RAIL CAR TO NAPIER

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 140, 15 June 1936, Page 11

RAIL CAR TO NAPIER

A SUCCESSFUL I.'IW

CROWDS AT ALL STOPS

With 50 passengers aboard the vail car Maahunui did a successful trial run yesterday from Lambton Station to Napier and back via the Manawatu Gorge, a total distance of 400 miles. From Woodville to Napier the car was an entire novelty to the residents en route, and at Waipukurau, Pukehou, and Hastings crowds had assembled to catch a glimpse of it. At Hastings there were some 2000 people, who were keenly interested; indeed at all three places at which the car stopped, to enable a closer examination, the people were enthusiastic over the new transport unit, it was stated today.

The Minister of Railways (the Hon. j D. G. Sullivan), the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb), and the General Manager of Railways (Mr. G. H. Mackley) addressed those gathered at the stops, and also at Napier, where the biggest crowd assembled, and where a band was in attendance. At Waipukurau, Hastings, and Napier the speakers were introduced by the respective members for the districts, Messrs. H. M. Christie (Waipawa), E. L. Cullen (Hawke's Bay), and W. E. Barnard (Napier).

The rail car left Napier at 5.44 p.m., and arrived at Wellington at 11.35 p.m. Thirty-four minutes were spent in stops.

Mr. Mackley expressed himself as well satisfied with this test run. "The people did not expect to find so com-fortable-looking a 'land ship,'" he said today. "The numbers oi people, some of whom had waited two and three hours, who had gathered we?s too great to allow them all to see the inside of the car, but I took the opportunity of telling them that the interior was an even better job than the exterior, and that it was the latest form of comfortable, clean, and fast rail transport. This car is not truly representative of the standard type of vehicle which we are putting to service, because of the limitations and restrictions imposed upon those designing it by the arduous journey over the Rimutaka incline, which has meant keeping the weight down, and building a chassis which would carry the brake equipment and engine and clear the centre rail. The standard vehicles which will be put into use elsewhere will be dual-engined, with a double bogie, the engine riding on the bogie and not in the centre of the car as is the case with the Bimutaka cars. This will mean more speed and steadier riding."