EIGHT ENGINES SCRAPPED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19660, 11 June 1927, Page 12

EIGHT ENGINES SCRAPPED.

TIPPED INTO RIVER BED. USE AS A BREAKWATER. A ghost train crawled out of Invercargill shortly after 8 o clock last Sunday morning and proceeded northwards at a speed of about, five miles an hour. Never before, says the Southland Times, has such a train been seen in Southland; possibly it is without parallel in New Zealand, for it consisted of nine engines, a guard's van, and a seven-ton steam crane. But from only one of the engines did steam and smoke belch forth. The rest were corpses—mere skeletons of what years ago were handsome steel giants, doing service for the New Zealaiid Railways. Nqw, having outlived their usefulness and having been embalmed long enough in the railway yards, they were being conveyed to their "last resting place, the stony bed of the Oreti Rivet The reason for the choice of such a watery grave for the engines was that they would act as a protection to the railway embankment, which is liable to erosion by flood waters. The dead weight of the engines made.their disposal a difficult task, but.it was done at last, and two truck loads of tender bogeys were tipped'into the river to "mark the conclusion of a suc&essful effort. It is probable that eight more engines will be sent over next Sunday.-