CHEAP RAIL CAR

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 February 1926, Page 5

CHEAP RAIL CAR

— ♦ .. ■ BRANCH LINE PROBLEM. EFFORT TO SOLVE IT. SOME INGENIOUS DEVICES. (Bv Telegraph.—Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 5. With nineteen branch lines attached to its system, but- not earning enough to pay interest, the Railway Department has long had a difficult problem. Traffic is so light on many of these lines that there is no chance of a. •steam train, with three employees to work it, being able to pay bare running expenses. _ Therefore, in attempting to meet this position, the chief mechanical engineer, Mr 'G. S. Lvnde, who since he has taken the position has introduced a number of important innovations in rolling stock, aimed first afc 'producing cheapest, possible class of vehicle and next the cheapest one to run. Hs. ‘started with* a- ,one-ton Ford chassis as a basis, designed a suitable coach for railway purposes, arranged so that one man can effectively control it. The Ford rail coach is being tried on a small branch in the Wairarapa, from Woodside to Greytown, and anotlie# is being built at the Petone shops. It carries eleven passengers, and some of the back seats are so arranged that they can drop down on hinges and space made for luggage, milkcans or other goods. An emergency door is fitted at the back,. but the usual entrance will be from either side of the vehicle in front, there being a door on both sides of the driver’s seat, so that if a system of pay-as-you enter is introduced, the Ford rail, car driver can collect fares as well as drive. Th e axles of the road chassis had to be reduced to the railway gauge and strengthened, and - disc wheels, with a, light section of Hanged tyres fitted. The usual steering wheel disappeared, and the driver has to manage the petrol and spark controls, a foot brake and a substantial hand brake. Trials of the coach showed that Jit could maintain a pace of 30 miles an hour on a petrol consumption of 16 to IS miles per gallon,, with a. full load, and carrying its own turntable. The most ingenious feature of this new rail motor is the of turnin'; it. Some branch lines have turntables at the teyminus, but this rail can be turned at any point, owing to a simple, cheap and effective plan worked out by the chief mechanical engineer. The balance point of the coach is carefully ascertained, and a olate p'aced beneath the body to mark the spot. When the driver wishes to start oil the return journey he places a jack beneath the balance point, clamps the springs with clips fixed to the vehicle, makes a few turns on the jack, and the coach is then balanced on a small ball-bearing turntable attached to the jack. It is easy for one man to turn the coach in two minutes.

This class of rail motor is probably just wliat is needed for serving scattered districts having light traffic. In any case the experiment is inexpensive. for the chassis can easily be reconverted to road use if the rail car is found unsuitable for that work. Faster and heavier traffic calls for a different class of rail motor, and those which have been evolved in older centres cost probably four or five times more than it does on the New. Zealand railwys. The latest Ford railster, if it stands up to the traffic requirements of the small branch lines, should save many of them from being closed, for they are only earning, £406 per mile, though the working expenditure, exclusive of interest on their capital cost, is £475 per inile.