STRATFORD-ONGARUE RAILWAY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 243, 20 February 1911, Page 2

STRATFORD-ONGARUE RAILWAY

PROGRESS OF THE WORK. Writes the travelling correspondent; 01 the Wellington Dominion:—There ave now some four hundred men working on the Stratford-Ongarue railway line, and this number is being gradually increased. The new station and yards av« well on the way towards completion at Pohokura, seven miles past Te Wera, and it is expected that this section will be opened in about six weeks' ov two months' time. Thirty-three miles of the line will then have been finished. The Whangamomona tunnel, which will be 33 chains in length, will engage operators for the next eighteen months, but it should be pierced by the end ol April, when work near Whangamomona will be greatly facilitated. There is an opinion that when Whangamomona is reached ■ work will proceed from both ends of the line in order that the job may be quickly finished, but Tangarakau tunnel, which' is to be 00 chains long, will take considerable time to excavate and fix up. Incidentally it may be mentioned that all the tunnels are being constructed wider and deeper than those on the Main Trunk line. Traffic is already very heavy on the Stratford-'fc Wera section, and it is said that the whole line will be a splendid payable propostion when completed, while at the same time it will relieve the Main Trunk line of considerable traffic. From Stratford to WhanganiO' mona the areas are mainly suitable for sheep; north-east to Ongarue for dairying. The season is about six weeks later than that south of the province, and even now with little water feed is fairly green. TIIO country between Stratford and Whangamomona is very much liku that between Masterton and Pongaroa, which statement appears to be a very good argument in favor of the installation of this latter line. Touching on the methods by which the Stratford-Ongarue lie has been constructed, it is interesting to note that the section between Stratford and Douglas, which has not been down more than nine years, and which carries 401b. rails, is 'being relaid with the old Manawatu otllb. rails, and that a rimu and kauri bridge, which has also been built only nine years, is being pulled down in order to be replaced with a structure of stronger timber.