A RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 15, 18 January 1905, Page 3

A RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT.

MOTOR CARRIAGES FOR SUBURBAN TRAFFIC. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. For some time past the New Zealand Railways Department has been acquiring information from Great Britain relative to motor carriages, the idea being to utilise them as a more frequent passenger service at the busy centres of the colony* The Department is now in possession of the very latest particulars on the subject of these motor carriages, and detail plans are all but completed of the first of the type (Begie), which it is intended to construct at the Addington workshops. The carriage in question is to be 60ft long and Bft Sin wide, and subdivided into two compartments, adequate seating accommodation for 24 smoking and 60 nonsmoking passengers. At one end of the carriage will be attached a special steam motor, while the rear part will serve for the reception of light baggage. The carriage will be provided with reversible cushioned seats and net racks in which small parcels may be placed. Should this mode of transit find favour with the travelling public, the Department will improve on the carriage about to be constructed in any way that may be deemed necessary. It may be as well to point out that the Department intends to encourage colonial * workmanship by having the bodies, etc., of the new cars constructed in New Zealand, and only the steel tyres and axles, which cannot be manufactured in Australasia, will be imported. An early start will be made with the construction of the car at Addington, and the work is .o be finished expeditiously. The experiments about to be introduced on the New Zealand railways have borne excellent results on the British lines, and motor carriages, solely for passenger traffic, are now in general use on the Great Western, North Eastern, Midland, Taff Vale (South Wales), Glasgow, South Western, and London and South Western lines. The best workmanship will be put into the carriages, and it is anticipated that their employment on the colonial lines will become universally popular.