HOW THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN EASTERN RAILWAY CUTS THROUGH THE DARLING RANGE
From the earliest days one dream had occupied the attention of, all concerned in New Zealand’s welfare and progress. This was a trunk railway from Wellington to Auckland. The fact that only some 450 miles separated the two cities by a feasible route was hammered home vehemently by enthusiasts, but it was some time before the requisite courage and determination to effect the connection could be summed up. Pessimists pointed out the great mountains and deep, wide gorges that would have to be conquered, and the enormous expenditure their subjugation by the steel highway would entail. To-day, however, the North Island Trunk railway connects the two points, but it proved a prodigious undertaking, calling for the display of remarkable ingenuity.
[See [page 214]
THE LEOPOLDINA RAILWAY IS A MAZE OF CURVES, TWISTS AND BENDS, OWING TO THE RUGGED CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED
This photograph shows a sharp loop.
The early surveyors pointed out that Mount Ruapehu would demand much hard and heavy thinking on the part of the engineers. So it proved. The railway skirts the base of this peak, but has to make a stiff ascent in a short distance. The engineer did not resort to a zigzag to overcome the difficulty, but profited from the example of Hellwag on the St. Gotthard, who had to extricate that line from a similar tight corner. Recourse was made to a spiral. The result is that the railway emerges from a tunnel burrowed through a crest, and shortly after sweeps round in a graceful curve to cross the tunnel through the same obstruction; the railway overcomes the steep ascent by means of a stretch of corkscrew track.
Near the base of the same mountain there is a deep gorge over which the line was forced to pass. From the point at which the track gained the brink it was about 800 feet to the opposite cliff edge, and the precipice delved down to nearly 300 feet. This is the famous Makatote Gorge, and the engineer decided to spring across the gap.
The contract was secured by Messrs. J. & A. Anderson of Christchurch, and they lost no time in attacking the task. When they appeared on the scene there was no road to the site of the viaduct, and the railway was still 20 miles distant, so the prospect was not inviting. The sides of the mountain were covered with dense primeval jungle-like bush, which had to be hacked back to permit of investigations of the situation, and six months passed before the wagon road for the purposes of the railway was driven through the district. This constituted the only channel over which the requisite steel material could be transported.