Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway, Canterbury, New Zealand.

The Lyttelton and Christchurch Railway was projected in 1859, but it was not until the close of the year 1860 that legal powers were obtained for raising the requisite capital and for purchasing the land required for the construction of the line. In the meantime, the Provincial Government, upon the recommendation of their consulting Engineer in England, G. R. Stephenson, Esq., made, a provisional contract with Messrs. Smith and Knight, well-known tunnel contractors, under which that firm undertook to send out from England a working party of miners and mechanics, &c., for the purpose of testing the character of the rock to be bored through in Lyttelton tunnel, and to construct the line from Lyttelton to Christchurch in five years, for the sum of £235,000, exclusive of stations; provided, that by a certain date, the Provincial Government should be in a position to enter into a definite contract, and that the result of the trial headings should be satisfactory to the contractors.

Under this contract, Messrs. Smith and Knight sunk shafts at each end of the tunnel, and drove trial headings into the hill, but the progress of the work was so slow, and its cost so great, that in November 1860, when the Government had obtained the necessary legal powers for proceeding with the work, the contractors availed themselves of the powers given in the provisional contract to withdraw from the undertaking, and declined to enter into a further contract, except at a great advance on the price originally named.

The result of Messrs. Smith and Knight's experiments was certainly very discouraging. The south (afterwards No. 2) shaft was sunk for a great part of its depth through basaltic rock of the hardest description, and the heading traversed the same material. The north (afterwards No. 3) shaft was sunk through more favorable ground, but the heading had not proceeded many yards before the basaltic rock was again struck, and found to extend upwards for a great thickness. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that Messrs. Smith and Knight's agents should have declined to proceed with a contract which appeared likely to prove ruinous to their principals.

The Provincial Engineer, however, took a much more favorable view of the matter; he pointed out that the hill to be bored through consisted of a series of lava streams, dipping at a tolerably regular inclination from the crater at Lyttelton towards the Plains, and that as the tunnel was laid out at a uniform gradient, falling in the opposite direction from the Plains towards Lyttelton, the several lava streams would be intersected in such a way as to give a fair proportion of favorable ground alternating with the hard rock, which, when exposed to view in the neighboring hills, occupied the lower part only of each lava stream.

This opinion was confirmed by the Provincial Geologist, Dr. Julius Haast, who, after a careful geological survey of the Port Hills, made an elaborate report on the subject, containing an approximate estimate of the character of the ground to be passed through, founded on a careful measurement of the thickness and dip of the lava streams exposed to view in the sides of the crater.

Fortified by these professional opinions, the Superintendent of the Province, W. H. Moorhouse, Esq., declined to enter into further negociations with Messrs. Smith and Knight, whose agents accordingly returned to England.

The Provincial Engineer then proposed at once to open out the ends of the tunnel with the labor available in the Colony, and to advertise for tenders for the remainder of the work; but the Provincial Council were unwilling to sanction any expenditure, except upon the guarantee of a definite contract for the whole work—and several months' delay occurred, during which time the trial headings were slowly carried on by the working party sent out by Messrs. Smith and Knight.

In May 1861 the Government accepted a tender from Messrs. George Holmes and Co., of Melbourne, to complete the line from Lyttelton to Christchurch, a distance of six miles, with the exception of the stations, in five years, ending June 1, 1866, for £240,500, the cost of the tunnel, 2838 yards long, being fixed at £195,000. The first sod was cut in the Heathcote Valley, on the 17th July, 1861, and this may be said to have been the date of the commencement of the tunnel works, as up to this time nothing had been accomplished beyond sinking the trial shafts, and driving 96 yards of heading, viz., 30 at the South, and 66 at the North end of the tunnel.

The plan adopted by the contractors was to mine the whole work from a wide bottom heading.

To expedite the work, three additional shafts were sunk, one close to each front, and one in the clay cutting at the north end of the tunnel, whilst at the same time a gullet was driven up the cutting to meet the heading.

Although the ground proved very wet in places, rendering it necessary to close pole a length of 7 chains through clay and sand, this plan was perfectly successful, and the timbering remained in good order until the commencement of the brick lining, at the end of the following year.

The works were at first carried on under great disadvantages. The Otago gold fever broke out soon after the commencement of the works, and a great number of the men employed left for the new gold field. The profitable nature of the trade between Melbourne and Dunedin made it for a time difficult to induce shipowners to take freight to Canterbury from Melbourne, whence all the plant and material for the work had to be procured, whilst the wreck of one of the mail steamers deranged the postal communications, and lastly, the amount of water met with at the Lyttelton end of the tunnel was so great that the inner heading had to be abandoned until the completion of the drive from the beach gave a natural drainage for the work.

From the date of the opening out of the ends of the tunnel, the work has speedily progressed, although at the Lyttelton end the miners have been much hindered by the amount of water met with, which occasionally pours down from the roof and sides in such quantities as to render it difficult to proceed with the work. At the Heathcote end the amount of water met with is not sufficient to create any serious difficulty beyond the cost of pumping, which is continued day and night without intermission. During the earlier stages of the work, the ventilation was very imperfect, and delay occurred from the necessity of allowing the smoke to clear after blasting before the men could resume their work; this has since been completely remedied by the system of ventilation adopted after the opening of the ends of the tunnel.

