SIXTY YEARS' SOOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20254, 14 May 1929, Page 10

SIXTY YEARS' SOOT.

DIRTY LYTTELTON TUNNEL

"THICK AIR" FOR PASSENGERS

With reference to the cleaning out of the Lyttelton railway tunnel which is now proceeding, the Christchurch Press states that travellers to and from Lyttelton are wondering when it will be their portion to disembark with clean hands and clothes. The work of cleaning 'the 60 years' accumulation of soot out of the tunnel is now going on, the walls being swept at night after tho last train has gone through. Nine or ten men are engaged on tho work. The result is that tho soot falls to the bottom of the tunnel, and tho swift passage of trains stirs it up again until the air is thick. As much of tho soot as possible is being collected and taken out of the tunnel immediately it is brought down. A Lyttelton resident stated last week that a good many of tho regular travellers take the precaution of covering tho scats with newspapers, for it is fatal to wear a light-coloured suit without some sort of protection. lio stated that to prove tho sooty nature of the air in tho carriages a traveller had only to rub his hand over his coat and the result would speak for itself. His opinion was that tiie only efficient means of cleaning the tunnel would be tho employment of a vacuum apparatus of suitable size, which would do the work quickly and save the nuisance to passengers.