CAPACITY TRAIN AND POOR QUALITY OF COAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 April 1949, Page 4

CAPACITY TRAIN AND POOR QUALITY OF COAL

An exceptionally heavy complement of passengers-, returning after the long week-end and the poor steaming qualities of the coal used are stated to have been factors which caused the Christchurch-Greymouth express to be almost 50 minutes late reaching Greymouth yesterday afternoon. The express, which is scheduled to arrive at Greymouth at 4.30 p.m., did not reach here' until 5.18, and its late arrival caused minor delays to other rail services on the West Coast.

The express was a “capacity” train, consisting oi 12 cars, and when it left Christchurch more than 400 passengers were aboard. Due to the heavy passenger load and the quality of the coal, the express experienced difficulty in negotiating the stiff grade between Springfield and Arthur’s Pass, where most of the delay occurred. The Grejhnouth-Westport rail-car was held at Stillwater to allow passengers on the express for the Westport line to m'ake their connection. This delay was reflected in the late arrival at Greymouth last evening of the Westport-Greymouth service. The rail-car from Wqstport did not reach Greymouth until 6.54 p.m., a little over 20 minutes late.