ALMOST NORMAL

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20890, 23 August 1939, Page 8

ALMOST NORMAL

RUNNING OF TRAINS REDUCED SPEED NECESSARY LIMITED AN HOUR LATE TODAY For the first time for nearly a week train services returned almost to normal today, when the speed restrictions placed on affected parts of the Main Trunk line were the only cause of delay. The limited express from Wellington was just over an hour late arriving at Frankton this morning, and the express due in at 4.30 a.m. was 1 i hours behind schedule. When the ordinary express from Wellington reached Frankton at 3.15 p.m. yesterday instead of 4.30 a.m., alter being delayed by the washout near Te Kuiti l'or 10 hours, it was the first through train to arrive at the junction since the limited express on Monday morning. Yesterday's limited express from the south came in at 3.40 p.m. instead of 0.50 a.m. Passengers on the two expresses which left Frankton early yesterday morning did not reach Wellington until after midnight, although a number of passengers, including Hie Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. \V. E. Barnard, and several Members of Parliament went on by special railcar, arriving at Wellington early yesterday afternoon. The New Plymouth express was cancelled from Taumarunui, passengers travelling by the ordinary northbound express from this station. FABT TRIP MADE RAILCAR’S USEFULNESS JOURNEY TO KING COUNTRY The value of the railcar in time of emergency was demonstrated yesterday when the Aotea, the last of the new railcars to be built by the New Zealand Railways, made a fast run from Wellington to Puketutu, near the scene of the washout, and back, a distance of nearly 600 miles. In all the railcar was absent from Wellington for 17£ hours, the run to Wellington being made in under nine hours. As a result several members of Parliament, including the Speaker, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, were able to reach Wellington in time to take their places in the House of Representatives at 3.30 p.m. The members of Parliament and a number of other passengers were roused from their sleep in the early hours of the morning on the train at Te Kuiti and conveyed by special train to a point near the washout, where they transferred to the railcar.