An
Inauspicious
Beginning…
The Moore
to Linville section of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail is
what a rail trail should never be. For the first few kilometres
north of Moore it isn't a rail trail at all. The old railway
formation is ignored. Instead, a bulldozed jeep
track roughly parallels the road to Linville – not
alongside the almost level road but twisting and turning
over the tops of the road cuttings and down into gullies.
A sign warns users of a 20% descent. 20% gradient on a rail
trail! Public roads that steep are almost nonexistent.
A few days before the 'rail trail'
was opened (25 November 2007), the region received what country
folk refer to as 'good rain' (nothing extraordinary, though).
This was enough to remove copious amounts of the top material,
leaving a ridiculous mix of fine gravel, squishy clay, loose
sand and ponds of muddy water.
A more pathetic example of inept civil
engineering is difficult to imagine. Please
send your comments.
Update: the damage has been repaired
but, apart from a drain in the flooded section (photo below
left), there appears to have been no rethink of engineering.
Three years have passed since the opening and we suspect that lessons have not be learned. The next disaster awaits? |
www.railtrails.co.nz
Moore – Linville :
7km; extremely steep sections
