18 T. H. HOUGHTON. 



nection direct with the main line at the western end was 

 not practicable, but the difficulty was met by the provision 

 of a funicular railway connecting a material siding along- 

 side the main line and a point on the deviation between 

 Nos. 10 and 11 tunnels. This enabled a supply of material 

 to the tunnels between Nos. 1 and 11, and was effective in 

 greatly reducing the time occupied in the work. The 

 tunnels were driven through hard sandstone formation, and 

 timbering was only necessary in three places. Excavation 

 was expedited and cheapened by the installation of an 

 electrical power station, which provided current necessary 

 to drive the air compressors, lighting for tunnels, and fans 

 for ventilation. The amount of material excavated was 

 830,000 cubic yards, while 14,055 cubic yards of concrete, 

 and 7,500,000 bricks, were used in the construction of the 

 tunnels and culverts. The new grade was 1 in 90 as against 

 1 hi 42 in the middle road of Zig Zag. In 1910, on com- 

 pletion of this work and the duplication of line between 

 Mount Victoria and Newnes Junction, the duplication of 

 the remaining section of single line between Emu Plains 

 and Glenbrook was commenced, and was opened for traffic 

 in 1913. The deviation begins about half a mile west of 

 Emu Plains and ends at Blaxland, and includes one tunnel 

 and a large viaduct at Lapstone Hill. There were 1,463,000 

 cubic yards of excavation, and 12,000 cubic yards of con- 

 crete, and 6,000,000 bricks were used in the work. Near 

 Glenbrook Greek and running parallel with it for about one 

 mile, the line is cut out of the face of the cliff, which is 

 700 feet above the creek bed; the work was of a most 

 dangerous nature, and unfortunately it was the scene of 

 several fatalities. In engineering difficulties the work 

 presented features more than equalling the great Zig 

 Zag problem. With its opening on the 28th September, 

 1913, the last piece of single track between Granville and 

 Eskbank disappeared. On this work steam navvies were 



