TAWA FLAT DEVIATION

Evening Post, Issue 20, 23 July 1935, Page 10

TAWA FLAT DEVIATION

NEW LINE IN USE

The Tawa Flat railway deviation was brought into use for the first time last evening, when goods • trains ran over the new line. The express goods special to Auckland, and the ordinary goods special to Palmerston North were the first two trains to use the line, which, it is anticipated, will take an ever-increasing amount of goods traffic in and out of Wellington till all goods traffic uses that route, thus obviating the heavy haul up to Johnsonville. As illustrating the advantage of the new route, it is interesting to note that whereas on the old line it took two AB engines to pull a maximum load of 310 tons, last evening one X engine pulled a load of 420 tons. The maximum load for the new line is 490 tons.

On the first rain last evening there were 49 wagons, and considerable interest was displayed in the dispatch of the train. The journey over the deviation occupied 35 minutes, but it is expected that now the line has been tested with a heavy load time will be reduced. Goods trains should be able to cover in about 20 minutes on the new line the distance that previously took 35 to 40 minutes to travel. Goods traffic is practically wholly confined to night time, so the work of completing the deviation, including the laying of the second track and the giving of further attention to the ballasting on the track already laid, will not be impeded.