EQUIPMENT OF RAILWAYS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11515, 22 February 1909, Page 2

EQUIPMENT OF RAILWAYS.

THE GOVERNMENT WORKSHOPS,

(Special to Herald.) DUNEDIN, this day. "We aro building at the Government workshops six of the largest engines ever built m New Zealand,? said the Hon. J. A. Millar, when asked l if any new works had been put m hand. Most of them are being built at_ Aldington, and two of them are already completed. They weigh with the tender (loaded) SO tons each, aaid ar© the heaviest engines it is possible to' run on our narrow gauge. They . are compound: engines; and will -be kpown as. the X type.; The ond alr^ajdy on the road is doing -splendid work. * It takes the passenger express, oh the "North Island Main Trunk ffom Tailiape td^Taiiroaruuui, the heaviest j>aft of the j-dute, ac it includes the 'spiral urtfli^nuTlri^er, of stiff grades. Itonauls '■ ten passenger' cars, a mail van,, two brake vans, ahd- a sleeping car over tlie heavy grades wijbh greatest ease-. , If the railways jar© to, be run economically," said; the Mihis|er, "it can only be byinqrcasiiMf, the tractive jlower of the engines, so that one locomotive may be able to do the Ywbrk which up to the present has. needed .two. " As an iustance of the economy of big enginesi . he meniianedV thfrfc tile' "A class of. engine w-lrioh. the • Department have built. And axe still building u*e 10 per cent, less coal and a good' deal. ; less water than the .engines formerly employed on the same class of haulage.'" .'.""■l 'ho Minister also stated that ;'«ia_." eh-

gines ar© being mult at the- H-Hside .workshops. Tl icy are tank engines designed for suburban work or for pass#n gerJ^rafHc other than the express service Then there are ten locomotives still , ; to be received of the .. contract for the supply 'of twenty by the Thames firm of Price, vvho are delivering them at the rate of one every six weeks. On bping usked whether our rolling stock had hitherto been allowed to fall behind requirements, that so many hew engines had to be built, Mi* Millar said tluit so far as engine power was concerned, the ordeijsi m hand would when completed pretty well meet pfe_fehfc\ Jre(luirements, but that with the constantly increasing traffic the Department would have to make further pj-pvision. . The opening of the. Main -Trunk line necessitated 1 .a certain number of hew engines designed for that special '; work. Hitherto th© financial..p osition had only permitted, of provision < being made for a year's^ requirements. In .ordering stock calculations , were made on the basis of the tniffic ot tlie preceding year,, but the Department's , busines-5 increased so rapidly tbat..by the time the. new. engines and foiling' s^lf Svere on the there , was sttlla shortage. ' ; '7 7

"If we went m. for a big building for a. year," said the Minister, "and got sufficient rolling Htpck; to equip upright np to date, then tlie diands m the workshops would have to be materially re-

duced' afterwards, for there would be no, work for them. It would also mean a heavy expense m the one year. Taken all round we aro getting pretty well up to requirements. We hav<i 400 trucks m hand, aiid Carriages are m hand at Newmarket, Petone, Addington and Hillside. Wo had to have a big building programme to equip the Main Trunk, on wiliich line we have three trains running at one time." The Minister states that he intends to .specialise the building < f different parts, of locomotives m the different workshops, j Instead of each --hop turning out a complete engine one shop would do all the boiler-making, another ahop would specialise m another tbranch, and all the parts would be forwarded to one shop and put together therein. The motive of thi_ plan is economy, as at' each shop there would be; a gang of experts train-' ed m one particular . branch of locomotive construction. •