ELECTRICITY FOR TRANSPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 211, 5 September 1924, Page 9

ELECTRICITY FOR TRANSPORT.

ON RAILWAY AND ROAD.

STORAGE BATTERY VEHICLES,

USE IN THE WAIKATO. (From Our Own Correspondent.) PUTA_.UB.tr, Thursday. With the new extensive electricity reticulation systems in the Waikato under the various power boards, and with the prospect of more than ample power for all purposes being available on the completion of the Arapuni hydroelectrical scheme, thoughts are turning toward the utilisation of electrical i j tier<n- as the motive power for transport on road and railway, in lieu of steam or petrol where electricity would give the more economical and satisfactory service. The New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company already employs an electric locomotive for shunting purposes at Frankton. and a fleet of electrical road trucks for the collection and conveyance of milk to the Waitoa dried-milk factory. In the case of the latter it is authoritatively stated that they show a saving o"_ several thousands sterling per annum, as against petrol-driven trucks. The electrical trucks are powered by borage batteries, which can be charged from special stations off the ordinary reticulation lines. If they are charged when the ordinary load on the line 3is at a minimum, say, at night, the consumption of power in this way is a decided gain to the power boards.

Transport of Passengers. But it is stated that in the transport of passengers and light loads over the railways, storage-battery railway cars could immediately prove of great advantage in the AVaikato. At present the bugbear on the railways, from the passengers' point of -~:ew, is the mixed train—goods and passengers —mere often described as a "wild-cat." It is suggested, too, that the mixed train is also uneconomical as regards haulage costs, while travelling is an uncomfortable and wearying business, owing to the long waits at various stations for shunting operations. On the Rotorua and Thames lines, mixed trains provide the official connections with Auckland and Wellington Main Trunk expresses, and are the only means of avoiding a half-day wait at Frankton or Hamilton. However, it is claimed that if storage-battery ears, for passengers and their luggage only, were dispatched to Botorua and Thames immediately after the arrival of the main trunk express from Auckland and (Wellington at night, they could reach their destination in, say, three hours, stopping at the principal stations en route, while, also, if they left Rotorua and Thames about 6.30 p.m. each evening, they could arrive in Frankton about 9.30 p.m., in time, to connect with the express to Wellington, and, later, with the express to Auckland. The advantage of this, on the Rotorua line for example, would be a saving of travelling time for passengers of three hours or more. In Canada, authorities' state, this form of caterinz for passengers on branch lines is becou£ ing very popular, and its introduction in New Zealand will probably be one of .the first matters to be considered by the. newly-appointed chief mechanical engineer of the Railway Department, Mr. Sims, from Canada. Cars are designed for the purposes and lines for which they are required, and can run • more than 100 miles on one charging. They may be staffed by a driver and conducor, or- driver only. "It is thus pointed out that with the electric power lines now extending along the Rotorua and Thames railways, for practically their full length, the Government might do very well to experiment with storage-battery cars on those branches, and, if the system proves successful, extend it to other branch lines throughout the Dominion.