Old carriages rescued

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 2

Old carriages rescued

PA Auckland Train staff in the North Island have set up an "underground railway” to rescue condemned suburban carriages from incineration at Marton. Two carriages were believed on the way to Otahuhu yesterday after railwayman at Marton snatched them from the E a s t o w n “graveyard,” where they were due to be burnt, to shuttle them north to railway workshops for overhaul. Railwaymen said two more carriages would be retrieved from Taumarunui. The Marton carriages were to have joined a scrap consignment for a private contractor. Local branches of the National Union of Railwaymen have forbidden

their men to marshal suburban passenger carriages on to southbound goods trains to save more roiling stock from destruction. The chairman of the union’s South Auckland branch committee (Mr R. Jeffs) said the Marton branch had put a ban on the handling of any passenger carriages. Yesterday, the Marton carriages were due to be sent to Otahuhu. Eight carriages from the Wellington - Palmerston North region may also be spirited north if thej' arrive at Marton. Mr Jeffs said the actions were not illegal. The Railways Department kept the chassis of the passenger cars for conversion into flat-top waggons, and the contractor recovered any scrap metal.

“The department is trying to demolish perfectly usable carriages on slight technical grounds,” said Mr Jells. The chairman of the Otahuhu branch of the union (Mr D. McCallum) said his men had diverted two Marton-bound cars to the Otahuhu workshops. “These were quite easily repairable,” he said, “We have had our blokes sneaking up in their lunch break and saying they can do the job. They are working on them flattack.” The secretary of the Otahuhu Union branch, (Mr C. O’Leary) said that refurbishing costs were about $15,000, compared with the cost of new carriages, which might reach $300,000.