“WILD-CAT’ TRAINS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 94, 16 December 1912, Page 5

“WILD-CAT’ TRAINS.

The unenviable experience of the members of the Te Awamutu Philharmonic Society on Wednesday evening is such as is not'likely to tempt any of them to look forward to a second journey in a “wild-cat” train (says the Waipa ‘Post’). Timed to leave Te Awarnutu at 5.40 p.m., the train, after much manoeuvring, got away at'6.4o. When it was found that Otorohauga could not be reached before 8 o’clock, the carriages were converted <nto dressing-rooms, and it was a work of art, not to mention a severe test, of endurance, to “paint up” while the train wended its weary way in a series of jerks mingled with creaking sounds which were not appropriate to its complement of passengers. The return journey was even more eventful. Timed to leave at 11 p.m.., it was not until 12.30 that the train drew up at the station, and not until 1.45 a.m. that the blast of the whistle announced that the return journey was about to be commenced. Te Awamutu waa eventually reached at 2 .50 a.m.— three hours behind the scheduled time of arrival. When it is considered that both these trains carried between fifty and sixty passengers on the occa■sion referred to, and that a time-table is issued for the guidance of the public, the experience of Wednesday night seems to indicate very lax management somewhere. With the advent of flying machines (adds the ‘Post’) New Zealand may possibly hope to get a reasonably reliable means of transit, provided, of course, that the new system is not so shockingly mismanaged as are the New Zealand railways.