A RAILWAY MUDDLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7068, 9 April 1901, Page 2

A RAILWAY MUDDLE.

■ , i.. — ♦ y — -.. . ■ A WET NIGHT AND AN OVER. I CROWDED TRAIN. I INSUFFICIENT ACCOMMODATION. I The train from the north last nijght was. I crowded to excess and many of the passen- I gers.had a- travelling experience they are I not likely to forget. An exodus of holi- I day visitors from the Hanmer Springs, to- I gether with a large number of cyclists, fl compelled by the bad weather to take the fl train, filled ther four or five carriages pro- fl vided long before Rangiora was reached, fl At that station some covered and open . H waggons brought up on the goods train H were put ort. \ The night being cold and H wet, the trucks were naturally not appre- HJ ciated, but after t\e carriages had been ■ filled until there was not even standing *B room, some of the passengers were com- H pelled to take to the waggons. . H . Difficulty was found in stowing away the ■ bicycles, two vans andi even the mail van H being blocked with them. At Rangiora H between thirty and forty Were booked, and ■ already there must have been quite as many ■ oh the train. H At Kaiapoi there were over two hun- H dred passengers waiting iri pouripg rain for H thfe train, and their feelings can be better ■ ianngined than described when they found thixt waggons were the only accommoda- H tion for them. Although lamps are pro- ■ vided! for the platform only, the one in ■ front of the booking office was burning, its H light being but sufficient to make the dark- M ness visible. Besides the passefig-ers crowd- ■ ing the p.atforrii, there must have been -H neariy two score bicycles, some- lying about to all appearance abandoned by their ownets. How to get the passengers and bi- IB cycles on board the train was «a problem BB t-rict took fully three-quarters of an hour to solve, the occupants 4 of the train from KBJ Christchurch meanwhile cooling their heels BBJ in a not very merry frame of mind on & ftflj aiding below the rstation. . An attempt was made to back the down train on to another siding, presumably to I BJ let tho other train puss pn its way north, — BJ aird so clear the platform -of part of the BH crowd, but after the former train had been BBJ run up the lice scone distance, and brought BB| to a standstill for about ten minntes. it^fl was discovered to be too long for the sid- flfl] ing, and it Was brought back to its [ or '^fl mer position opposite the platform. Then^H came the final loading up of bicycles and :^M passengers who had held off in 'hopes that^BJ sorile reasonable steps would be taken to^H provide another train. Matters were expe--^H dited somewhat by the thoughtfulness oi^M some individual who lit one of the plat-^H form lamps. A pitiful sight as rho train-^H moved away was that of- a -I'sdy sitting in^B one of the open- trucks on a. wet seat, with^^H a baby in her ■■■arms, which she was doing^H her bist to protect irom th« weather. As-^H the train passed the' one. going north it was-^H inexplicable to the lay minds of the shiver-^M ing occupants of the trucks why. durm^^B the three^tiarters of an hour's delay, a *^H least two carriages seen to be almost emptv^M could not- have been detached and plaeet^^B on the other train, where they were so bad-^H ly wanted. . •