Problems for Railway Guards

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 83, 29 June 1927, Page 10

Problems for Railway Guards

Obtaining, the Cost per Mile of Hauling Goods AN ELABORATE SYSTEM /guards on the railway* at-present: leork out an elaborate system, of figures which is only once removed from a cross-word puzzle Some time ago the Railway liepartment decided to obtain, as nearly as possible, the definite cost a mile of the haulage of goods Hence the cross-icord puzzle.

There is no doubt that the system caused the guards to *iyi, heavily at first, but note they have become accustomed to the minute calculations required of them.

On each journey it is the duty 0 f the guard of the train to compile statistics showing the amount of good, carried, taken on and shunted off the various stations en route. m, means that the ordinary train report has become a most involved p ro . position.

On the express and passenger train the duties are not so arduous as those on the goods trains, where a stop j s made at almost every station. Nowadays the guard has very little time to spare, what with shunting operations at the stations and his general attention to the train.

Sometimes the guards have to spend a considerable amount of time, after they leave their trains, in compiling these reports.

In addition to their ordinary duties the guards have been given consider, able clerical responsibility. The new system met with some opposition iron several branches of the A.S.R.S.. and it is stated that protests have been made to headquarters. Prior to the system being given a fair trial in the South, a general protest was made, but the Northern guards did not agree with this, and decided to "give it a run.”

To the ordinary man the sheets do resemble a cross-word puzzle or an involved arithmetical problem. Some of the waggons count one and others two. Then there are the gross and net tonnages which have to be added or subtracted, as the case demands, at every station en route So if the guard does not come on the scene immediately anything happens, do not blame him—he is probably working out his little problem. Wait for a moment before you yell, "Where is the guard?”