TEDIOUS TRIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 69, 22 March 1941, Page 10

TEDIOUS TRIP.

TRAIN PASSENGERS. NEARLY s], HOURS' DELAY. (Special to the "Star.") \\ KLLI N< iTON. this day. A long and tedious journey was experienced liv travellers to Wellington bv the express which left Auckland at three o clock yesterday aflcrjionn as a result <>i extensive storm damage t<> the Main Trunk line south of Tc Knit i and the derailment of goods wagons at Fcilding. The train did not reach Wellington til! 12.20 p.m.—nearly ,"iA hours behind schedule. Metore the express reached Krnnkton passenger* learned that trouble la v nlicjid. They were advised that there had been a washout somewhere ilnwn the line and that the train would lie held at I-rank ton for an hour and a half. Dinner at the junction tilled in half an hour, but the next hour and a half—making two hours in all- passed slowly. From T'ranktnn the express wc.nt on without appreciable delay ti> Te Kuiti, where it was again held for a considerable time. Of the actual subsidence just eolith of l'uketutii the passengers saw little. Temporary repairs had been carried out, but. it" was not considered advisable tor the heavy engine to be run on the built-up line. According!v, tho loeomotive was uncoupled and placed at tile rear of the train. l'asseiiger conches were pushed over the section 'of the damaged track to Ik> picked up on the southern side by another engine dispatched from Tanmaninui. Passenger* peering from carriage windows as the train warf pushed slowly over the temporarily repaired track saw only the -low of lanterns, piles of sleepers alongside the line, a heap of concrete blocks which had apparently been brought- to the scene of the trouble to be u<-od as tilling. and workmen standing by waiting for the express to pass before resuming' the bii_r job of repairing the line. As the passengers vvimc i\en no opportunity of leaving their carriages. thev were imab],. to inspect t he. col la p-e of the line at close (puitteiv, but from the slowly moving train it appeared extensive. Tt was a tired and sleepy crowd of passengers who turned out for refreshments nt Taumariimii, where the express arrived nearly five hours behind time. The remaining hours of darkness passed without incident, lmt soon after davlight the story wont through tho train" that there was further trouble ahead. The report was that there had been a derailment near Keilding. and that the express would again be held up. This time, however, the nnofliciiil reports of another long delay proved exaggerated, and the additional time lost was not more than ten minutes, due to a reduction in speed for about three miles. The only evidence that passengers saw of the derailment was a small heap of shattered metal at a crossing at file northern approach to Fcilding. The remainder of the journev was completed without incident.