WAIUKU RAILWAY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 482, 17 June 1919, Page 4

WAIUKU RAILWAY.

PROGRESS ©F CONSTRUCTION.

As very few people in the County any idea of the amount of work being carried on at the Mauku creek, in connexion with the Waiuku branch railway, a Times representative paid a viet to the works recently. Tlirough the courtsy of the overseer (Mr Hinton") our representative was shown over the workings. \ ' AXVASS TOWNSHIP Quite a canvass township has now sprung up alongside the old historical St. Bride's church, so well remembered by the older settlers in connexion with the Maori war, for it is close alongside of St Bride's that the Waiuku railway crosses the Mauku stream. ;

CAPABLE OVERSEER As orerseer in charge of the culvert works the Department are certainly fortunate in having such a capable man as Mr Hinton, for since his appointment undoubtedly some system has been instilled into the work, and the progress has been particularly satisfactory. The accompanying photo will give any who have not been fortunate enough to see the work a very fair idea of the magnitude of what is going on, and the immense amount of tresseling and timber construction that was necessary before a start at the concreting could be made. TIIE CULVERT Also, some 200 piles had to be driven in the lines of the walls of the arches of the culvert, so as to ensure a safe foundation. The culvert is of a three-barrelled construction, each barrell being 105 ft long, 12ft high, with a 9ft arch. The bottom of the tunnels were mostly finished on the occasion of the writer's visit, and a start was being made with the walls.

THE BIGGEST JOB '%i The work of crossing this running, as it does, in a deop guJH is no doubt the biggest job online whole section from raerata to Waiuku, and has considerably delayed the progress of the line. At first it was proposed, to build a steel girder bridge, and everything was j held up owing to the inability to; procure the necessary girders, j Later, the Department decided to j build a concrete culvert, and as j everything lor the construction of i this could be secured locally, it is J surprising that this scheme was not thought of at first. JfI'MEROL'S W ILDINGS However, work is well away now, and alongside of the Mauku station there is a blacksmith's shop, store rooms, some thirty odd buildings and tents, as well as huge heaps of crushed metal, sand, railway irons, stacks of timber and such like impedimentia. The engineer in charge of the line (Mr Bennett) is evidently making sure of a first rate job, and is leaving nothing to chance.

EiTICIENT MIXING SYSTEM. Along the overhead tramway shown in the photo, the dry mixture is carried in trucks to a chute, where It is tipped, and this chute conducts the material to a concrete mixer. This mixer is turning out about fifty cubic yards per day. A continuous system of men, with barrows, follow round the overhead planking, and a foreman directs where each load has to be tipped, the mixed material being conducted down movable chutes, where gangs of workmen are busy levelling, ramming, and spreading. There is no waiting, and everything seems to be working like clockwork.

Although the concrete - mixer seemed to be capable of disgorging an endless stream of concrete, these machines, like oil-engines, have their

variations, so provision has been made for hand-mixing. An ingeniously contrived trap-door at the head of the chute allows the mixture to be turned from the machine to a large mixing-board. Fortunately, so Far, a competent engineer and a reliable machine have given good results. INGENIOUS CONTRIVANCES. It is interesting to note the many little contrivances that are used to allow quick and easy work, and the clever way everything has been thought out. For instance, all the timbering supporting the arches, though so constructed as to take the heaviest strain, is so fixed that a few blows of a hammer at a certain point allows the whole structure to come away, to be used on the next section. AMOUNT OF MATERIALS. It is estimated that about 1300 yds of stone, 500 yds sand, and 250 tons of cement will be used in the culvert, and, given fine weather and a constant supply of material, Mr Hinton expects to have the job finished in about a week's time. 'Of course, there is a lot of earthwork to be done before the rails can be laid, as it is about <35 feet from the bottom of the culvert to the level os the rails.

KOOM 10R IMPROVEMENT. The methods used by the Department for shifting earth (the barrow and shovel method) seem so obsolete when one reads about the Yankee steam shovels lifting four to six tons at a dip, and which were so successfully used on the Panama. Another thing which struck the " paper man "as strange, was to see motor loads of cement being carted from Pukekohe when there was a railway line laid right up to the bridge bead, and a Government train coming to Mauku every week, but the common man cannot comprehend the vagaries i of the Public Works Department.