RAILWAY TRAVELLING EXTRAORDINARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 71, 13 March 1876, Page 4

RAILWAY TRAVELLING EXTRAORDINARY.

' .JHui-lli'-"! .:>*..- -• i. :-: ' (From the Geelong Advertiser ) Our worthy ex-mayo r ia at present a'visiji.tp ! Tasma*a7ia. : .rln one.of his letters^ he 'gives 'the' following very amusing aocount of his railway experience dri ithe- " Tight Little Island" :— "~~~« We7went to Hobarton on Thursday "week' by thp train, and certainly found the mode of management original. The carriages and engine having! to turn sharp curves are made, the first! to .travel, on two sets of, wheels called! ttfe * bogie l prihciplei whilst ' the latter * have the doors at each end, not fastened. ,yEp.ey^i arej jpftntiected together with a pin, which allowßthem to move to the right or, jeft easily. Without mentionTing* the particulars of our down journey other than to say that the rails, being very light 'and -plaoed 'on small -sleepers without the necessary weight to keep them down, floated on the water when the flood came, and were in many places clear Of the permanent way, in other,*, the,,' soil had, b^en washed from nn'der' the 7 sleepers. About i 7 miles had be^h damaged, bo we had to do this by coach. After waiting some time, four hbrses were brought, knocked up; having just' come a journey of 27 miles. We startedwith a very heavy load, .and, it was not. long before the gp-ace was. reduced to a walk. The .coachman asked me if I could drive. J-^nftw^ered in the affirmative, at once | arranged the reins in the most scienti- >, fie manner possible, and there I sat in my 7glp,ryn; j*hils : t the. coachman got^ doWn and ran or 'walked alongside the | c bOTßeß> which by means of a tickle now i and again with the whip, he succeeded i in making go at the rate of fully four ; miles an hour. Anyone meeting us, 'roust have thought we were a comical -i turn-out — myself driving, a priest on . the box next me holding an umbrella \ ■•o'ver'my head, : the coachman running \ by the side cracking his whip, and; some of the passengers also stretching their legs alongside of him. However, we got safely to Hobarton, and now for the journey. The line, I may mention, is on i the 7 narrow gauge, 3ft 6in wide. The : carriages have no springs similar to those used on the Victorian lines, but rest on spiral wire springs,, and these, when travelling fast, nearly shake the inside out of you. During the latter part of the journey I was glad to stand,' as when we were travelling at the rate of 40 miles an hour, to make up for lost time, the motion was almo^ .unbearable. The hour at which it was announced the train would start ' was iS'SO; sharp, but at that houreverythingr.apparently had to be got ready. The water was carried in three fourhundred gallop tanks, lashed on a truck, coals pif. a i' truck behind. However, we -got 'Bfl at' lhst about nine o'clock, and progressed steadily for about an hour and a half, when the train oame to a jfair ? Wop'? ""We all jumped out to see what * ;; waß { up, and we found the draft of the boiler was so strong that the sniair pieces of coal had been drawn through |the f tubes' so as to choke the three or . four bottom rows; the back pan/had to |be opened and cleaned out, theuj.<s.taam:twas. again raised, and away we went. After some time we stopped at a station to drop Some freight, which occupied some ., time, as it consisted of |S|9 j i k%gh< jrfc sugar. , Away we wen t again, and were suddenly brought to a dead stop. On lookipg Out I saw some passengers collecting wood to assist in livening- the fire, so I ran back, and ihouted 'All hands forward to collect wood,' and, amid general laughter we all lent a. hand; Once more we started on pur jbiir riiey round ourves so sharp that, the with the engine at one ond and the guard's van at the other, nearly described a half circle. Suddenly ! another stbp was made at Jerusalem^^li^iHtaving'" got to this remarkable lpcajity, 7 ; wei j aU .jumped put to amuse ourselves while the freight for the thriving 1 place ; was deposited on' the. eand,, .-, $-pme ; ;of the passengers played at' duck stone;- others threw up one stone and* tried td hit it with the priest amused himself playing with bis d^ J-< '"'I skw the goods unloaded; they consisted of two or three bags of (Sugar,; soime packages of canvas, and a case, the whole being saturated with -boiled oil. It appeared they bad-plated a kerosene tin of boiled oil ori* the top- of the goods, and had succe^ded In piercing the tin by carelessly jplacing some, scythes against it. After » great deal of time had been lost in •discussing this accident, and who was to remove a box covered with boiled oil fromUhe van, the hands generally objecting to touch it, we made another etart; and in about an hour pulled up over, a creek, at which. we were to take in water by bucketing it up. After aome discusßion about a rope, during which some of the passengers suggested that we shdiiid tie our pocket handkerchiefs together, they Bet to work. The c h;ef engineer, ,with the rope, dropped a bucket into the stream, hauled it up, handed ** to the man who took the tickets, and who transferred it to the Becond en,g jtfeer, and the latter emptied itlhto t^he 400'.'(?alion tank. Meanwhile, a garden being War,' a number of passengers, accompanied by the third engineer., pushed and he'oed themselves ' -to fruit. After some time the ticket(Coilector, finding the bucketing rather ihard work,-: sang .out for the the tu!?d -engineer , to assist. Xhe latter thereajpon waa seen rushipg u^ with both hand-i filled" with fruit, and /took the . place of the first engineer, being.cauitioned hot to break the buoket, as that was the only one they had. The ! Wftterißgwofl completed iv half aa

hour, We made another start, and anj hour afterwards, pulled up at a large tank, at which I supposed a sufficient j supply of water would be taken in in about ten minutes. Not so, however.! .When they tried the hose, which jvas new, they, found it impossible to get . either end on, so had to use a V-shaped piece of wood to support it nea-r- the aperture in the tank, and the poor fellow who held this got well soused with water. However, all's well that ends well. We. arrived in Launceston at B*3o p.m., and I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Hobarton. [It is but fair' to state that the line; is not finished, and that the contractors .are running trains merely to suit tbe convenience of farmers who, at this busy season of the year, wish to take advantage of so much ot the railway as is completed. l ' ]