NAPIER MAIL TRAIN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1446, 22 May 1912, Page 7

NAPIER MAIL TRAIN.

PROPOSED DIVERSION TO WAIRARAPA LINE. Among tho many questions which are at present agitating the minds of tlioso controlling tho Railway Department is a proposition for further consideration, of a scheme whereby greater use may bo made of tho Wairarapa. Imp between Wellington and Napier.; Brjefly it has been proposed that tho mail train, should again bo diverted through the old route which leads over tho Rumitaka, and when the work of relaying a section between Eketnhuna and Mauriwyiile is completed, the question will be thoroughly gone into. The idea is to transfer a bigger and more powerful class of locomative (U.A.) over to the Wairarapa line, and run ft faster service than now between Napier and Cross Creek. _ At present the rim between Napier and Cress Creek, 172 miles, occupies (with stoppages) 8J hours.' or an average of 20} miles per hour. With a better and more powerful typo of locomotive, the journey couuj probably bo cut down by 75 minutes, and witli a further shortening of the run from the.Summit into Wellington, the train would arrive in Wellington in ample time to' catch the Cliristchurcli boat. Tho distance between Napier and Wellington, via Wairarapa, is 210 W"®*® l !,, tho.time occupied on tho trip is jiow hours 50 minutes, the average nelr».-8-13 th miles per hour. The distance tween Napier anil Wellington, via Jlanawatu, is 199 miles, and the time taken on the journey is 9 hours 3L minutes, an averago of about 21i P cr • !f t '_ Naturally there' will be against'the proposal in Hawfces Bay, and also in tits Manawatu, but the subject is being. considered purely from a pound, shillings, and pence point of view, nnu with the demand for faster and more efficient services from a" ovcr " 1<? c ? u ], (entailing* considerable more cost tnaii now), the parochial question hos to be placed sternly in tho background. It is a known fact amonjjst the railway authorities that the Napior inn* l . Irani between. Fftlmcrston North ami Wellington, ana between Wellington and Palmerston North has never, paid. Its loss, in into many thousands per annum. With tho advent Of the Main Trunk service, patronage of the Napier mail from Wellington has steadily declined. If a. eecond express is run from Wellington to Auckland it is easy to understand that the passenger traffic on tho Napier tram would be confined wholly to Hawke s Bay travellers. Prom the Woodville end there is always the. New Plymouth connection at Palmerston North, and possibly, when the Mokoia viaducts aro completed, faster engines will mean a shorter service also on this route. The elimination of the Napier express from the Monawatn would mean the saving of two full train services between Wellington and Palmerston North every day. At the same time it would relieve , tho Palmerston North railway station, and the officials of a large amount of congestion which at preBont is an inconvenience to a big junction place badly fitted for tho work. The nightmare of accident also is an' ever-recurring anxiety to the responsible officials.^ With the diversion . of the Napier fexpre.is through the Wairarapa the valley would bo rehabilitated, and would _ again possess tho old "services of which it was deprived a few years ago. The trouble that tho Railway Department has to face over this and also in other matters which have been brought before the Minister for Railways, is locomotives. A large num- ] her of "the present engines are admitted I to bo in a very bftd way and, if a num- | ber of them could bo scrapped immediately the saving to the public, purse would undoubtedly be great. Mention was made Bomo time ago of tlie inferior class of locomotives turned out at Addington for the Main Trunk section between Taihape end Taumarunui, and tho statement .is now ■current that New Zealand makers generally have "a lot to learn" from tho English manufacturers. The Main Trunk mountain climbing locomotives are only three years old, and yet are in bad repair, whereas ■ English-built locomotives imported here thirty years ago, and <jveii before that time,- are still. doing . good work. Their main defect appears to bo thaUthey are not powerful enough for the heavy loads required. ;