The four Hex River Tunnels consist of a twin tunnel of 0.5 kilometres (0.31 miles) and three single tunnels of 1.1 kilometres (0.68 miles), 1.2 kilometres (0.75 miles) and 13.5 kilometres (8.39 miles), on the Hexton railway route between De Doorns and Kleinstraat through the of the, South Africa. The line, which connects in the Hex River valley with in the, is part of the main rail route between.

Aims, Objectives, Content and Assessing of the Short Story Module. WHILE-READING TASK “THE LONG TUNNEL” by John Milne. Fill Macmillan Readers Thelong Tunnel Pdf From, download blank or editable online. Listening Worksheet Beginner The Long Tunnel John Milne The story step. Now listen again from the beginning of the chapter until Ill see you there.

Of the 30 kilometres (18.64 miles) of track, 16.8 kilometres (10.44 miles) are underground. Construction of the line eliminated the bottleneck of the Hex River rail pass.

Sir The enormous effectively separated Cape Town on the coast from the hinterland of Southern Africa, and had obstructed previous attempts to expand the Cape Colony's railway infrastructure inland. In 1872 the, under Prime Minister, ordered that a railway line must be constructed across this barrier in the vicinity of the.

The (CGR) was formed and railway engineer William George Brounger was appointed to oversee the task. Route [ ] The Hex River Mountain was a major obstacle to be overcome during the construction of the railway between and the diamond fields at. In 1874 surveyor Wells Hood, under the instruction of Brounger, found a potential route up the 2,353 feet (717 metres) climb from De Doorns in the Hex River valley to the top of the Karoo plateau east of the Valley, that would require gradients of no more than 1 in 40, very steep by railway standards, and tight curves with a minimum radius of 100 metres (328 feet). He also proposed that a short tunnel would be required. By 1876, the Molteno Government had selected Thomas Brounger's proposed route through the Hex River valley, with the line to follow the route from through, then along Hood's proposed pass across the mountain via Osplaas to the 3,147 feet (959 metres) summit at Matroosberg, and then via Kleinstraat to. Cape Gauge [ ].

Dual gauge track on the old Strand street crossing outside Cape Town station, c. 1880 The original line between and was laid to 4 ft 8 1⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm) standard gauge, but this gauge could not be accommodated economically on the tight curves required by the proposed Hex River rail pass. This led to a decision by the CGR to use a narrower gauge of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm) across the pass. After initially making use of dual gauge, it was decided in 1873 to convert all existing trackage of the CGR to this narrower gauge that was eventually to become known throughout Africa as. Credit for the fact that most of the present day railway lines in Africa are Cape gauge can therefore be directly attributed to the Hex River rail pass. First Tunnel [ ] The original 180 metres (591 feet) tunnel, Southern Africa's first railway tunnel, is situated at 34 kilometres (21.13 miles) from De Doorns on the original line to Matroosberg.

Raspolozhenie ordenov medalej na paradnom kitele armii rf. The tunnel is straight and the portals are of dressed stone masonry, but the inside is unlined. On the route ascending the mountain, Osplaas provided the only level stretch that was long enough for a conventional passing loop. Second Tunnel [ ]. Eastern portals, 1876 tunnel at left, 1929 tunnel at right This first tunnel served the railways for 53 years, until the track was re-laid in 1929 to diminish a curve to accommodate larger locomotives. In the process a new concrete lined curved tunnel was sunk alongside the original. Since another crossing place had also become necessary, a siding named Tunnel was fashioned just east of the tunnel by laying two level dead-end spur tracks that branched directly off on opposite sides of the main line. This allowed trains to wait in one or the other of these sidings to allow an opposing train to pass.

This latter tunnel remained in use for sixty years, until the line across the pass was closed to rail traffic in 1989. Despite its quick and relatively cheap construction, the Hex River rail pass served the (SAR) for more than a century. It was the starting point of the country's first railway line to the and opened the way for ' colonisation thrust into central Southern Africa. Current route [ ] The railway line between Cape Town and Beaufort West has a ruling grade of 1 in 66 and a minimum curvature of 200 metres (656 feet), except for the pass where the steep gradient and sharp curves restricted train lengths and required additional locomotive power to bank trains on the ascent. In 1943 the gradients between De Doorns and Matroosberg stations were eased to 1 in 40 compensated, while the curves were eased to a minimum radius of 200 metres (656 feet), but despite this the Hex River rail pass still formed a bottleneck that would require more drastic measures to be eliminated.