Rail men use blocks to hold waggons

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 5

Rail men use blocks to hold waggons

Railwaymen in Christchurch are using blocks of wood to stop waggons being blown along the tracks in strong winds because of ineffective handbrakes. Rail unions have threatened bans on working with the flat-top waggons which are extensively used to carry containers to and from freezing works, wharves, and timber and steel mills. “The handbrakes are so ineffective we have to use

lumps of wood under the wheels to keep the waggons in place,” said the Canterbury branch secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen; Mr P. S. Corliss. “The whole case blew up two years ago with stock going to the Belfast meat works. The corporation said it would undertake an urgent replacement programme but this stopped 18 months ago. “We are working in a highly unsatisfactory and il-

legal way using wood as a brake. “We have let the replacement programme slip but we are starting to look at a lot of these types of programmes,” Mr Corliss said. In Canterbury there are about 60 of these waggons. The N.U.R. wants the corporation to start the conversion work again, not only to improve the safety of the waggons but also to provide more work for railway workshops.