Inside Otira Tunnel.ca.1923.

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DescriptionThis 8,529 metre (m) tunnel was the longest in the British Empire at the time of its construction.

Driven through wet shale and rotten rock, this extensive tunnel was opened in 1923 completing the Christchurch to Greymouth rail link, known as the Midland Railway.

The Westport Stockton Coal Co., used electric locomotives from the Stockton Coal Mine to Millerton brakehead above Ngakawau. Installed about 1905 and superseded about 1950 by the aerial ropeway as the major means of bringing coal down from the coal plateau to the railway at Ngakawau.

The Midland Company had intended to cross Arthurs Pass by using the Abt rack rail system on a grade of 1 in 15 rising some 180m from Bealey Flat station (the present Arthurs Pass township) to Arthurs Pass station at the summit of the pass itself – then descending 1500 vertical feet again mostly at 1 in 15 above the Otira Gorge on the slopes of Mount Rolleston to regain the Rolleston riverbed (a tributary of the Otira) a short distance away from the present western Otira tunnel portal – some 6.5 miles of rack railway involving two engine reversals.

A number of short tunnels were required in the Otira Gorge to avoid broken and unstable country.

This would not be considered as a practical solution for a trunk railway intended to carry heavy traffic. Each rack rail engine could haul about as much as its own weight on such a grade at a speed of little more than walking pace whether traveling up or down grade. Thus a very limited tonnage of freight could have been taken over the line each day.

During the nineteenth century the alternative to a railway was for freight - the bullock team and for passengers - the Cobb & Co coach.

It was not until the early twentieth century that a feasible alternative of a tunnel 5 miles 25 chains could be decided upon with a steady gradient at 1 in 33 descending from the east portal at Arthurs pass towards the west.Date of PhotoBetween 1st January 1923 and 31st December 1925Map^[1]External LinkIPENZ,Otira TunnelContributorHistory House Museum Greymouth

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Location (city or town)OtiraLandmark (Place)Otira TunnelOrganisation (eg business)Railways

Category Information

Category TagTunnelRailways

From Facebook

LinkFacebookCommentsJosephine Morehu
I would have loved to attend - I won the Lollie Tray raffle at the 50th Anniversary Celebrations.

Anthea Rose
All the best for celebrations up there Otira team - memories to those who worked through the tunnel in those hard old conditions.

Richard Butcher
I enjoyed my time in Otira in the 1960s. It was in that time we set up the first TV transmitter on Kellys Range. It was a good township to live in those days as everyone had a job and that made a difference to all.
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Inside Otira Tunnel.ca.1923.

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