ON HOLIDAY BENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 10

ON HOLIDAY BENT

THOUSANDS COME AND GO

EXTRA EXPRESS TRAINS

When the returns are available they will probably be found to justify the opinion, expressed . previously, that more people have travelled this Christ-mas-than ever before in the history of this country. , . In the shopping areas of Wellington on Christmas Eve many thousands.- of | people were making their ■-final preparations for the festive season, but] without doubt the busiest places of all were the post offices and railway stations, more noticeably the. latter. ■ ! Old Thorndon Station, about which | so many unkind things have been said for years past, catered for its last Christmas crowds. During the past week it has been the. scene of bustling humanity, but on Christmas Eve—well, it was the busiest day of all.. As if by way of a grand vale, it smiled its grimy, personality on..the ; largest crowd of Christmas travellers that-has passed through its portals during its long j years of useful service. All day and well into the night the .old platforms were crowded with arriving and departing travellers. ';■ But old Thorndon is.just one of the many busy; central stations in New Zealand, where Christmas time means holidays that take people to the cool bush, sunny beaches, or the comfort and rest of one..or other, of the country's splendid .resorts.. In. shortfall who have the opportunity .become travellers, and the.:tax on the varioustransport organisations -is. very con-, siderable. The largest transport body, is the Railway..,,. Department," which annually experiences the heaviest traffic at this timevof the year, and it is only by thorough and efficient organisation of its service that it is ablr to cope iWith the greatlyincreased traffic. All-day and all night during holidays the trunk lines throb with the beat of the locomotive exhaust and the clatter of. carriage wheels, i ; ' BUSIEST FOE YEARS. This Christmas. is undoubtedly the busiest the Railway Department has experienced for some years, and; the sight of the many-crowded trains during the past few days is a sure sign that people have more money to spend and are taking a rest from the everyday scene and routine. An indication of the heavy volume of railway traffic is the fact that between December 18 and Christmas Eve no fewer than 30 expresses ran from Wellington to Auckland. Four expresses left Wellington for Auckland on December! 18, four on Saturday, two on Sunday, j four on Monday, four on Tuesday, five on Wednesday, and seven on\ Thursday. The traffic offering in the .north necessitated an almost equal number of expresses from Auckland to Wellington. These trains have all carried their full complements. All other express trains from Wellington have been'heavily loaded, particularly the New Plymouth and Wanganui services. On. Thursday it was necessary to provide a relief express to take the overflow of passengers from the usual New Plymouth express. Traffic to and from Napier was also unusually heavy. On Christmas Eve special trains went to New Plymouth and Napier, leaving at .11.12 .pX- and 11.35 p.m. respectively. OTHER SERVICES. In addition to .the trains;, the interisland ferry.steamers; service cars, private motor-cars, and also Cook Strait Airways' passenger aeroplanes carried heavy loads of people on holiday bent. A number of extra trips to and from Wellington were made by Cook Strait Airwr/ ■." machines. On Thursday after-, noon three aeroplanes were going as hard as they could/and for every trip each was fully booked. There were twelve trips to Wellington on Thursday and twelve departures. On Wednesday 18 trips were made—nine each There has been a steady stream of motor traffic from Wellington, and many cars have also come into Wellington from other centres. v