FAST BUT SURE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 244, 15 October 1931, Page 11

FAST BUT SURE

PLATELAYING HUSTLE. Discussing rush work by railway platelaying gangs, Mr. A. Oman Heavy, in the New Zealand Railways Magazine, refers to the recent rapid changeover—between trains—from the old Otaki railway bridge to the new. Rails had already been laid on the new bridge, and the gang of fourteen — platelayers and surfacemen—"had only one hour and twenty minutes in which to break the line, pull over 542 feet of track to meet the rails on the new bridge, join it up, and make it safe for the passage of a train. That may not sound a great deal on paper, but in reality it is no small matter, even for fourteen men. They had to work hur- • riedly and yet carefully, since an undertaking of such a nature could not be performed piecemeal. It was all or nothing, a task to be completed in rapid time without interruption to the train service, or a failure before which the next train would have to slow to a halt and snort its scorn in steam. But the job, formidable as it was, was successful. The race with time was won, and when No. COO came up at 10.10 a.rn. it was able to go over the new bridge by the new track without interruption. ”