LOCOMOTIVE STOCKS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 6 October 1924, Page 4

LOCOMOTIVE STOCKS.

urgent need for increase. “A careful examination of the locomos^°ck shows that, having regard. to U l © requirements that might resonably be expected to arise in the natural order of the development of the system consequent on the opening of' new lines and’ the increase in traffic, there is urgent need tor further increase in the engine-power,” says the annual report of the General Manager of Railways. Ve y eai ’s ended March 01, the locomotive stock was augmented by a total of seventy-nine new engines, of which none were built by Messrs. A. and G. Price (Limited), of ihames, twenty-two were constructed m the Department’s own workshops, and forty-eight imported from Great Britain. During the same period fortyfour obsolete engines were written off as having been sold or scrapped, leaving a net increase during the period mentioned of thirty-live engines. There are at present 173 locomotives of obsolescent types in the service; ninetyfour of these will require to be written off a s no longer economically efficient, and replaced by modern engines of greater power within five years. There will then remain seventy-nine to he replaced at a subsequent date. “The opening of the Otira tunnel has necessitated the diversion of eighteen of the best type of engines from the South Island Main Trunk to the Midland line. Similarly, the completion of the North Auckland main line will necessitate the transfer of engines to the Wlmngarei district, thu s creating a shortage of power in other parts of the section. “In order to provide for these contingencies and enable traffic requirements to be met it will be necessary to invite tenders for the manufacture of thirty-five Class Ab engines for early delivery. The capacity of the railway workshops, combined with the establishment of Messrs Price Bros., Thames, is barely sufficient to meet the ordinary requirements created by wear and the natural expansion of business, and leaves no margin to provide for the requirements of new lines or overtaking shortages in locomotive power created by other emergent circumstances. It is not practicable to increase the capacity of the existing railway workshops, nor for Messrs. Price Bros, to increase their output.”