AT THE RAILHEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 360, 11 April 1910, Page 3

AT THE RAILHEAD.

INTERESTING OPERATIONS

(By our Stratford OuTespondent)

Provided the weather is line,.a trip to the railhead is a very interesting and pleasant, outing. If it rains the visitor would probably regret having departed from the town in search of the joys of rural life. At present the Railway Department's control terminates at liuiroa, from there on the traveller is carried by the Public Works Department. The change is noticeable in many ways. To Huiroa a guards' van is attached even to a ballast train; from Huiroa this is dispensed with, and the passenger seats himself on a piece of board, if he can fi.ml a bit on the ballast in the trucks. !io long, as mentioned before, the weather is fine the "open-air treatment" has its advantages over the confined van. Nor is this the only change. It does not require an experienced traveller to detect the diflercnce in the running when the new section is entered on. Heavier rails and more ballast account for it. and it may lie mentioned that, profiting by experience the amount of ballast placed on the lines has been considerably increased in comparison with that on the Main Trunk line on the new section of the connecting link with Auckland. The grades are good, there being ■nothing stiffer than 1 in 50. and it is noticeable in comparison with the cuttings on the Toko section that the latter i>: considerably more sloping. Indeed. the Toko section has been a source of annoyance to the engineering staff, and it is estimated that £,2000 "a mile will be required to be expended on tais portion of the line before it will be fit to carry the heavy traffic which it is calculated will pass over it. Not only are the present rails to bo replaced with heavier ones—and in this case the rails which did service on the Manawatu railway are to be utilised—but considerable ballasting will be needed and possibly some more excavation done in the cuttings. _ Returning to the new section, it is evident that the Department anticipate that Te Wera will be a large distributing centre or that they are "determined that enlargement of the yard will not be needed there for many years to come. The station yard is nearly as big as that at Stratford; in fact, it seems manifest that if the anticipations of the Department as to the amount of traffic which is to pass over the line are proved j correct, it will not be long before exten- I sive alterations will have to bo made to the Stratford station. The station buildings are ncaring completion and the goods shed is under way. It will be fully six weeks before the various buildings are completed and there is a considerable amount of filling-in to be done in the station yard and several miles of line require another "lift" of ballast. From the opinion of those who use the line it will be probably three months before the Railway Department take over this section. Already the railway is having its effect; a boerding-housq and a blacksmith's shop are to be built, and a couple of coHages will very soon be in the course of erection. Large quantities of goods are being trucked through, and it is evident tha't the settlers in the district are going to take full advantage of the facilities offered by the line. " The tender for the erectioti of the Ngatimaru station buildings has been let and the work will probably commence on Monday. It is provable on comnletion'of the Pohokurn tunnel, which from all accounts will be about the time that the Railway Department take over the Te Wera section, that the workshops at Huiroa vyill be shifted to Ngatimaru. With the approach of the completion of the Pohokura tunnel the canvas town is diminishing in size as the residents are leaving for the other sirle of the tunnel. Work, as mentioned last week, is being carried on from one end, this being considered a great deal more economical and equally as effective in results. The visitor can walk right through the tunnel, some 13% chains in length, and it is a very pleasant walk 'back over the saddle. The hills are still clad with their natural bush covering, and there is one remarkably pretty fern glade. From the top there is a splendid view of the valley, with Mt. Egmont rearing its crest in the distance, ft is improbable that the tunnel will be completed before three months.

It is stated that the co-operative system is to give way to the contract system for the construction of the WhangamomOßa, tunnel and that this will he let in one or two contracts. It is also said that certain alterations will he made in the methods of handling material which will not only reduce the coat, hut accelerate the speed of the work. There is room for improvement.