The work is carried on by means of a bottom heading, 11 feet square, the top being blown down in two lifts upon a timber stage, through openings in which the waggons are loaded. The ventilation is effected by using the two trial shafts as upcast shafts, an air course being boarded off at the roof of the. tunnel for some distance from the bottom of each shaft.

At the north end the chimney of a forge is let into the shaft, which gives sufficient heat to ensure a steady draft; at the south end a furnace is employed for the same purpose. At both ends the ventilation may be said to be perfect, the smoke clearing away so rapidly that no time is lost by the men after firing.

The south end of the tunnel passes for three chains through a mass of clay and boulders, overlying the solid rock. At the north end the tunnel is excavated for several chains through sandy loam. These portions of the work have been lined with brick work in Portland cement on stone foundations, carried up with large blocks of hard rock from a depth of five feet below rail level, excepting where they rest upon the solid rock.

Both the tunnel fronts ore built of stone, the first stone of the north tunnel front having been laid with great ceremony by Mrs Moorhouse on the 29th of September, 1862.

The rock in the interior of the tunnel consists of a series of lava streams and beds of tufa, intersected at intervals by vertical dykes of phonolite. The lava streams generally consist of scoria, overlying a Coarse pink trachyte, which passes with imperceptible gradations through shades of grey, purple, and blue, into a black, finely-grained dolorite, intensely hard and tough: the lightest and softest rock being at the top, and the blackest and densest at the bottom of each lava stream.

The progress made has been very various, but at present averages somewhat more than 22 yards per month at each face. The total distance driven up to the present date is a little over 1800 yards, the greater part of which has been taken out to the full size, except at the Heathcote end, where the floor is for the present kept above the permanent level, for the greater facility thus given of draining the works.

In 1862, Mr. Richardson, one of the partners of the firm of Messrs. Holmes and Co., went to Europe, for the purpose of inspecting the boring machine used at the Mount Cenis tunnel, and procuring similar machinery for the Lyttelton tunnel; but the result of his journey was simply a conviction that no machinery yet invented would be of any service in such hard material, and the works are, therefore, carried on by drilling and blasting in the usual manner. The tunnel is designed for a single line of rails, and will be 15 feet wide and 18 feet high.

The remainder of the line to Christ church is laid out as a single line; but the land has been purchased sufficiently wide to admit of a second line being laid down whenever required by the traffic.

It was at first intended that the portion of the Railway between Christ-church and the Heathcote Valley should not be proceeded with until the tunnel was nearly completed. So many advantages, however, appeared to be offered by the opening of the Railway at an earlier date, that it was determined by the Government to construct at once the line from Christchuren to Heathcote Valley, and to connect it with the navigation by a short branch from the main line to a wharf on the Heathcote River, near the old Heatlcoto Ferry.

The line from Christchurch to Ferrymead, a distance of rather more has four miles, was accordingly put in hand in 1863, and was formally opened for traffic by the present Superintendent—S. Bealey, Esq.—on the 1st of December in that year; since which date the trains have run daily, with great regularity,—the lessees running daily each way seven trains during the winter, and eight trains during the summer months; the Sunday trains bang, however, fewer in number.

The accommodation at the Ferrymead Station comprises a wharf 330 feet long, provided with a steam travelling crane, a steam hoist, and four Derrick cranes; a goods shed, built of timber and corrugated iron; passenger-platform with stone walls, and booking-office; waiting and refreshment rooms, built of timber on brick foundations. Five lines of rails are laid through the Station connected by traversers.

At the Christchurch Station, the accommodation consists of a passenger-platform 300 feet long, with brick walls and stone coping; booking-office, with waiting and refreshment rooms, and Station-master's residence; engine-shed, for two engines, with store-rooms and workshop; tank-house and tank, with reservoir, well supplied from an artesian well, with a small steam-engine to lift the water to the tank; carriage-shed, for four carriages; import-shed, 201 feet long, by 42 feet wide, with offices for the use of the accountant, the Customs Department, and the goods-traffic Manager; guaging-shed, 32 fret by 30 feet, for wines and spirits; and export-shed, 98 feet by 42 feet, for grain and wool.

These buildings have been erected in a substantial manner on brick and stone foundations. The booking-offices are weatherboarded; the other buildings are covered with corrugated iron.

The Christchurch station is furnished with two weighbridges, five cranes, and three traversers. Ample accommodation and yard room are also provided for the coal and timber traffie.

The Custom House and Telegraph Office, built of brick with stone dressings, have recently been erected at the entrance of the Christchurch station.

With some trifling exceptions, the whole of the station works have been constructed by Messrs. Holmes and Co.

The rolling stock comprises two six-wheeled tank engines by Slaughter and Co., two first-class, two second-class and one composite passenger carriages, and seventy trucks.

The line between Christchurch and Ferrymead is being worked by Messrs. Holmes and Co., under a lease for a term of three years, commencing from December 1st, 1863, on which day the line was opened for traffic;

Upon the cost of the line and rolling stock, with an additional 5 per cent upon its value during the last year of the term, for the depreciation of the latter.

The Provincial Government of Canterbury obtained an Act in 1860, enabling them to raise a loan of £300,000 for the construction of the railway, but up to the present time the greater part of its cost has been defrayed out of the current resources of the Province.

The whole of the works have been carried on from their commencement under the management of the late Provincial Engineer, Mr Edward Dobson, who has recently resigned the management of the Public Works, in order to be able to give his undivided attention to the tunnel.