Duntroon branch line has suffered even more severely from the flood. For about two miles the line is under water, and the morning train from Duntroon had not arrived up to the time of writing. Neither can the extent of the damage be ascertained by telegraph, owing to the impossibility of communication between the Railway Station and the Telegraph Office, the Maerewhenua River, which runs between the two places, being in a'soate of high' flood. It is thought the train has got off' the line, and a special engine was despatched to look for the missing train.. The Ngapara branch has not suffered any damage, and trains were run to-day a3> usual. The only damage done by the 1 floods to the Oamaru section of the maim line occurred on the south side of th<* Otepopo tunnel, but this was quicklycleared, a detention of less than an hour to the morning train from Palmerstom being the only inconvenience experienced in carrying on the traffic. On the Dunedim section the floods and heavy rains appear to have had a much more serious effect, causing a delay of several hours to the express train. The information obtainable has not been of a very complete nature, but we learn that heavy slips have occurred on the line between Blueskin and Waikouaiti, and that though every effort was made to clear the line, the damage done was of so serious a nature as to detain the express train, as already stated, for several hours. At four o'clock thei express had not passed Palmerston, andl it is therefore impossible to say at what; hour the train will reach Oamaru. Ass under the circumstances it would bo impossible for the train to do the through journey to Christchurch, Mr. Hannay telegraphed to Timaru to send on a special train from that place, in lieu of the express, which will noi. proceed north to-night. The express; train from the North arrived about 25; minutes late this afternoon, the delayhaving been occasioned by a slight detent tion at Waimate Junction and the necessity for travelling at a slower rate over portions of the line. As a natural result, the express was also behind time in leav-. ing for the South, and the afternoon trains for Timaru and Ngapara wore »feo, late in their departure. After the; first-, portion of this report was in type>. the. train from Duntroon reached Oamaru about three o'clock. We then learned! that the road was in a very bad condition down to Gibson's siding, the rails being' principally covered with flood watery but no serious dataage has taken placet. Mr. Hannay, however, deemed it: unwise under the circumstances to dispatch the usual afternoon train to Duntroon, but it is expected that the train will be able to. run as usual in the morning.