SHUNTING AT NIGHT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18439, 19 June 1920, Page 13

SHUNTING AT NIGHT.

RESIDENTS COMPLAIN OIF NOISE. Residents in streets adjoining the railway line between the Chnstcburch and Linsvood stations complain that their rest has been unduly disturbed lately by the noise made during shuntino operations at night-time. One cause is apparently the inadequacy of the present shunting engines, many, of thorn low-powered and out-of-date, and another is the heavy goods traffio of the past few.weeks. A man who Uvea on the Sydenham ride of tho line said yesterday that the noise in the railway yard often made sleep impossible, and that he was quite certain a good deal of it was unnecessary. From inquiries mado ho had oomo to the conclusion that a bever system of shunting would improve the position. Out-of-date methods were ttill in force, and there was waste of energy in all directions. He urged that tho railways should bo controlled by a committoo of business men. The licensee of an hotel facing Moorhouse Avenue said that, when he first took over, he was disturbed night after night. Now he had grown accustomed to°the tow. Now and again his boarders complained, but very seldom. When they did, he arranged for a change-over into a back bedroom. " It's dreadful sometimes," said the tenant of a house near tho Linwood engine-sheds. " For anyone who is ill it must bo terrible. "What we complain of lound here is the noise made when the engines come back after midnight to let off steam. I wish they'd luy silencers." Railway officials say that it is impossible to carry out shunting operations without making a certain amount of noise. Instructions have been issued to engine-drivers to whistle as little as possible at night-time, but there must always be the thud of trucks, and the noise mado by tho increase of power when the wheels begin to slip. "The work must go on," said one official. " Lately there has been between 8000 and 9000 tons of cargo waiting for us at Lyttolton every day, against about 5000 tons in ordinary times. The only way to get that up to town iB to shunt in the yards nil night and so have the ' empties' ready for the discharge gangs at 8 a.m. In consequence the work has been abnormal lately, but I don't see how we can do without the row. It affects aany of ns as much as anyone."