Kaimai Tunnel moments in history

See also: Kaimai Express moments in history

1956:

• Editorial: Kaimai Tunnel brought nearer. Bay of Plenty Times, 5 March 1956.
• Widespread support for Kaimai Tunnel Bay of Plenty Times, 5 March 1956, p. 2.
• Editoral: Sectional opposition to Kaimai Tunnel. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 March 1956.
• 'Future of a Port' - series of weekly articles. Debate over work of idea in relation to Port needs. Bay of Plenty Times, 5-7 June 1956.

1958:

• Bay of Plenty has again been entirely ignored. Kaimai Tunnel project. Bay of Plenty Times, 21 January 1958.

1961:

• Bay of Plenty bounteous beautiful Kaimai Tunnel. Bay pf Plenty Constructs, 1961, p. 15.

1963:

• Access report calls for five mile rail tunnel. Bay of Plenty Times, 8 March 1963.
• Kaimai rail route proposed. Immediate start unwise stays Ministry. New Zealand Herald, 9 March 1963.
• Tunnel workers ready. Said Mr C.J.W. Parsons, District Commissioner of Works, in Tauranga on Saturday. Ministry of Works engineer, Mr F.F. Abey said 'it was impracticable, uneconomical and undesirable to construct a tunnel to serve both rail and road traffic'. 22 April 1963.

1964:

• Leaders confident of confirmation. Kaimai tunnel "understanding". Comments from local Mayors, including Mr Mitchell. 12 July 1964.
• Believed that tunnel approved. An announcement is expected next week from Mr McAlpine, Minister of Railways, following the weekly Government caucus meeting in Parliament Buildings yesterday. Bay of Plenty Times, 11 September 1964.
• Approval is confirmed. Bay of Plenty Times, 15 September 1964:
  • Biggest event since port says MP.
  • "Greatest thing".
  • Kaimai tunnel, Waharoa-Apata rail link given green light.
  • Longest - just! Estimated five and half miles would make it the longest railway tunnel in New Zealand by three chains.
  • Mr Carter expresses delight at Kaimai tunnel decision.
  • More scope now for planning.
  • Much to be done before tunnel start.
  • Some time yet before work can be started. One early step will be the erection of a construction village.
  • Successful end to 'continuing fight'.

1965:

• Tunnel levels. 11 February 1965.
• First Kaimai Tunnel blast this year minister's hope. Mr G.A. Walsh, MP, told last night's Tauranga branch of the National Party AGM that it was hoped the £6 million project could be completed in four, rather than five years. 'By this time next year the proposed sealed runway at Tauranga Airport should be well underway.' Bay of Plenty Times, 21 April 1965.
• Test drive on Kaimai Tunnel starts tomorrow. Photographs of test drilling and engineers. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 June 1965.
• Rail job a change. Mr Gil Logie is the new overseer of the Kaimai Tunnel investigation team, after 20 years working on hydro-electric power projects for the Ministry of Works. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 June 1965.
• Access to tunnel. Works Road formation going well. 23 July 1965.
• Big planning job on tunnel. For at least a year after the big diesel-electric freight trains start hauling cargo into the Port of Tauranga through the Kaimai Tunnel, Ministry of Works draughtspeople will be hard at work finishing the drawings connected with the tunnel job. Bay of Plenty Times, 11 August 1965.
• Planning tunnel earthworks is a major undertaking. It is the biggest civil engineering job the Ministry of Works Hamilton draughting office has handled since the planning for the Murupara railway. Bay of Plenty Times, 11 August 1965.
• Features of tunnel. Photograph of resident engineer for the project, Mr J.E.C. Pollock, with engineers at the entrance to the 300 foot test drive. 6 September 1965.
• Bay of Plenty Times, 2 October 1965:
  • First shot is fired by Minister. Tunnel now officially on way to Waikato. Five and half mile long, £5.7 million tunnel expected to handle more than one million tons of freight in first year.
  • Waikato people's support assured. Quotes from Mr R.T. Scott, chair of Piako County Council.
  • Bay's many realisations. 'The first major breakthrough came in November of 1954 with the opening of the overseas wharft at Mount Maunganui' said Mr G.A. Walsh, MP for Tauranga.
  • Happy ending to many years of effort. 'The result over many years of presenting evidence, addressing meetings in Tauranga and the Waikato on the merits of the Kaimai tunnel project is now in the first stages of construction' said Mr D.S. Mitchell, Mayor of Tauranga.
  • Thrilling prospects for Bay area in new era of progress. 'Exclusive messages' from government, local body and industrial leaders.
• Bush-hacking surveyors' aim "longest" tunnel. Interview with chief surveyor Mr D.B. Hopcroft, in Hamilton. Bay of Plenty Times, 6 October 1965.
• Tunnel contractors on site by middle of next month. 30 October 1965.
• Kaimai Tunnel test-drilling runs into difficulties. Photographs of possible western portal site. Bay of Plenty Times, 6 November 1965.

