Hills Mill at Tapauni and taken via the Tapanui Branch to the Main South Line which provided a connection via the Roxburgh branch line to Roxburgh. At its peak up to 15,000 to 20,000 ft of timber was being transported by rail on a daily basis. At the Roxburgh railway station the PWD erected silos to store the expected 50,000 tons of cement a year that would be consumed at the project's peak as well as a six-pole 60 ton (61 tonne) lifting gantry It was expected that Shipments of bulk cement began in mid 1953 and by July of that year 600 to 1,100 tons were being shipped per week. By July 1955 demand had dropped to 800 tons per week with shipping of cement finishing in November 1956. By April 1956 Milburn had supplied 105,000 tons of cement with another 10,000 tons still to be delivered to complete the project. NZR operated occasional sightseeing trains from Dunedin and Christchurch. The cost of a combined return rail and transfer bus ticket from Dunedin to the site of the power station was 16 shillings. Where possible equipment was shipped on the Dunedin-Roxburgh Railway Line to Roxburgh and from there transported by road to the power station. For instance the transformers were railed from Port Chalmers to Roxburgh on the 40-ton well-wagons and then taken to the power station site on a Rogers 40-ton tank transporter. The stator sections and shafts followed a similar route. Because of the line larger tunnels on the Waikaka Branch railway line the turbine runners and generator bottom bearing brackets were transported on this line. From the line's terminus at Waikaka, they were transported by road to the power station using a specialized transporter. Unsolicited offer The Ministry of Works had identified that it had a shortage of the engineering and drafting staff to undertake the large amount of power station construction that the government had committed to in the North and South islands. Fritz Langbein believed that provided 1,000 workers could be obtained from overseas then the MOW would be able to complete the entire project in-house by 1954. In May 1949 the government reluctantly accepted that overseas contractors may have to be employed to meet the planned construction programme. This admission lead to an unsolicited bid being received from a British consortium consisting of civil engineering contractors Richard Costain, electrical manufacturers and contractor English