ROLLING STOCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26228, 12 August 1946, Page 8

ROLLING STOCK

NEW RAILWAY WAGONS SUPPLIES FROM BRITAIN (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 10. Between January and August of next year 3000 steel LA wagons for the New Zealand railways will be available for shipment from Britain, where orders have recently been placed with three large manufacturers. The wagons will be shipped completely knocked down, and will be assembled in New Zealand railways workshops at the rate of approximately 350 a month. Provided shipping is available to lift the wagons as they are ready in Britain, all 3000 should be in service early in 1948.

Announcing that contracts had been let for the supply of these wagons from Britain, the Minister of Railways, Mr Semple, said: “ Our building programme for rolling stock in New Zealand inevitably fell behind during the war. Production in our own railway workshops is now being pushed forward as quickly as possible as supplies of labour and materials permit. In the past 16 months 446 wagons of . all types have been built in New Zealand, nearly half of them for live stock traffic. Since the beginning of April this year 46 LA wagons have been put into service. The LA wagon is a steel higljsider of 12 tons carrying capacity, which is ideal for the carriage of lime and manures.’’ The Minister said he hoped the new wagons would arrive in time to cope with the heavy increase in traffic which was expected’ as greater supplies of phosphate manures became available. •