RAILWAY EXENTSION FROM MERCER TO NGARUAWAHIA. Progress of the Works.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 705, 21 December 1876, Page 2

RAILWAY EXENTSION FROM MERCER TO NGARUAWAHIA. Progress of the Works.

The following account of a trip up the line from Mercer to Newcastle, will, no doubt, be interesting to our readers, and will show how the work stands at present : — I started down the river in tho Royal Mail ■tenmer "Waikato" in company with several voyageurs, whose intention it was to reach Auckland the satno evening, but sadly disappointed must tbey have been when the At;ent at Mercer called out on arrival alongside the wharf, " Train gone ten minutes," and to they were left to spend an afternoon and evening in that delightful village. The delay on the steamer's part wa3 principally caused by taking off a passenger justj ust below the coal mines, a lady passenger. The ship " missed stats" or something of that sort, and went off down stream broadside on, along war before she could manage to turn and come back again, and so some fifteen precious minutes were lost. For information of follow-passengers, I may state that that lady who got wet through by the rain, waiting for the boat, and tried the effect of "Basi<fc Co" pietty freelj, was accommodated by Constable Wulker with free lodgings for the night at Mercer, and this may serve as a slight consolation for the inconvenience she caused to many. At Mercer, meeting Mr Fallon, contractor for the permanent way to Newcastle, that gentlemau informed me that he would be going up the line in the morning with a train loaded with material for culverts, and that a spare seat would be at my lervice. The engine would go as far as R«ngiriri, and from there we would | go on and might meet the Taupiri engine to take us on, (which we didn't, as will be seen ) We left Mercer about 8 a in, driven by the " Maccallum Mohr," and accompanied by several tracks loaded with heavy timber for oulveits, &o. The District Engineer, Mr Stewart, and a few others were aboard and off we went. The sleepers and rails are at proaent fixed with the bottom ballast only, which near Mercer consists of scoria, brought up over the old line, and higher up of pumice sand which acts admirably and sets firm and well. Over the first bridge '• Whangamarino" we come on to a long swamp where the bank was under water during the big flood, and several thousand yards of earth washed away, which the contractors of course had to make good. From here on to the ridges behind Bangiriri. the line rnns through a succession of cuttings and embankments, through swamps, many of which look dismal indeed. One of theie through which the line runs for 72 chains, is rather a curiosity. When the heavy flood was on, the contractor went to look at the bank, but to his astoniibment could see nothing of it '

although the rush"* still showed over t/ie surface of the water. Ie was found out that the whole swamp floats and cor sequenlly the surface rises and falls with the increase or decrease of the water, and the bank had kept its position bright. On the whole the embankment* through these iwamps are exccedengly firm, and only in one or two places will they require any lifting to keep them up to the permanent level, the trains that have run over them continuously, for some time put having proved their solidity. "the line to Kangiriri is prety level, with the exception of where it crosses the ridge behind Rangiriri lake, and even here there is only a heavy rise lor a short distance on the South tide. We found the men busily engaged making np the approaches to the Rangiriii Bridge, there being ft chain of line here still to complete to enable a locomotire to run right through (this will h»ve been completed bofore this is in print) to Taupari. Here, I am sorry to say, we left the engine, aud crossing the smaller gap, we got to the rails again, where our next conveyance was in waiting — A trolly! Gentle reader have you ever travelled by a trolly on which every man is his own locomotive — ? If you have not, do not — that is my advice given after having gone some thirteen miles on a small trolly, with five passengers and baggage. I beliere that some trollys are nice and easy to work, bat 1 want to see them before I can credit it. We started. One leg standing out straight, aud held #ell up, in order to prevent the sleepers taking off the heel of your boot, or catching your toe aud sending you sprawling under the wheels, the other over the side working liko — like— like — well, like a one legged man on a treadmill — you make frautic efforts to touch the edge of a sleeper aud bo propel 1 the machine. When you get used up at that, take a pole and paddle away as long as your arms stanl it, and the.i just jump down and push the veichle a-head, running and jumping from sleeper to aleeper for abont half a mile, by which time you are allowed to consider yourself a little tired, and therefore entitled to a spell of about two minutoa duration — Then begin again, and keep on doing it until the journey's end. We htopped to dine at Mr Briesenden's farm and thoroughly enjoyed it, haviug mustered up appetites by that time. After waiting tome time for the train we started afresh, and paddled and poled and ran up to the Coalmine Hotel, which it ii needless to say we did not pass by without paying a visit, and taking a refresher. Fiom Kangiriri to coal mines, and in fact right on to Taupiri the line is splendidly le\ el all the way, exoept going over Tole'a liill, on either side of which there is i long,! though not heavy grade, and the trains will be able to rattU along at c good speed ,to Newcastle. All throngt this portion there remains very little to be done before the top ballast comes on, the branches, where they exist (and thai in a few place?) being pretty well up te the required levels. At the coal mine: we lost two of our five pasengers, whicl made the work easier, the more so, at they were not the two hardest wwkinj members of the lor, and we rattled intc the settlement of Taupiri at a fine r*te, quite ready for the good suppei which was in wailing for as, At Taupiri everything is m readiness t< start ballasting, as soon as the contraotoi has got all his sleepers and rails laid, the quarry being opened ready to break dowr stone in any quantity, and the works ie connection with this are of s very perfeel character, everything being fixed with i view to getting the ballast into th< trenches at a minimum cost. The stom comes down • self acting tramway, ii trenches, from the quarry, and is shol into hoppers, from which it is passed ink the ballast waggons underneath, and sent off to its destination, thus being handled but once after it is broken up. Mi Fallon has so far got on remarkably fas) with hi* work, and ai out Christmat wil have the rails laid to Newcastle, to whici place the engine will be running before New Year's Day, on which date, 1 believe, lie intends to have a little exour«iou on his own account. From the above fen ••notts by tho way," you will see that ir the course of three or four months, Mi Fallon will have completed his contrao*, and railw ay communication between New caitle and Auckland will ba un fait ac compli. I completed the journey ovei the Hue to Newcastle on toot, arriving thereat 9 p.m., pietty well tired, and having a firm belief that a railway carriage, or, even a buggy, is a muob pleaiantor mode of conveyance than i trolly, unless you happen to be a passenger 2 )icr ct simple, and even then it has its drawbacks. It may be interesting te many to know that the line from Mercer to behind Rangiriri was formed by the contractors, Messrs Briton and Martin. These gentlemen, also, had the confcraot for all the bridges and flood-openings between Mercer and Newcastle From Kangariri to Newcastle, the line was principally formed by theE.V. M. force, who also completed nearly the whole line from Newcastle to Hamilton, the bridges on which portion were constructed by Mr Dace. At Newcastle, a branch line runs down on to a wharf constructed by Messrs Briton and Martin, and joins the main line * few chains from the station. By this means, goods coming down the Wai pa or Uoritiu rivers oan be put into the trucks, and sent to town direct. From Hamilton to Ohaupo, the line was formed by several petty contractors, composed principally of the men who formerly belonged to the E V,M, or Armed Navvie force. The distance between the different places are (about), Mercer to Rangariri, 12 miles; Rangariii toTanpiri, 13 miles ; Taupiri to Newcastle, 6 miles ; Newcastle to Hamilton, 10J miles, and Hamilton to Ohaupo, 9 miles, a distance of nearly 51 miles, which, with 42 i mil 03 to Mercer from Auckland, will lea,vo tbe line, when completed to Ohaupo, 9^i miles.