The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1886. MIXED TRAINS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 138, 29 October 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1886. MIXED TRAINS.

On a recent occasion we drew attention to the sufferings of passengers who have to travel by those abominable instruments of torture, known as “ mixed trains,” which, slightly to vary an oft-used quotation, might not be inaptly described as “ linked misery long drawn out,” We well recollect a speech by the present Minister for Public Works, in which, admitting the discomforts of the present system, and the greater wear and tear of the lines, as contracted with the running of goods trains simply at a lower rate of speed, and light trains only for passenger traffic, he indicated his intention of making a change for the better. But the road to political perdition is paved with good Ifht unfulfilled intentions, and we fear that if he continues to lay that species of pavement or persistently Mr Richardson will find that he will ere long reach the goal indicated. Certain it is that there is no public department with regard to the management of which there is so much public dissatisfaction as with that of the railways. And as bearing upon the mixed trains question, which is one of the grievances, it is interesting to note what is the opjnion at Home on this subject. Very complete information upon this point lies before us, as we write, in the columns of a London paper to hand by last mail, and from which we quote the following : —‘ The Board of Trade, in a circular to the secretaries of railway companies, respecting the running of mixed trains in which passenger carriages have been attached to goods waggons, states that recent facts brought to their notice have borne out the opinions expressed in previous reports as to tbe dangers arising from the running of mixed trains, especially when goods or other waggons are placed between the engine and the passenger carriages. The inspecting officers report lhat the risk of so placing the passenger carriage outweighs the advantages which may, in some cases of accident to the fiont of the train, have resulted from the waggons taking the worst of the shock. Tn these circumstances the Board of Trade wish to call the attention of the directors to the desirability of avoiding as far as may be such a practice. If the runing of mixed trains is not altogether avoidable, care should be taken that any waggons attached to such trains are specially constructed for the purpose, and fitted with such appliances as are generally adopted in the case of passenger carriages. The Board of Trade trust that when the condition of the traffic necessitates the running of mixed trains, the passenger carriages will, as far as possible, be placed in front and not to the rear of goods waggons, and that all other precautions will he taken to lessen the risk of conducting traffic on such a system.’ The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has passed a resolution declaring lhat considering, os practical railway servents, the merits of mixed goods and passenger trains, they know them to be a source of great danger from breaking loose, or from the breaking of the axles, and also from the difficulty of stopping the carriages conveniently at the platform for the passengers to alight without danger, and that this great danger to the public and to the railway servants will exist so long as the waggons and the carriages are not fitted with continuous brakes.” For the foregoing we have not only unimpeachable testimony to the disadvantages of the mixed trains system but it is shown that the New Zealand mixed trains are run on the very worst plan possible, literally wrong end first. Surely it is high time, in the face of the test of experience and of such irrefragable professional testimony as we have above quoted, that Mr Richardson took heart of grace and attempted to carry out some of the railway reforms which he has promised and of which the abolition of the mixed train system was certainly one.