RESURRECTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 5

RESURRECTED.

OLD LOCOMOTIVES.

BURIED AT WESTFIELD.

SCRAP METAL FOB JAPAN.

Along the siding that links the Main Trunk line with the Westfield Farmers' Freezing Works the common grave of what were once among the finest railwaylocomotives in New Zealand is being disturbed, and engines that were long ago condemned are being unearthed. Eventually these corpses of the iron track will find their way into the hungry furnaces of Japan. The work of resurrecting the old engines was commenced two weeks ago, and already the bones of eight of them are partly visible. Six men are employed on the job of digging away the earth and rubbish that until recently hid the engines, and a hard and dirty job it is. A tiny arm of the Manukau stretches ite-elf parellel to the embankment in the direction of the freezing works, and when the tide is low the workmen experience all the odours ot Westfield's notorious "Lavender Flats. Pick ana Shovel Work. Some of the engines in this long common grave' have been hidden for nearly five years; others have been buried for considerably less time than that. Their years of" usefulness completed, they were toppled over from the siding with very much more ease than that with which" they are being dug out. Largely it is pick and shovel work, although a wagon crane is handy to accomplish the heavy lifts. The work of cutting up the corpses with acetone burners is being done on the job, and the metal ready for shipment to the East is transported by rail. It is believed that altogether there are 1C or 17 engines in the common frrave, but it is not known that all of them will be recovered. The average life of the locomotives was from 30 to 40 years, spent chiefly on suburban lines within the Auckland district. When they were no longer wanted they lusted for some years among the. black-

berries in the Newmarket yard until towed on their last trip to be used as filling at Westfield. "They were among the finest engines that ever ran in New Zealand. When they were put on the scrap heap their days were done, but they owed the Government nothing, for they were wonders for work," said a man who was watching the locomotives being unearthed this morning. "Most of them were built by Price at Thames." Good Metal. In the opinion of engineers who have seen the engines, the labour of resurrecting them will not be in vain, for j the metal that was put into them was of the best and should be gladly received in Japan. Much of the metal, it is said, might profitably have been used by the New Zealand Government. Practically all parts of the old engines are suitable for shipment —wheels, boilers, bogies. Also in the grave are hundreds of rusty iron drums, and the best of these are being used as containers for the smaller scrap metal. Old rails are also being unearthed, and these, too, will help to swell the shipment. The first load of scrap has already been taken from the site to the city, and will be included in the cargo to be lifted by the next Japanese tramp steamer to come to the port. The buyers of the old engines and other scrap buried in the embankment are Hayes and Company, of Newmarket. Although the "hidden treasure" is being recovered for Japan, the task of unearthing it means employment for the pick and shovel men, extra freight charges for the Eailway Department, work" for the men who handle the scrap on the waterfront, additional revenue for the harbour authorities, and a profit for the sellers.