RAILCAR SERVICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19998, 25 July 1939, Page 7

RAILCAR SERVICE

HIGH SPEEDS ATTAINED SURFACE TRAVEL ECLIPSED The department had been praised by railcar passengers travelling between Wellington and New Plymouth, end between Napier and Wairoa, for the comfort and general efficiency or the new standard type of railcars, Seated Mr. G. 'H. Mackley, general manager of railways, in Wellington. The standard railcars were built in the Hu'tt Vat’ey Railway Workshops and the first of the new series was Aotea, Which made a number of trial runs from Wellington to New Plymouth, and also to Wairoa. The loaded weighr of the cars is 32 tons, and the total horse-power developed bv two motors is 240. "Railcars of this type are capable of high speeds over level country, ana on a trip from Wairoa and Napier to Wellington, when the Aotea was returning with the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, and party, who htad attended the official opening of the new line, the car reached a speed of nearly 75 miles an hour on a portion of track between Waipukurau and Woodvitle. Express trains cover the 250 miles between Wellington and New Plymouth in 9 hours, 23 minutes, and the railcars shorten the time by two hours. There is also a considerable saving of time on the trip from Napier to Wairoa. The scheduled time for railcars on the 199-mile section between Wellington and Naipier, which includes all stops, is just over five hours. . On the return trip from Wairoa with the Ministerial party, Aotea travelled from Napier to Wellington in 4 hours 20 minutes, actual running time. It is considered that no other form of surface travel in New Zealand can eclipse the performances of the standard railcars. -The fast trips made by railcars, incidentally, are accomplished without speed restrictions on curves and certain other portions of track being broken.