SPECIAL RAIL CARS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19762, 13 April 1926, Page 10

SPECIAL RAIL CARS.

SELF-PROPELLED VEHICLES EXPERLMENTS UNSATISFACTORY. (Pb’ United Peess Association.) WELLINGTON, April 12. So far the experiments conducted by the Railway Department in employing self propelled railway vehicles on lines where locomotive drawn trains have not been a paying proposition have not yielded satisfactory results. Accommodation and other difficulties have presented themselves and now the department is endeavouring to find other lines on which the yffiicle may be more suitable. The Ford conveyance used on the Greytown branch line has proved inadequate for the traffic. Similar trouble has been met with in the Clayton steam rail car on the Foxton branch and the third type of vehicle, the Sentinel steam car, lias been laid up for repairs after doing service on the Hutt line. In view of the disappointing results in respect to the three classes of vehicle referred to, the departmental officers now seem to be more inclined to watch the result of experiments conducted elsewhere than to risk a wastage of public funds in trying other types. Meanwhile every endeavour is being made to find sections of line on which the rail cars already in commission may prove satisfactory.