MIDDLETON YARDS BEING ALTERED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 3 January 1930, Page 9

MIDDLETON YARDS BEING ALTERED.

SECTIONS OF TRACK ARE LIFTED BODILY. The work of altering the Middleton railway marshalling yards is proceeding according to schedule. A big gang of men are employed shifting the rails and excavating the ground where the new tracks are to be laid. The work, which is expected to cost £22,000, has now been in progress for a fortnight, and should be completed in about two months’ time-. Practically all the points at both ends of the yard are being shifted. With the aid of powerful steam cranes, they are being taken up bodily and laid on the ground, ready to be dragged to their new positions. In shifting the rails in complete sections in this manner, a considerable saving is being made, as when they are to be relaid, all that will be necessary will be the ballasting. The grades at the south end of the yard are being altered slightly to make easier the work of shunting made-up trains from the marshalling roads to the departure sidings. This has required the removal of a great deal of track, but when the regrading is done the rails will be laid without much trouble. Three new departure roads are also being constructed to enable southbound goods trains to be worked more easily. A fair amount of excavation has been necessary to enable these tracks to be constructed, and this work is now in hand. The retarders, which are to be installed at the end of the hump, from which the waggons are allowed to run down by the force of gravity on to the marshalling tracks, have not yet arrived at Middleton, but they will be installed before the yard is re-opened for general use. The local officials are not yet aware of the particular type of retarding system which it is intended to instal, but as great improvements have been made in recent years to all the systems adopted in other parts of the world, it is felt that one that will be satisfactory to the local requirements at Middleton will be used. The retarding system will control the speed of the trucks as they leave the hump track. Various types of trucks run at different speeds down thq hump and the amount of load on the truck also affects the speed. This has, in the past, given the shunters a great deal of work on the hump and has mitigated the efficiency of the yard. By the use of the retarders, the speed of the trucks will be controlled accurately and they will be allowed just sufficient momentum to take them to the particular road desired. While this work has absorbed some casual labour, a great deal of it has had to be done by the Department’s own staff, as skill is required in the handling of complete sections of track. Flowever, the Department is employing as many men as can be economically used on the work. It is expected that when the alterations which are now in hand are completed the defects which had become apparent in the yard when it was working will disappear and that the shunters will then be able to carry out their duties with greater ease than in the past.