1966:

• Aerial view of work being undertaken, taken from a Tauranga Aero Club plane. May 1966.
• Start proposed for Kaimai pilot tunnel. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 September 1966.
• Work on eastern approaches to Kaimai railway tunnel. 26 October 1966.
• Driving of tunnel is evidence of big undertaking. 7 December 1966.

1967:

• Kaimai Tunnel MOW "training" project but delay now into 1971. Mr G.A. Walsh, MP for Tauranga spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times following a meeting with Minister of Works, Mr Allen, in Wellington. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 September 1967.

1968:

• Contract. Beattie Construction Ltd have been awarded the $268,184 contract for construction of the Wainui Bridge. Bay of Plenty Times, 24 August 1968.
• Crane is spectacular aid to bridge job. Bay of Plenty Times, 24 August 1968.
• Major tunnel bridge work half finished. Completed deck length will be 612ft 6in, 120ft above the Wainui River. Includes eight photographs. Bay of Plenty Times, 24 August 1968.
• Five bridges required. Bay of Plenty Times, 24 August 1968.
• Further studies on rail tunnel needed due to hard rock. Bay of Plenty Times, 17 September 1968.
• Tunnel tender news welcome: Mr Walsh. Bay of Plenty Times, 17 September 1968.
• Bay of Plenty Times, 9 November 1968:
  • Completed tunnel country's longest. Original completion date when deviation was approved for construction in September 1964 was 1970, latest estimate now late 1971 or early 1972. 
  • Start for tunnelling by Christmas predicted.
  • Thirty-six men to work underground. p. 10.
  • Portal seven miles from existing rail.
  • Sub-division in Matamata. For married workers and staff employed on the Kaimai tunnel project at Waharoa.
  • Timber found 'on the job'. More than 1000 oak, larch and Tasmanian blackwood trees in a seven and half acre Railways Department plantation are being felled and used.

1969:

• Bay of Plenty Times, 16 January 1969:
  • "Break in"on Kaimai modest but significant.
  • Editorial: Kaimai tunnel delays.
  • Completion date 1971.
  • Survey of tunnel for machines.
• Timing of tunnel completion important says Minister. 22 April 1969.
• Waihī council claim: Kaimai tunnel no longer needed. 30 April 1969
• 2 May 1969:
  • Minister supports Kaimai tunnel.
  • Mayor answers tunnel critics. Quotes from Mr R.A. Owens, Tauranga's Mayor and also a member of the Tauranga Harbour Board.
• Kaimai tunnelling machine could be used by Auckland. 10 June 1969.
• Kaimai Tunnel still justified, Waihī council is told by Minister. Waihī Borough Council's meeting last night discussed letter from Mr Gordon, Minister of Railways, who was responding to their request that instead of a Kaimai tunnel, a direct rail link from Bay of Plenty to Auckland via Waihī and Paeroa be constructed.
• Big tunnel machine gets green light. Bay of Plenty Times, August 1969.
• Water, shattered rock causing problems in Kaimai Tunnel. 15 September 1969.
• Kaimai tunnel celebrations are suggested. Tauranga MP Mr G.A. Walsh suggests three-month long carnival in 1973, at the annual meeting of the Bay of Plenty Orange Festival Society. 5 November 1969.
• Pioneer house headquarters for MOW tunnel staff. 6 November 1965.
• Should have been twin tunnels. Mr J.A.B. Stuart-Menzies, Social Credit candidate for Tauranga, commented at meeting in Greerton. 21 November 1969.
• Bay of Plenty bounteous beautiful Kaimai Tunnel. Bay of Plenty Constructs, 1969, p. 2-3.

