THE BALCLUTHA-TAHAKOPA TRAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 27

THE BALCLUTHA-TAHAKOPA TRAIN

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, —As a resident of Tahakopa and a passenger sometimes, when there is no other way out, and when the soles of my boots are a bit too thin to stand the trip to Balclutha to catch the express, I patronise the Tahakopa to Balclutha-Catlins branch train, with its beautifully upholstered carriages. You’re telling me! There shi/uld be only one of this class in New Zealand at the present time, which should be hooked on to the “Josephine” alongside the Early Settlers’ Hall in Dunedin. It would give the present generation a good idea of what the hardy pioneers had to put up with. To the discomfort of the carriages have to be added the most erratic times to which the train runs and the excessive speed at which it travels. For instance, last Tuesday night (May 31) it took two hours and a-quarter to travel from Owaka to Tahakopa—a distance of 19 miles—arriving here approximately an hour and a-half late from Balclutha. It is most annoying when one’s wife goes to Dunedin on “ marketing day.” and one has to leave a good fire to stand around a cold station on a wet night for nearly two hours. The scheduled time on Tuesdays is: Leave Balclutha 6.30 p.m.; arrive Tahakopa 9.15 p.m. For some considerable time and for some unknown reason, however, this is never observed. •

Whilst many uncomplimentary remarks were being made about the Government and the railways, it was put forward by one of the staff, who is a firm Government supporter, that the “ Josephine ” was known to have taken a week to do the journey between Dunedin and Cromwell. As one wag remarked, the present staff of the Catlins line would be pleased to hear that.

There is, however, a person down here who has a wireless set now and he has been telling us that conditions have changed since that time, and that the railways have been speeded up a bit. It is all very fine to joke about the matter, but we have put up v/ith this state of affairs long enough, and it is high time something was done, for the pioneers of the district are surely due for a little comfort and consideration in their old age,—l am, etc., Living in Hopes (Even if We Do Die in Despair).

Tahakopa, June 1. [The district traffic manager, to whom this letter was referred, states that on the night in question the evening train from Balclutha to Tahakopa Was 35 minutes late in leaving Balclutha, owing to the late arrival of the through express from north. Three stations had to be shunted for live stock traffic, in addition to the usual shunt at Owaka. The work offering on this date was exceptional, resulting in the train arriving at Tahakopa 80 minutes behind schedule. Every endeavour is made to reduce the shunting work for this train on Tuesday and Friday nights. The distance from Owaka to Tahakopa by rail is 23£ miles,' not 19 miles, and the time occupied in running from Owaka to Tahakopa was one hour 56 minutes and not two hours and a-quarter, as stated in the above letter. The question of the seating accommodation in the cars running on this branch has already received attention, and after the King’s Birthday holidays, the bench-seated car will be withdrawn and a chair-seated one substituted.— Ed„ O.D.T.]