RAIL MOTORS.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1924, Page 4

RAIL MOTORS.

MINISTER EXPLAINS THEIR USE. WELLINGTON, March 12 The first of three rail motors ordered in England for the Railway Department has been shipped and the passenger coach portion of the motor is being constructed at the Petone Workshops. Two motors will bo steamdriven and one has a petrol engine. The Minister of Railways, the Hon J. 0. Coates, who is enthusiasm about the possibilities of these new types of railway motor vehicles, is anxious get them into service as soon as! e,!.. rs ho is convinced they will re .■: 11 in eon. iderable economy so far a> running co>ts arc concerned. Ihe ccnstrin lion rn.st oi the vehicles works out at about IMOOO apiece. Mr Coates stated to-day that it had | not yet been decided on which lines the new rail motors will be run, although there were half a down branch lines in different parts of tile Dominion on winch they could be employed. The graphs which will accompany his! coming statement of railway development policy will show the amount of trallic and earning power of various Hues, and when these are brought out and compared it: can then he determined on which sections it will be best to run the vehicles. The three engines now on order were, he stated, merelv a first instalment as probably quite a number would be ordered. Although the new vehicle was a composite type ot engine and pas-enger ear the motive power should 1 e sufficient to have a light car behind.- Petrol engines would be very

suitable for carrying passengers cm lines where it was a matter of con-

siderable expense to run the ordinary class of train and could be used to give a better service to people in certain districts than was possible at present. That was his chief consideration in having motor engines ordered, to give the people Ihe best possible set vice. Quite a number of these moten vehicles were being run in Eng.. I cud and other nans of .the world. One thing for which motor engines or carriages could be used was to pick up passengers at wayside stations r.n main line.-, ahead of the expresses and thus enable many express train stops to lie cut out. At first, however, it was not intended to employ motors in that way, lint to try to run seiv>:?s with them on different branch liins. •'They arc just motor-ears ou rails,’’ remarked 1 lie Minister in continsioi, ‘‘ami if a motor-car can he run successfully on the roads I don't roo vhv u cannot, also be run sue,?. 1 is! idy on a railway.”