YESTERDAY’S PROCEEDINGS

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 April 1948, Page 6

YESTERDAY’S PROCEEDINGS

Alexander Hudson Guthrie, of Timaru* who retired on March 8 after being senior driver at Kai" koura, said he had the responsibility of allotting firemen and drivers. On February 6 Driver Gurr, who had been sent from the Linwood depot as relief, arrived. Driver Gurr said he knew the route south of Kaikoura and from Blenheim to Wharanui and that he had been stationed at Ward for a considerable time and knew quite a lot about the locality. After Driver Gurr had done various runs from Kaikoura, Mr Guthrie asked him if he knew the route before going on to the shift which included No. 104 train. Driver Gurr replied “yes” unhesitatingly and said he was “right back on his old stamping ground,” now that he had been over the ground once.

Mr Guthrie said it was not customary for a second-grade driver to be on an express, but the staff shortage had to be taken into account. department preferred to put first-grade men on expresses, but No. 104 was not looked on as an express, but as a fast passenger train. Driver Gurr was 294- years of age. That was not young for an express driver. Driver Gurr had never been to Blenheim as a passenger train driver. To Mr A .R. Tarr, general secretary of the Railway Officers’ Institute, Mr Guthrie said it was not unusual for acting-drivers to run No. 104. The use of second-grade certificate drivers was dictated by the staff position. No Speedometers Cross-examined by Mr Wild, witness said AB engines had no speedometers or speed indicators. Representations had been made by drivers from time to time for speedometers. The department had acknoweldged they would bo desirable if obtainable.

Mr Wild: If you were still a driver would. you like a speed indicator? — It would be a big assistance. And if of big assistance to you it would bo much more so to a younger and less experienced man?—That is so.

Five curves and five different gradings over a distance of 21- miles would present, difficulties to a strange driver?—l did not think he was a strange driver. He had worked on the route for 188 days when at Ward. Assuming he was then?—No. The line was well marked with curve warning and curve radius boards. Have you ever overrun a station yourself?—Yes. It can be done if one is running for the first time into a particular station. Mr Guthrie said that when Driver Gurr was sent up from Linwood no written record of his experience was provided. He thought it was more recently than nine years since Driver Gurr had been at Ward and he thought Driver Gurr had been there as a driver. Driver Gurr had not said what he was employed as there, and it was only now he knew Driver Gurr had been a cleaner, actingforeman.

Mr Guthrie said that Driver Gunhad informed him he knew the route and on the impression then given he would not have thought it necessary to give him a run over the route as third man on an engine. Driver Gurr had impressed him as keen and conscientious.

Mr Wild: Did you know he had never driven a fast express train before?—No. I knew he had a lot of experience of goods trains. Did you know he had not previously been north of Blenheim except as a passenger?—No. Judgment of Speed Cecil Charles J. Buckley, locomotive foreman, Christchurch, said that when a temporary vacancy occurred at Kaikoura six men were approached to fill it and five declined. Driver Gurr was the best man available in the circumstances and he had. experience in driving over the SpringfieldArthur’s Pass route, which was one of the toughest in New Zealand. Witness had no complaints of Driver Gurr’s work. To Mr Wild, witness said he had driven for 26 years. He judged speed by movements going over, the rail joints on the 701 b track. It was more difficult to judge speed on a down, grade. A speed indicator would help a new driver, but witness preferred the rails system. It was usual for a new man to be given a run over the route with a senior driver, and. had witness been at Kaikoura he would have done so with Driver Gurr had it been possible. However, circumstances at Kaikoura prevented this. Driver Gurr had signed, a form that he knew the route up to Kaikoura, but not north of there, continued Mr Buckley. With Driver Gtirr’s j£evio,ud experience, Mr Buckley considered him capable of driving any train on the Kaikoura run. James Binsted, direct mechanical

engineer, Christchurch, said that up to the time Nd. 104 left Seddon Driver Gurr had been 9 hours 14 minutes on duty, of which time he had been driving 6 hours 12 minutes. The average speed from Tuamarina to Seddon was 25 miles an hour.' Driver Gurr actually possesed a record of considerable driving experience. A fireman and acting-engine-driver such as Driver Gurr did not require any further qualification in order to be designated an enginedriver. In fact, when Driver Gurr was sent to Kaikoura he was better qualified in driving experience than were some on their appointment as engine-drivers in April, 1947. The term “acting” was not meant to imply “inferior” in choosing between an acting-engine-driver and an appointed engine-driver as both must possess second-class certificates. The determining factor would be experience and capacity. Where knowledge of operating rules and mechanics was concerned a man with a second-grade certificate —-whether acting-engine-driver or engine-driver—had the necessary knowledge to enable him to run any train with safety. The general practice of utilising firstgrade engine-drivers for express running could not always be followed, particularly with sub-depots, of which Picton and Kaikoura were examples. Midland Line Experience Records showed that Driver Gurr had an all-round grounding in train operating and had driven trains of heavy tonnage with the most powerful engine “K. 8. over one of . the most severe testing grounds, Spring-field-Arthur’s Pass. Such trains were much heavier and more difficult to control than passenger express trains like No. 104. While stationed at Ward, from April, 1938, to June, 1939, Driver Gurr worked as a fireman for 188 days, during which time his running was over a section which included that where the accident occurred. In this period he would have obtained an intimate knowledge of the track. Knowledge of Route There was a final responsibility on a driver to observe the rule that he must report the matter if required to drive over an unfamiliar route, and, he could not be forced to run a train over a section he did not know, said witness. Driver Gurr’s 1946 certificate indicated that he was aware of his duty in that respect. Mr Wicks: There is nothing in your evidence to show that the department ascertained that Driver Gurr knew the route?—l should say that responsibility was discharged. Mr Guthrie, the senior locomotive i driver, was satisfied.

Mr Tarr: In your opinion was Mr Buckley justified in sending Driver Gurr to Kaikoura?—He made the best decision he could in the circumstances, and taking those into account he was justified. Would he have been influenced by the staff position?—Yes.