GRADUAL REPLACEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27096, 2 June 1949, Page 10

GRADUAL REPLACEMENT

RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK OVERCOMING WAR-TIME LAG PA AUCKLAND, June 1. “Our replacement scheme is well under way,” said the general manager of railways, Mr F. W. Aickin, to-day, replying to questions on what the department was doing to overcome the war-time production lag and understaffing to cope with the heaviest passenger and goods traffic in the Dominion’s history. Mr Aickin said the number of carriages on the Main Trunk expresses had been increased from eight to 12, but this had caused serious delays. From June 13 only 10 carriages would be used, except on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays, when an additional one would be attached.

Immediate replacement plans, announced by Mr Aickin, include the construction of 35 new J-A type engines in the South Island. There are already 10 in service, and five more will be completed this year. The conversion of 26 more locomotives from coal to oil burners will bring the total on the Main Trunk, Palmerston North-Napier and Marton-New Plymouth runs to 77. It is also intended to buy rolling slock from Britain and to construct more in the department’s workshops. To meet the staff shortage, recruiting campaigns and immigration drafts would be used to bolster' the maintenance and locomotive staffs. Fifty English immigrants had recently joined the Otahuhu workshops, and the Atlantis .would bring 50 more for the Hutt shops and 100 for the Wellington electrification project. “ The railways suffer more than any other service in time of war,” Mr Aickin added. “The final answer is electrification.”