Goods train delays

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 1

Goods train delays

A goods train was delayed for eight hours and five others for periods up to four hours after a mishap with points on the main South Island trunk line at Kaikoura about 9 p.m. on Monday. A north-bound goods train pulled into a loop off the main line at Kaikoura to let a long south-bound train through. But the latter was so long that it covered the points at both ends of the loop, so that while being shunted it damaged the points, which had failed to return to the normal position. Neither train could move until the points were repaired. The north-bound train was eventually able to continue, four hours late. The train which caused the damage was delayed eight hours, as railwaymen worked through the night on repairs. Yesterday’s Christchurch-to-Picton rail-cars were not delayed. A broken axle on a waggon in a goods train on the branch line from Waipara to Waiau delayed this train for more than three hours between Hawarden and Waikari on Monday afternoon. The waggon, filled with marble chip, was removed from the line to enable the train to continue.