MOTOR TRAINS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17344, 26 September 1924, Page 12

MOTOR TRAINS.

FOR LYTTELTON LINE. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, September 25. New motor rail trains which are being constructed tor the Railway Department will be tried out on various sections throughout the Dominion, including the Christchurch-Lyttelton and Christ church-Templet on runs. The Minister in his annual statement says : —- “It was fully anticipated that at least three motor-trains would have been in active commission ere this, but owing to various reasons 1 regret it is not possible for me to be able to furnish any useful information so far as actual experience of working on our own lines is concerned. Orders wwe placed in December last for one Sentinel steam-car, one Clayton steam ' aland a Leyland internal-combustion engine to be fitted to a car to be designed and constructed in the .Department’s own shops. The later engine duly arrived in July, and the vehicle is at present under construction. With regard to the two steam-cars, owing to various points being raised by the Government's consulting engineers in England concerning the design and other matters, it is not anticipated that the cars will he available in the Dominion for use much before the end of October. “In addition. arrangements were made with Mr E. B. Buckhurst. a motor engineer of Christchurch, to instal a six-cylinder internal-combustion engine to a light type oi railway carriage. This car should be available towards the end of October. ‘‘The cars will ho placed in commission immediately they arc available, and so far as can be seen at present will he tried out on various sections throughout the Dominion, such as Wanganui-Ma rton, 'Penrosc-Papakura, AVellington-Johnsonville, \\ cliingtonI'pper Hutt, Christchurch-Lyttelton, Christehurch-Templeton. Dunedin -Port Chalmers, lnvercavgi.ll-Tuata.pere, Invercargill - Lumsden. Gore - Switzers, Tima ru-Fairlie. Woodvi lie-Feat lmrston, Napier-AA aipukurau, I lianios-Frankton, and others. ‘‘ln order to secure practical expert knowledge o( the* motor trains in use on the railways in the Australian States. Mr S. H. Jonkinson, Chief Draughtsman. visited Australia, and lias furnished a valuable report dealing with his observations. “ Mr Jenkinson closely inspected the design and construction of the various petrol rail motor-cars on the Australian railways (with the exception of AA’ostern Australia), and travelled on all the types in service at the time of his visit. He also examined the traffic conditions of the sections on which the ears were running, and travelled over sections representative of each type oi service. Self-propelled cars arc being successfully operated in some of the Australian States, and with the results obtained are. in my opinion, sufficient, justification for this class of vehicle to l>o adopted more- extensively on some portions of our system. “ In addition to the types already dealt with, inquiries arc being made with regard to other kinds of selfpropelled cars, such as electrical storage battery. and any other types that have been successful in other