STILL ON TRIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 718, 18 July 1929, Page 16

STILL ON TRIAL

GARRATT LOCOMOTIVES WORK ON THE HILLS (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter J WELLINGTON, Wednesday. There have been some doubts cast upon the success of the imported Garratt locomotives on the New Zealand Railways, and these doubts prompted Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn) to question the Minister of Railways (the Hon. W. B. Taverner) on the point. Mr. Taverner said that the engines were still being tried out, but that they had

been successfully hauling very heavy loads. Three Garratt locomotives, which were ordered from England in January, 1928, were imported for the purpose of hauling heavy freight trains over steep grades on the central division of the North Island Main Trunk line, said the Minister. The first of these locomotives was landed in the Dominion on January 22, 1929, and, after having been assembled and given extended trials, was placed in service on May 8, 1929. The other two locomotives were landed in February, 1929, and one of them was placed in service on June 7, 1929, the other being now ready for trial runs. The two locomotives which have been placed in service between Taihapo and Te Kuiti, a distance of 140 miles, have proved that they are capable of hauling very heavy loads. The performance of the engines is being kept under review, but I do not think sufficient opportunity has yet been afforded us of making a decision regarding their suitability for New Zealand conditions.