BUMPS AND JOLTS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1578, 25 November 1924, Page 5

BUMPS AND JOLTS

TRAINS IN TROUBLE NEAR TE AWAMUTU.

A traveller by the late afternoon train from Frankton to Te Awamutu on Thursday informs us that a most alarming happening occurred near Ngaroto. He says that such was the length of the train that the engine quite failed in its efforts to haul it up the rise. The efforts were accompanied by a series of bumps and jolts that seriously perturbed the passengers, especially the womenfolk, some of whom screamed with fright, attracting even the passengers from the adjoining carriage who had feared serious injury had been caused. Our informant added that such was the force of the jolting that one passenger was shot forward out. of his seat and a moment later jerked back again with a momentum sufficient to break the arm of the chair-seat. It would ■seem that some alteration in the methods adopted by the Railway Department is urgently necessary, either by reducing the size of the trains to permit of the engines safely hauling them, or by easing the grades in the vicinity of Te Awamutu. Last Saturday morning the early train from the south seemed to be experiencing dire trouble in negotiating the rise between Te Mawhai and Te Awamutu, judging by the noise created. The northbound Main Trunk express on Sunday morning experienced the same trouble, and was brought almost to a standstill a few chains outside Te Awamutu station. A passenger reports that the train comprised sixteen carriages, and the engine seemed to have enough to do hauling it. along comparatively level stretches of line, but when the climb up the gradient just before entering Te Awamutu was essayed the task was almost, too much. Of course, ordinarily the Main Trunk engines are powerful enough for any grade on the route, but with the combination of a very long and heavy train and wet rails an involuntary stop was almost necessary. Another matter worth noting, in connection with the recent complaints of trains blocking the road crossing near the milk powder factory, is that the Main Trunk on Sunday morning was so long that to bring the mail van approximately 'level with the station platform the engine and one or two carriages over-ran the road crossing. This happening is a further argument for reducing the length of the Main Trunk trains. Perhaps the establishment of the “limited” expresses will obviate the trouble.