NERVOUS TRAVELLERS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 87, 11 April 1924, Page 6

NERVOUS TRAVELLERS

SAFETY ON THE RAILWAY

SYSTEM OF PATROL.

(It m»6«APB.—SPECIAL TO IHE POST.*

' _. AUCKLAND, This Day When the Main Trunk express left Auckland on Tuesday news of the derailment near Kopaki that morning was in everyone's mouth. Apprehension lest mere might bo a'repetition was reflected m the small number travelling, actuilly little more than pne hundred. It also quickly bwiame known tKat the train guard, Mr. H. P. Hobson, was the same guard who was in charge of the express .which met disaster at Ongarue ia^t, July,, and; the.engine, i No. - 748, was the very same which tried conclusions with a ton-weight boulder in the Ongarue; cutting. r :It was not surprising tha.t_ pmeii-mongerE:'.,got to. worjc.' with, verdicts good or bad according* to their mentality./ Naturally, many passengers began-to inquire in earnest exactly what precautions the Railway Department took to safeguard its patrons on such a journey. As a result of conversation with railwaymen en route, and hy dint o£ personal observation by' a "Herald" reporter, an answer to such pertinent queries was reached. Several passengers comforted themselves in the belief that there is a regular and complete patrol of the track at stated intervals dajlv. That belief was dissipated by -the railwayman. Such patrolwaß impraoticahle, they said, on over four hundred miles :«£ track, and It was unnecessary. Tha system actually followed was that each ganger was made responsible for his section of track. Usually he had been vn it for years; it was his charge;"he took priqa in maintaining, its stability; ho lenew its wgak points; he was the bestinfprined as' jo where trouble' could be expected, where vigilance wgg .necessary. The frequence and care of bis patrol thus became a matter for the ganger hiiuself, and was largely: regulated by him. If apprehensive he would increase patrol*' at bad points. In wet weather he would Bet a watch all night, according to hi* opinion. Engine-drivers, "were, warned where slow speed must be. mainSslnetJ, A warning at night often took the form of sigpals—two white lights, indicated tho opening, and two green tho end of the risky bit. It was obligatory on drivers to take warning from thesa signals and reduce speed to .10 mileß an jiour, •Similar cautions were as often.-conveyed to engine-drivers-at stations more' than once. On Tuesday night it was'obvious that the driver had received and was. observing such caution. .Only laifc week, said one railwayman, he passfd in a train what appeared, to be an unexceptionable bit of track., It. was the last, place to look for trouble; ,but ,■within ten minutes the lines were covered by hundreds of tons of rock and clay; and-, if the ganger, who knew every yard of his section, did not suspect sudden trouble, what patrol system, except from minute to minute, would be effective! .