MANY WORKERS ON DUTY THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT KEEPING N.Z. TRAINS ON SCHEDULE

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 November 1950, Page 4

MANY WORKERS ON DUTY THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT KEEPING N.Z. TRAINS ON SCHEDULE

They Work At Night

Far off in the night a locomotive calls, its whistle low-pitched and challenging. The rays of a powerful electric headlight cut streaming through the blackness of early morning. Again the whistle, and there follows the click-clock of moving points, the thrumming of signal wires and a semaphore arm drops with a metallic clang. The staccato bark of a “Ka” locomotive’s exhaust dies away as the driver closes the regulator and speed is eased for the long, sweeping curve into the station. Behind the oil-burn-er’s tender is a line of slewing cars, rolling down on their springs, wheels beating on the rails in perfect rhythm. From the back of the postal van at the rear, three red lights indicate to all concerned that the train has arrived complete. All is well. The time is 3.11 a.m. at Marton Junction on any day in the week, and the train is No. 227, the night express from Auckland. It has already covered 426 miles of its long journey from terminal to terminal. Many of the passengers are asleep and the stop at Marton is limited to 10 minutes, sufficient for transhipment of mails and luggage for Wanganui and a check of t he train by experts whose job it is to see that running parts are in perfect order. Behind the arrival of No. 227 at Marton is the story of a vast army of railwaymen who work by night, who keep the tracks clear and safe and the wheels of commerce moving. For without night workers the New Zealand railroad system could not function. Locomotive crews, guards and assistants. station agents at tablet stations and wayside crossing place, signalmen, train examiners, shunters, number takers, shift clerks, track patrolmen, train control officers, sleeping ear attendants and refreshment room staffs all work at night so that passengers may travel in safely, or freight tonnage move from district to district. CO-ORDINATED EFFORT These night workers, to whom this story is dedicated, are not listed in order of importance or priority. Their efforts are co-ordinated. They work as n learn, and each is essential in his own way. In many districts, more trains run at night than during the day. Starting with the Wnngxiui locomotive depot and tracing the story through the shunting yards to the train controller’s office, and then out on to the open tracks, there it continual activity from daylight till dusk and from dusk till dawn. Apart from a few hours on Sundays, the railways in the Wanganui district never sleep. Guards and locomotive crews work on a roster system drawn up according to the arrival and departure times of trains—queer, unearthly times such

as 12.25 a.m., 1.20 a.m., 2.25 a.m., 3.15 a.m., 4.2 S a.m., to quote a few taken at random from the timetables. Other railwaymen work regular shifts at weekly intervals—-midnight to 8 a.m., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 4 p.m. to midnight. An early morning visit to the Wanganui railway station at an hour when most people are asleep confronts the inquiring layman with a scene of quiet, methodical activity. In the steam sheds locomotives have just come in and are being put to bed by a crew known as the ’‘put and take’’ men. In an atmosphere of coal smoke, hot oil and steam, cleaners are preparing other engines for early morning runs on freight trains, or for shunting services. In the station marshalling yards a fussy little tank engine of the “Ww” class, once the pride of the main line, snorts up and down the tracks, switching wagons here, putting others there —wagons loaded with coal, timber, sheep, cattle, potatoes, fertilisers, produce, furniture, steel pipes, wool, in fact, a heterogeneous collection of freight, much of it loaded during the hours of daylight and transported to stations far and near when the rest of the world is asleep. CHECK OF WAGONS A train examiner, his lamp swaying and bobbing, moves along a rake ot wagons. He is checking wheels, axles and brakes before a freight train goes rumbling out into the night. Also moving down the line of wagons is another vague figure with a lantern tucked under one arm. He is making notes on a long sheet of paper, known as a “T 15.” It is the number taker, who compiles a tonnage sheet showing the number of each wago*i, its contents, its destination and priority on the train, according to whether the goods are perishable or otherwise. In the upstairs portion of the district traffic manager’s office is a small room in which a light is always burning. It is the train control office, nerve centre of the Wanganui railway district Spread before the operator is a Luge graph on which the actual running ol trains is plotted from station to station. His district extends from New Plymouth to Marton, and from Stratford to Okahukura. The room is silent, ap'.rt from n humming sound which comes from an instrument with lighted valves anu not unlike a radio set. A voice breaks from a loundspeaker. “Marton,” it says. “No. 572 away on time. Here’s the list.’’ And while the operator notes particulars on a train sheet the man at the other end of the wire gives him the name of the driver and guard of No. 572, the number of the locomotive and its class, and full particulars of tonnage. No. 572. incidentally, connects at Aramoho Junction—where the signal box is manned for 24 hours a d?.y—with No. 578, an early morning freight train to Taranaki. long before

No. 572 whistles for the signal at East Town details of its composition are known. The train control operator, juggling with schedules, tonnage, gradients and heavy traffic throughout the night, may communicate with any station by the simple expedient of pressing two small buttons on a panel before him. An intricate device known as a selector immediately rings a special telephone at lhe station required. The controller speaks back through a microphone, not unlike that used in a broadcasting station. But the story of railway operations by night is endless. There are the men on call and prepared for any emergency, such as a slip, washout or derailment—train running officers, engineers, inspectors of permanent way, the break-down crew and surfacemen. Within a very short time of a mishap they are on the scene and restoring the line for traffic. For the railroad is an organisation which must continue to function. Irrespective of night or day, gales or storms, fair weather or foul, the wheels must be kept rolling along.