HOLIDAY RAILWAY TRAFFIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22713, 28 October 1935, Page 2

HOLIDAY RAILWAY TRAFFIC

HEAVILY LADEN TRAINS SALVATION ARMY BANDS ARRIVE The holiday traffic by all outgoing and incoming express trains was very heavy oq Saturday. The scene at the RailwayStation before the departure of the north express and again with the arrival of the express from Christchurch was an animated one, when several thousand people thronged the platform. The crowd present when the afternoon gxnrcsH arrived _ was so large that it was with difficulty that one moved about the platform, and men and women made slow progress in their search for friends and relatives when they' alighted from the carriages. Tiie express from Christchurch was an exceptionally heavy one, comprising II) carriages, carrying a full complement of travellers. The foremost coaches carried five Salvation Army bands, which will take part in a festival to-day. The bands were the Christchurch City, Ashburton, Timaru, Waimate and Oamaru. The baud from the New Zealand Institute for the Blind (Auckland), which is on a tour of the Dominion, also arrived. This band consists of 20 members of the institute, under the charge of Sir Clutha Mackenzie, who is accompanied by the secretary (Mr E. Frayling) and Mr J. Simpson, who lost his sight a year or two ago as the result of an aeroplane accident near Christchurch. The band party was met at the station and welcomed by the Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox) and a number of persons interested in the blind people. The Dunedin City Salvation Array Band was also present to welcome the visiting Army bands. The express which left the platform at 12.6 p.m. for Christchurch consisted of 17 carriages, and practically every seat in every coach was occupied. The express from the north was running 35 minutes late at Oamaru, but most of the time was retrieved, the train reaching Dunedin at 4.32 p.m.-—only 14 minutes late. A large number of passengers joined the express before its departure for the south. _ At 4.40 p.m. a special train, consisting of 12 carriages, reached Dunedin from Invercargill. This train, chartered by the firm of Messrs Herbert Haynes and Co.. carried 380 excursionists, bound for Christchurch, The train left for its destination about 5 p.m. Throughout the afternoon there were heavy bookings at the railway ticket offices for all seaside trains. The Salvation Army visitors were augmented in the evening by the arrival of the Invercargill and combined Gore and Balclutha Bands.