1970:

• Work on Kaimai tunnel project is gathering pace. Bay of Plenty Times, 27 January 1970.
• Lifeline drill nearing area where trapped men may have taken refuge. Rescuers hope to reach the area where 11 tunnellers in the Kaimai Tunnel are believed to be trapped. Bay of Plenty Times, 25 February 1970.
• Mud trickle gave initial warning. Cave-in occurred shortly after 3 p.m. about 100ft in and 100ft underground, with rockfall of 200-300 cubic yards trapping tunnellers. Bay of Plenty Times, 25 February 1970.
• Trapped man tells a dramatic story. Mr Pat Conlon, engulfed by yesterday's cavein tells how he sprinted for the tunnel mouth, from his bed at Pohlen Hospital, Matamata. Bay of Plenty Times, 25 February 1970.
• Bay of Plenty Times, 28 February 1970:
  • 80-hour ordeal ends for seven trapped men. Seven survivors emerged from an escape shaft after 80 hours imprisonment with the trapped body of a dead workmate, Alfred Leighton, following a tunnel collapse on Tuesday. Three photographs
  • ....and it was a long week for rescuers too!
  • Silver lining to tragedy. The lighting system in the tunnel continued to function and the trapped men had enough gear to assist with rescue work.
• Attempt to recover bodies abandoned. 5 March 1970.
• Tauranga company to complete bridge works. Construction firm J.E. Becconsall Ltd has won the contract to complete works on Wainui River Bridge. Bay of Plenty Times, 11 March 1970.
• Kaimai section to be in concrete. The collapsed portion, where four men died on 24 February, is to be replaced by a concrete structure. 6 April 1970.
• Tunnel excavation is to start again this week. Since the disaster the 130-strong work force has been working on smaller projects including laying 3ft 6in gauge railway track. 12 May 1970.
• Back to work. All but one of the seven survivors are back at work, all working in the same shift. The seventh is still recovering from injuries received in the cave-in. 12 May 1970.
• Kaimai tunnelling is t resume after February cave-in. 19 May 1970.
• Engineer says concreting is no answer to tunnel safety. Coverage from the second week of the Commission of Inquiry, into it's second week in Hamilton, M.O.W. consultant Mr G.J. Hallewell has the eighth witness. 3 June 1970.
• Tunnel construction method criticised. 4 June 1970.
• Bay of Plenty Times, 3 July 1970:
  • Courage, discipline evident in tunnel rescue. Matamata coroner, Mr R. Larkin, gives verdict at the inquests into the death of four miners in the Kaimai rail tunnel cave-in on February 24. Finding that the deaths 'would have been instantaneous', of Alfred Thomas Leighton, James Smart, Donald Alexander McGregor and Peter James Clarkson.
  • Tunnelling machine arrives, two months later than expected.
• Kaimai Tunnel report an astonishing document. Commissioner of Works, Mr F.R. Askin, claimed the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Kaimai Tunnel disaster were 'not fair and soundly based on evidence submitted to it'. Bay of Plenty Times, 19 August 1970.
• Kaimai Tunnel ventilation. Hume Industries have won a contract to supply 28,000ft of ventilation ducting for the Kaimai Tunnel, worth more than $100,000. 25 August 1970.
• Kaimai men to visit U.S. Mr K.D. O'Callahan, mechnical engineer, and Mr D.B. Mackintosh, mechanical overseer, are visiting the Jarva machine manufacturers plant in Cleveland, Ohio, this month for familiarisation talks. 1 September 1970.
• Unsuccessful hunt so far to find Kaimai engineer. Bay of Plenty Times, 8 October 1970.
• Winter only briefly slowed down progress of project. Photographs of native clematis; Neville Holloway travelling the river by land-rover. Bay of Plenty Times, 10 October 1970.
• Tunnel project is almost back on time. The American-built drilling machine is expected to start boring in April, an average of 300ft a week for the next two years. 15 December 1970. 
• Tunnel borer's first bit will be signal to go at Kaimai. Bay of Plenty Times, 19 December 1970.

1971:

• Bill Glanville keeps on top of job. Managing director of Canadian Construction. Bay of Plenty Times, 8 January 1971.
• Tunnelling machine geared for biggest power project bite. Bay of Plenty Times, 8 January 1971.
• Kaimai Railway Tunnel progress. Six photographs with captions. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 February 1971.
• Tunnel monster over its teething problems. US $1.5 milllion Jarva tunnel drilling machine. Bay of Plenty Times, 26 May 1971.
• Special ventilation ducting made for tunnelling machine. Developed by the Ministry of Works and Hume Industries. Bay of Plenty Times, 10 August 1971.
• Eastern base being made for further tunnel work. Bay of Plenty Times, 9 September 1971.
• Value of eastern portal work now exceeds $1 million. Bay of Plenty Times, 18 December 1971.

1972:

• The Kaimai Tunnel. Thames Star, 2 October 1972.

1973:

• Bay of Plenty Times, 2 June 1973:
  • Line driven through rock and swamp to Tauranga. 
  • Farmers' lot made easier. Settlers in the Katikati district recall advantages which building of the East Coast main trunk line brought. Quotes from: Jim Earl, now of Mount Maunganui; Mr G.B. Walford; Mr V.A. Rapley; Mrs E.G. Lockington.
  • Stop-go at tunnel.
  • Letter to the Editor. Rail realignment from Foresight.

