Conference Paper

Author

Thornton, G. G.

Title

The Construction Of The Napier-Gisborne Railway

In

First Australasian Conference on Engineering Heritage 1994: Old Ways in a New Land; Preprints of Papers

Imprint

Institution of Engineers, Australia, Barton, Australian Capital Territory, 1994, pp. 173-177

ISBN/ISSN

0858256223

Url

https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.626290837143784

Abstract

This railway was built intermittently from 1911 to 1942 over 191 kilometres of hilly country. There are rivers in gorges requiring five steel viaducts more than 60m high, a reinforced concrete arch viaduct, and several tunnels. After construction had started from the north there was a major change of route to avoid country proving much more difficult than anticipated. Several natural disasters hindered progress. The catastrophic Hawkes Bay earthquake in 1931 and two calamitous floods in 1938 caused much damage to the line. The Depression of the early 30s produced a cessation of work and World War II seriously reduced the availability of staff, workmen and materials. This paper describes the engineering achievements including the spectacular 95m high Mohaka Viaduct.

Related Published resources

isPartOf

• First Australasian Conference on Engineering Heritage 1994: Old Ways in a New Land; Preprints of Papers (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1994), 209 pp, https://search.informit.org/doi/book/10.3316/informit.0858256223. Details