CARS ON RAILWAYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 488, 18 October 1928, Page 1

CARS ON RAILWAYS

SEARCH FOR SUITABLE TYPE DEPARTMENT’S EXPERIMENTS (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Five rail cars are now being tried by the Railway Department in its attempt to reduce the running costs of branch lines. In all cases, however, the cars have proved to possess some unsatisfactory features which ’ have prevented the department from adopting a standardised pattern. One electric rail car, an Edison battery car, is now running between Christchurch and Little River, but is expensive 1o buy and possesses a limited cruising range. A Sentinel Camel car, with sprocket wheels and a chain drive, is operating between, Frankton and Thames, carrying passengers to connect with the Auckland-Wellington expresses. Its drawback is that it cannot attain sufficiently high speeds for suburban lines. A 68-foot Clayton steam-car, with an upright boiler similar to a marine engine, is running between Oamaru and Kurow. In addition there are two small motor-driven cars, designed by the chief mechanical engineer (Air. Lynde) and seating 11 people each. One of them runs between Edendale and Wyndham, the other serves Switzer’s branch, near Gore. The department is thus still searching for the best possible type of rail car.