THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1924. MIXED TRAIN SERVICES.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 60, 18 December 1924, Page 2

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1924. MIXED TRAIN SERVICES.

THE mixed train goods and passengers—frony Frankton to Rotorua in tb€~~mornings and from Rotorua to Frankton in the evenings, has of late often been very long and heavy, requiring two engines, and even then running anything up to three-quarters of an hour late. When it is considered that this train forms the official connection between Rotorua and the - Mrfdn- Trunk services north and south, and that the late running has evidenced a tendency to become chronic, the need for some rearrangement of the services undoubtedly seems urgent. For passengers the journey is certainly tedious enough when the —fs—on. .time,' -taking almost six Tiours from Frankton to cover the 87 miles to Rotorua, and some five hours on the return trip in the evening, but when these times are made even longer—well, explosiveness on the part of the victims can only be expected. Certainly it is hoped that, the time is now very near when the mixed train on this line will be done away with altogether, and for passengers speedy storage battery ears will make the connection with the Main Trunk services a joy instead of an agony. But meanwhile the need for immediate relief is very apparent, and a most practicable suggestion appears to be that the morning train from Frankton should take goods traffic for Mamaku and Rotorua only, being followed a few minutes later by a goods train to Putaruru, handling the traffic for all the other stations. This would relieve the first train of a great deal of work, and enable it to speed up considerably. Similarly, in the afternoon, the goods train could return to ahead of the mixed train, picking up the goods traffic at the stations en route and leaving the mixed train to bring on the Rotorua and Mamaku loads only. It is understood the Railway Department is already ■’AvaStoeving something of this nature, : nd an early announcement of its intentions would be much appreciated by the public concerned.