Riding The Rods

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

Riding The Rods

The idea seems to have been born in the United States. Distances across the continent are very great, and transport presents a real problem to the vagrant class. The carriages are also of an unusual type, mounted high above the track, and having a rigid framework connecting front and rear wheels in somewhat the same ways as a motor ear chassis is constructed. Stretched on these bars one may travel for hours undistiu lied —provided a foot or arm does not slip from its hold as the train speeds along.

For. although the cost of these rides is little in dollars and cents, in human life it, is heavy. Kvcry year over 1000 deaths occur in America as a result of this practice, and that in spite of every attempt to fire vent it. Special guards examine trains before their departure, and nt. intermediate stations wherever possible, but still it continues, and the death roll mounts.

The rolling stock on Now Zealand railways fortunately does not lend itself easily to this tyjie of adventurer. The

narrow gauge makes it necessary for the cars to be lower-slung, and the method of mounting is also different. There is a bogie at each end, running almost independently except for their connection with the framework of the carriage itself. To attempt to ride on the narrow bars running fore and aft would be foolhardy in the extreme, although it is believed to have been done in the past. A veteran "knight of the road'' once described to the writer his experiences of travelling in this way in various countries. "Jlie first time I tried it was almost the last,'' lie said. '"I waited for an express train and dived beneath a carriage in the darkness. With the help of an electric torch I settled myself on the bars, took a firm grip and waited for tilings to happen. "And they happened as soon as we were properly moving. The draught threw up a cloud of dust, and the faster we went the thicker the dust became. I roughed and choked, and I I l>elieve T would have collapsed if I hadj

> not been able to get out a handkerchief and tie it round my mouth and nostriU. This was not as easy as it sounds, for one of the wheels was spinning round only a few inehe from my head, and with every movement I made I was in danger of slipping from my support. "When we reached open country the dust cleared a little, and 1 was able to concentrate on clinging to the rods. ®y this time the train was travelling at about a mile a minute, and I was in danger of being dislodged at every curve in the line. Somehow I held on, and gradually worked into a more comfortable position. "After about an hour we reached ii station, and I rolled out into the fresh air. But I stuck to my guns, and liefore the train moved off I crawled back. I just had to." he concluded. I admired his courage and told him so, but I resolved that when next 1 travelled it would be in the usual conventional manner—above, and not ( among the wheels.