1974:

• Tunnel bore 'best since September'. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 February 1974.
• Progress on tunnel better than expected. Bay of Plenty Times, 18 February 1974.
• Turn of century vision now becoming reality. History since the turn of the century when Hon Roderick MacKenzie, then Minister of Railways, gave Tauranga a vision - to not advocate for a Waihī Athenree gorges routes, but instead a link between 'promising development in the Waikato and the port by a tunnel through the Kaimai Range'. Bay of Plenty Times, 18 May 1974.
• Kaimai Tunnel by Max Avery. Daily Mirror, 21 May 1974, p. 3.
• Drilling rate increased in tunnel.  Bay of Plenty Times, 4 April 1974.

1975:

• Working to meet. Problems and progress. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 February 1975.
• Kaimai Tunnel machine in more trouble. Bay of Plenty Times, 14 April 1975.
• Tunnel work still halted. 22 April 1975.
• Loads cause setback. 28 April 1975.
• Kaimais quite a bite to chew on. Staff reporter Lincoln Vincent investigates progress with staff photographer Ross Brown. Bay of Plenty Times, 3 May 1975.
• New track base a New Zealand first. A rubber underlay system, new to New Zealand, known as PACT (Paved Concrete Track). McGregors have been awarded the contract to lay the line through the tunnel and British Rail will be acting as consultants, while the M.O.W. will be supervising the contract. Bay of Plenty Times, 3 May 1975.
• Tunnel will bring big changes. Bay of Plenty Times, 9 May 1975.
• Trip to Kaimai heart - water and darkness. Bay of Plenty Times, 10 May 1975.
• Workers are back - but still no progress. Shift workers on the tunnel returned to work at midnight after a week's strike in support of holiday claims. Bay of Plenty Times, 19 May 1975.
• Kaimai Tunnel due in March. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 June 1975.
• Kaimai tunnel rockfall slows work. Bay of Plenty Times, 7 July 1975.
• Another fall slows work. Bay of Plenty Times, 14 July 1975.

1976:

• History is made with breakthrough. Bay of Plenty Times, 17 June 1976:
  • Tunnel system is new to NZ.
  • Bay sees vast changes in 100 years.
  • Appropriate time to look back and toward future. Tauranga County Council congratulates the Ministry of Works and Development...said county chair Mr A.G. Spratt.
  • Work force reduced.
• Tunnel terrain has the last laugh as: Kaimai holethrough stopped by rock falls. About 500 workers and guests, including the Minister of Works, waited an hour and a half for the Jarva tunnelling machine to break through on the east. Following speeches and a break from the rain inside, the tunnel will instead be breached next week using explosives. Project engineer, Mr J.D. Bennion 'jokingly referred to to the traditional banning of women from tunnelling jobs and told tunnellers they now know why'. Bay of Plenty Times, 18 June 1976.
• The 'hole-through that wasn't quite. Whakatāne Beacon, 18 June 1976:
  • Tunnel first mooted 70 years ago. 
  • The men at the Kaimai front. Descriptions of the 'nightmarish conditions' at the 'worst tunnel job in the world', and efforts by management to ease working conditions, from Joss Lapsley, shift boss, Len Dillon, tunneller, and Big Witeria Kerei 'Ra'.
  • Treacherous rock made tunnel hazardous project. Decision to trench through loose rock, build the tunnel and backfill made after February 1970 cave-in left four workers dead and others trapped. Jarva tunnelling machine started March 1971.
• Failed to break through. Bay Sun, 19 June 1976.
• Hole-through expected soon. Bay of Plenty Times, 7 October 1976.
• Tunnel nearly on time. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 October 1976.

1977:

• Tunnel spectre still hangs over roadmen. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 May 1977.
• Inflow control progress. 4 July 1977 [Ams 487/11, Scrapbook 14, p. 4.].

1980s:

• Freight total after 2 years. Bay of Plenty Times, 13 September 1980, p. 1.
• Kaimai Tunnel pays its way. Bay of Plenty Times, 16 September 1989.

1990s:

• Rail tunnel as Route P substitute. Bay of Plenty Times, 27 July 1991.
• Bay of Plenty Times feature writer Lincoln Vincent reports and talks to some of the workers who did the job. Bay of Plenty Times, 14 March 1992:
  • Tunnellers beat huge odds.
  • Workers stripped naked to beat the heat.
  • Cave-in was expected.
• Educational feature on Kaimai Tunnel, including maps, geological and geographical profiles. Bay of Plenty Times, 8 February 1995, p. 22.