ROLLING STOCK

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 19, 24 January 1927, Page 7

ROLLING STOCK

RAILWAY PROGRAMME

SCRAPPING OUX MATERIAL

The Railway Board (says the "New Zealand Railway Magazine") lias, decided on a comprehensive policy in regard to the withdrawal and replacement of obsolescent rolling stock with a view of meeting peak load, holiday, and emergency requirements. This course is made more feasible since tlie establishment of a renewals fund and the commencement of reorganisation in the workshops. Under the new system, protracted delay to wagons in shops—with corresponding scarcity of vehicles available tor tratnc—will be avoided, since the course decided upon ensures that time will not be spent on repairs to vehicles which have reached the point where scrapping is the better course.

It is clear that the employment of locomotives and other rolling stock, which, through age, have reached a condition where any stress in excess of the ordinary mignt occasion a breakdown is not economically sound, and to'prevent the possibility of this, the present policy.of preparedness for withdrawal of obsolescent stock at the right stage has been adopted. Ihe procedure to be followed is designed to assist improvement both in workshops turnover and in train performance, by relieving congestion in workshops repair sidings, minimising th ß likelihood of break- ■ downs, and reducing the operating cost. CUMULATIVE MINOR DEFECTS. The board recognises that the fullest efficiency in this direction cart only be ■ attalljed if the staff back up these efforts both by exercising care and judgment in order to avoid damage through rough or careless shunting, and by promptly reporting every derailment or causo of damage which may arise in the course of the' day s work. _ A study of the incidence of rolling stock damage shows that a considerable amount of trouble has been experienced through old," i.e., unreported or undiscovered previous damage causing failures at critical times. This is a point in regard to which the train operating staff nave it within their power to prove of great assistance to the management, for meticulous care in the examination of rolling stock and the immediate reporting of detects will not only help to prevent those delays inseparable from main line breakdowns, thus assisting in achieving that most desirable of transport conditionsprompt running, but it will also tend to provide a greater margin of safety for all those engaged in the handling of rolling The policy of rolling stock replacement now enunciated has a twofold advantage. S3S \ pu°- mt d? all re Pair work beyond which patching becomes an expensive fnvo^t and., tlal|. a PPlies particular loice to railroading, where the parts of a train-like the links of a chain-are dependent for combined efficiency on the \ strength of the weakest portion, and r*; Te a fc»lur e at one point so frequently causes additional damage elsewhere. .Chen, it must be remembered that the locomotives and other rolling stock grow out of date as well as old, owing to changes produced by the more modern developments of transport requirements. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, the general toT* t/YSO^ c is for logger trains to.be hauled at higher speeds. To meet tins requirement, the present types of locomotives are not always the most suit- . able. Then improvements in the locomotives are in the direction of producing helvSTaliC" StreSSeS °f "*

MORE COMFORT. toA m r, edi, letio^r n the.,, cost oi repairs. due to rough handling will put the DepartmZhit* 6 Cr fi, nailcial 3)°Sition thesupply of more znod^rs vehicles and power I Wits. It w.particakrJy desired to lurther modernise the car. stock, for it is recognised that a maximum degree of safety and comfort should he proinded in passenger-carrying vehicles of-all classes bafety is being considered by the use of steel reinforcement in new cars under construction and. old cars - being remodelled. Comfort bordering on luxury is one of the features of the passengercarrying problem which has been greatly developed, under competitive conditions ?■ 2" lways m -other pountries. It is one of the most tangible evidences of tbat service which must be rendered nowadays to gamipublic patronage. Overseas developments in this direction are being watched and the best standards are being followed in; the construction and equipment of our own cars with, a view to increasing the satisfaction of travellers in the accommodation provided on our lines. -Here,.again,:the staff may help, for good car-cleaning work and considerable attention, to the requirements of passen- I gers en route will add to the pleasure de- ! rived from transit in -well-designed and comtortably-equipped vehicles