EAST COAST RAILWAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3265, 10 July 1911, Page 5

EAST COAST RAILWAY.

STEADY PROGRESS OF CONSTRUC- ; TION WORKS.

", OTOKO VIADUCT NEARING COMPLETION.

When the Gisborne to Auckland railway was commenced at this end, the Government promised that the work -would be steadily pushed on. Many people were sceptical as to the genuineness of the promise, but that the pledge has been faithfully kept, all who have followed the progress of the line must admit.

Despite the severity of the present winter, work has proceeded steadily on the sections between Otoko and Rakauroa and Rakauroa and Matawai. Upwards of 400 men are employed, and steadily and surely the permanent way for the iron horse is being prepared. Messrs. Griffiths and Sons, the contractors for the plate girder viaduct at Otoko, are now making good progress with this big undertaking, and the huge concrete piers and tall steel trestles are now in position. The firm’s foundry, near the' site, where machinery to the value of upwards of £2OOO is installed, is engaged at top pressure constructing the massive steel plates for the structure. Some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking may be gathered from a glance at the massive concrete piers, each weighing about 250 tons, which rear their solid proportions from the bed of the stream. The two steel trestles are of like stability, and clearly demonstrate that the foundations of the structure will be capable of withstanding the heaviest onslaughts from flood pressure. The steel plate girders to be employed are each of fifteen tons weight, and hundreds of these will be used. Considering the difficulty of getting the material for so huge an undertaking on to the ground, and the disadvantages they had to labor under from bad weather and floods in the early period of the work, the contractors have made satisfactory progress. The big work is expected to be completed within a couple of months. The completion of the viaduct will enable the construction work on the other side of the stream to be pushed on more rapidly. An engine and ballast train is employed on the Otoko side at present, and the rails have been laid for a couple of miles on this section. Between Otoko and Rakauroa four bridges have yet to be erected. Two of these, especially the one at Hutchinson’s, are of large size, and shingle for the concrete foundations will be obtainable when the viaduct is completed. Gangs of co-operative workers are hard at work as far as Matawai, and it should not be so very long before the snorting of the iron horse is heard beyond the watershed.

Mr. C. E. Armstrong, the Resident Engineer, has his large force working like a well-drilled army. That it is not even intended to stop when Motu is reached is proved by the fact that trial surveying between Motu and Opotiki is being actively prosecuted. Altogether the satisfactory manner in which the construction of the line is being pushed on is most creditable to everyone concerned.