LOOKING AT RAILWAYS.

Southland Times, Issue 19389, 1 November 1924, Page 4

LOOKING AT RAILWAYS.

Expert railwaymen can discover a great deal about a railway system with only a brief acquaintance, but the Commission which is now going over the New Zealand railway system in a special train will miss many of the peculiar features of travel, in this part of the Dominion at any rate, if it does not devote a few days at least to journeys in the ordinary cars in the “slow trains” for preference. A run from Invercargill to Kingston in the regular “express” for instance would be of enormous value to the investigators who are bent on discovering the facts about the State Railways in this country. Unfortunately, they are just too late to have the pleasure of a ride in a “non-stop” train from the Gore races, a convenience put in the face of active motor competition. To have missed this ride is a serious loss, because on that “non-stop” run they could have seen the country and would have had four or five chances to walk about railway stations, including one generous wait at Edendale. Some of the passengers on the train boast that they spent an hour at Edendale, but others put the time at thirty minutes, though they candidly admit that it seemed an hour, in spite of ig wtshiw tbnißntnr.

cars carrying passengers from the races streaming past on their way to Invercargill. These distinguished visitors, too, cannot claim to have a knowledge of railway matters in this part of the Dominion unless they have had the chance to travel from Wellington to Invercargill and back on the time-table expresses, which connect with the north on alternate days only. These features which are well-known to people who live in Southland, are denied to travellers who moved in special trains, and it will be unfortunate if . these experienced railwaymen go away without obtaining a personal acquaintance with the conditions under which the public uses the railways.