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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 9 (December 1, 1939)

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The original locomotive at Ohakune Junction in 1908.

The original locomotive at Ohakune Junction in 1908.

The economic development of this land of ours is written, very largely, in its railroads. With a vast network of State highways and county roads carrying an ever-increasing motor transport the first statement is no doubt a challenging one; but looking back over the years it must be conceded that the railroad was, is, and always will be the dominant factor in the future development of this country when transportation is viewed in its broadest sense.

The completion of the Main Trunk Railway just thirty-one years ago, was an outstanding achievement in our history. Those were the days when the building of a great trunk railroad was a truly romantic undertaking, more especially so when two rival cities were to be permanently linked together.

The recent opening of the Wairoa section of the East Coast Railway recalls to mind those half-forgotten memories of former railroad triumphs which are indelibly impressed on the history and progress of this Dominion.

On the 6th November, 1908, and with a touch of old man winter still in the air, the last spike on the Main Trunk Railway was ceremoniously driven, thus welding together two great provinces with ribbons of steel.

However, the joining together of the two railheads, important step though it was, did not by any means complete the gigantic task, and it was not till mid-February in the following year that a daily through express service commenced running between Auckland and Wellington.

The last few months of the construction work were full of excitement as the northern and southern gangs daily approached nearer to each other. Bets were freely exchanged as to where and when the rails would actually meet; scouts were sent over to report progress; while the rival gangs worked with feverish haste to push the rails and sleepers ahead.

A view of old Ohakune showing the first Boarding House.

A view of old Ohakune showing the first Boarding House.

The internal combustion engine did not play any part in railroad construction in the Main Trunk building days, but the absence of these modern appliances did not detract in any way from the speed or perseverance of the old-time track builders, who, with an abundance of steam power at their disposal, took every advantage of the mechanical means then available.

Although traction engines, winches, and steam shovels (or steam navvies as they were then called) were utilized in page 35 the main construction work, the whole of the transportation of men and materials fell to the lot of the Public Works locomotives and their respective crews.

The famous Raurimu Spiral (a feature of the Main Trunk Line) as pictured by a humourist in 1908.

The famous Raurimu Spiral (a feature of the Main Trunk Line) as pictured by a humourist in 1908.

The train-running staff maintained by the Public Works Department were on duty from the early hours of the morning, and the spirit of the times can be well illustrated by genial old “Jimmy” Marshall's favourite daybreak ditty (which was always accompanied by a toot on the whistle) as he drove his little L. class locomotive with its string of rattling wagons past the tented dwellings alongside the track.

“Jump hout of bed
Jump hout of bed
For lying there looks lazy…”

To the casual present-day traveller Waiouru is merely the highest station on the Main Trunk Line, and situated as it is in the centre of a vast expanse of pumice plain (except for the beautiful view of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro) there is very little else about Waiouru worthy of passing notice.

During the building of the line, however, it became, for a time at least, a very busy and important depot.

Here were housed four of the Public Works Department's locomotives, and besides being a coal, rail, and sleeper depot, numbers of permanent way men were camped around the yard.

These Public Works Department's locomotives constituted the very wheels of progress, for the rapid advancement of the railway depended entirely on their movements. Led by Ned Milburn's highly polished W.F. class locomotive with its novel steam brake, they were kept in a state of complete efficiency by the engine crews themselves.

Owing to the unstable nature of a portion of the track just north of Mataroa, the Public Works Department controlled and operated for many months the whole of the line from Mataroa station right up to the railhead.

On arrival of the regular Railway Department's train from Taihape it was the usual custom to transfer all passengers and luggage to the waiting P.W.D. train, which, by the way, was run under special rules and regulations of its own.

A steam shovel at work at Ohakune during the building of the Main Trunk Line.

A steam shovel at work at Ohakune during the building of the Main Trunk Line.

Drawn by an old Double Fairlie locomotive which was known to everyone as the “Double Shooter,” because as a Maori boy once said, “this engine he go both ways,” the eighteen-mile grade to Waiouru did not by any means allow high speeds to be attained, though at times it must be confessed the passengers received their money's worth when travelling in the reverse direction.

“No Liquor on the Train” was one of the rules strictly enforced by honest Joe Vickers, one of the most mild and inoffensive men it would be possible to meet. He was guard, porter, shunter and general custodian of the whole passenger service.

Now Joe had a particular eye for suspicious-looking bags or boxes surreptitiously piled into the van as luggage. “He could smell it inside of a steel box,” a passenger once remarked when caught with the forbidden goods, and when requested to open up the parcel, “because you know mister the train can't start with liquor aboard,” this passenger had no option but to acquiesce in so gentle an admonition.

Just north of Waiouru the permanent way passes through a series of deep cuttings, which for a time at least, owing to the enormous amount of material to be excavated, threatened to hold up the job further ahead.

In order to avoid this difficulty and to ensure continuity of supply towards the railhead, a temporary deviation from the main line became necessary.

page 36

Leaving the permanent way a short distance north of Waiouru, the new track plunged down a one in fifteen grade to cross a shallow gully, and after climbing out at the other side with a somewhat easier grade, rejoined the main line near the seven-mile Karioi straight, which is the longest stretch of straight track in the North Island.

The next major obstacle to the path of progress was the building of the great curved Hapuawhenua Viaduct, which in the absence of any other means of transportation could not be seriously commenced until the rails had reached Ohakune.

Here, as at Waiouru, a deviation from the main line became necessary in order to land the hundreds of tons of steel and concrete on the actual site of the work as early as possible. This temporary track, which also became the passenger traffic railhead, was laid alongside the present motor road, and thence up the ravine over which the viaduct, with its mighty trestle work, now carries the line.

With the coming of the rails, Ohakune Junction which up till then had been merely represented by a clearing in the dense forest which abounded on all sides, became the main base of operations, and preparations for the final closing of the gap commenced in earnest.

In the meantime the sawmiller had arrived on the scene, bush locomotives and log haulers plied their calling within sight of the new station, and with thirty-five miles of track being operated by the P.W.D. main line traffic increased enormously.

With a minimum of traffic control and the entire absence of any interlocking signal or tablet system at this stage, the safety of train running depended mainly on the efficiency of the operating crews, and it was entirely due to their praiseworthy efforts that not one single accident occurred during the building of this portion of the line.

With the closing of the gap and the consequent connection with the northern section which had been pushed ahead with the same amazing speed, through traffic commenced immediately; but many months were to elapse before the Railway Department finally took over the job of running a regular time-table.

(Rly. Publicity photo.) The building of the famous curved Hapuawhenna Viaduct on the Main Trunk Line. This viaduct is 932 ft. long and has a height of 147 ft. above the river-bed.

(Rly. Publicity photo.)
The building of the famous curved Hapuawhenna Viaduct on the Main Trunk Line. This viaduct is 932 ft. long and has a height of 147 ft. above the river-bed.

The traveller of to-day who races for the refreshment room knows little of the tireless energy and the pride and devotion to duty which characterised these men to whom we owe the building of the Main Trunk Railway.

But when travelling over this same Main Trunk it is inspiring to think of the million odd sleepers that were well and truly laid, the countless “dogs” driven, and the endless fishplates bolted up by the wonderful men who laid the track that it might stand for ages an enduring monument to their enterprise and resourcefulness.