"SPIRIT OF PROGRESS"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 58, 1 December 1937, Page 7

"SPIRIT OF PROGRESS"

Own Correspondent.)

Victoria's New Streamlined Train AIR-CONDITIONING USED

(From Our

MELBOURNE, Nov. 19. Victoria's new all-steel, air-condi-tioned stream-lined train, "The Spirit of Progress," built at a cost of £198,000, had its trial run this week when it attained a speed of 79 miles an hour. It will go into service in the I Melbourne-Albury run on November 23. ! Thre© hundred guests, including raili way commissioners from other States, were taken on the trial run to Gee~ long after the train had been named at Spencer street station by the Premier, Mr. A. A. Dunstan. Few of tho passengers who lounged in luxurious green, grey or maroon seats were aware that they were travelling at a speed never previously attained on an Australian railway. Sealed windows eliminated the rush of air usually associatedi with highspeed travel and kept the temperature afc a cOnstant 70 degrees. There was not a ripple on the surface of passengers' cups of tea as the speed climbed to nearly 80 miles an hour. The train is a symphony in blue and gold. The locomotive, named' "Edward Btenty," after one of Victoria's pioneer settlers, claims much interest. Gone is the familiar funnel, Gone are the steel dome and the -pipes and tubes that stood before the driver's cab to make the engine whistle. There is not even the traditional round front with handles in the middle. Even the buffers have gone* In place of all these is a sniooth, roilndedi front, leaning backwards a little from the vertical. A great monogram "V.ll.," flanked with wings, heightens the suggestion of speed. So does the huge Cyclopean eye, set in the f orehead of the monster. There is no funnel, but a great curving grid that follows the line to the top of the train breaths with a thin wisp of smoke to show t-hat the monster lives. The tender, 40ft. long, is a box of hidden power. It is built to carry 13,000 gallons of water and 81 tons of coal — sufficient to carry tho train on a 'non-stop run from Melbourne across the State to Albury, aAiistance 'of 190J miles. The weight of the engine and tender, ready for the coad, is 221 tons. The length of the engine js quoted officially as 85ft. 9 5-16in. The eye sweeps down the long line of carriages which appear at first sight to be unbroken by gap or join. The guard's van is placel behind the tender and an observation car is attached at the end of the train. Eacb carriage is 75ft. long and weighs 42 i tons. Tbe train is 9ft. 9in. wide. Eacli unit is a solid hull of a new alloy lighter than steel, remarkably strong and remarlaoly resistant to corrosion.