INVERCARGILL EXCURSION

Evening Star, Issue 21881, 19 November 1934, Page 14

INVERCARGILL EXCURSION

ENJOYABLE DAY’S OUTING The popularity of the Railway Department’s Sunday excursions to Invercargill was reflected yesterday in the fact that COO people took advantage of the opportunity to journey south on one or other of the two trains that left here early in the morning. The faster special'left 'at 7.20 a.in. with 320 passengers aboard after leaving Caversham, and had a good run to near Mataura,- where a slight, mishap to the Westinghouse brake apparatus caused a stoppage. The train was about twenty minutes late in arriving at Invercargill, but no inconvenience to the passengers was caused. The second train, which picked up passengers at several intermediate stations, and which carried a maximum load of 282, came through on schedule time. Both specials had an uneventful run home, and the courtesy and cheerfulness of the department’s officials were well in keeping with the holiday atmosphere. As is usual on the Invercargill excursions, many of the travellers spent the six hours available in visiting friends and relatives, this being evidenced by the big crowd of southerners who were present on the station to greet the visitors and also to say an revoir. Others, again, made a picnic day of it, either settling down in the picturesque gardens with a luncheon hamper or taking advantage of a trip to Bluff or Oreti beach. Except for a light and harmless shower early in the afternoon, there were no climatic disturbances, the day generally being overcast but calm and warm. The Band of the Ist Battalion, Otago Regiment, travelled down and played much-appreciated music at the Show Grounds. The number of visitors to the south was swelled by excursionists from Queenstown and wayside stations, some of whom went on to Bluff on the train that brought them through.