RAILWAY MAINTENANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23511, 27 May 1938, Page 15

RAILWAY MAINTENANCE

10 r 11K EDITOR Sir. —1 think that s correspondent who writes on this subject knows as little of railway matters as ho admits he knows of farming. He says that it is idle and futile for Mr Nash to insinuate that the railways were in bad order two years ago I think if Mr Nash had said five years ago he would have been nearer the truth. About 1930 the now defunct Railways Board speeded up the mail and express train time tables, but did not increase the efficiency of the permanent way; consequently we have express trains travelling 50 miles and more an hour on a 30-mile-an-hour I see rails that have been in the track since 1908. Now this was all right for that period, when an engine weighed about 55 tons. To-day the engines weigh from 98 to 142 tons, and still there is no increase in track efficiency, , In to-day’s issue J see that Mr Malet, a visiting civil engineer of the Indian State Railways, informs us that in his opinion our expresses travel 100 fast on a three-foot-six-inches gauge, and ho did not think the track was as well ballasted as that of the Indian railways. where they wore using steel sleepers, which were proving very satisfactory. When the Government gets the proposed new steel works operating it will be able to make steel sleepers and rails that weigh 1201 b per yard, instead of the 701 b per yard in use to-day, and. believe me, they are wanted from Auckland to the Bluff During the last two years materials for the upkeep of the track have been much more easily obtained from the railway stores than they were in previous years, when we had to use and reuse materials that were not fit for the main lines. . Our country is too rugged for a high speed to be kept up on a narrow gauge unless the track is kept up to the highcst period of efficiency. I think I can claim to know a little about this matter, as I work very, very close to the permanent way. —I am, etc.. May 25, Safety First.