BY ROAD AND RAIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24254, 23 March 1940, Page 7

BY ROAD AND RAIL

HEAVY EASTEFI JKAFEIC ROLLING STOCK DEPLETED ALL LINES POPULAR The Dunedin railway district.is at present experiencing one of the'busiest periods in its history.;',Easter,'travelling: by train is so heavy that, as one railwav official put it- yesterdayv every wheel that will roll is Pa'themove, and until trains return, frojr)' various destinations in the evening.'it is not possible to "start making up those for the following morning. Heavy demands are also being made on the railway road, services, which on some of their runs have had to employ as many as three and four extra buses to cope with the extraordinary number of passengers offering. Less Private Motoring An evidence of the extent to which the rolling stock is being called on could be seen yesterday in the practically empty state . of the • railwav yards, for every available carriage had been called on to assist in carrying the great rush of people away from the citv and the almost equally heavy traffic into Dunedin from north and south and.from Central Otago. It is considered that one of the causes of the tremendously heavy travelling this Easter may be the existence of the petrol restrictions, while the fact that the' holiday, occurs so early this year mav also have induced many to travel in the hope of enjoying a continuance of the,fine*,-.warm .fy.eathe/ that was experienced Until a day or two ago. Heavy traffic was the rule on all lines:-bo'th inward and outward. railwav officials stated yesterday, and as far, as thev could nudge, it was likely to remain so', 1 for .the*.next, few days. Easter racing .will begin- to-day. whne the many other ; ■sporting 1 .-attractions that have been arranged will also draw their share of patrons, and; as' always, the great burden of transportatipffowill fall on the railways. : especially With the restricted: m'otPf /travelling' under the present conditions;- -.•-•;'. ;■ 1■; •_■• :,• '■;. ' Exhibition Visits \ Questioned whether, any, particular places are being patronised more than others, railway officers were to state that people seemed'to xhe going everywhere. • The extremely' ;h£avy demand on the interisland, s_f garner service indicated that a. good; ifaany were taking what will-be. for;.:mpst a last opportunity of seeing,,thevCehtetinial Exhibition at the many conferences'- that place in Wellington during the next few days have no doubt also been responsible for some part, of the "rush. As usual at this time of the year, seaside resorts within easy distance of Dunedin were being visited by ; many people, and the Central Otago line was also carrying a good deal.of .passenger traffic for most points between; Dunedin and~Cromw.ell. . - .'...'.;.,...'