RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 313, 19 December 1936, Page 4

RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

TIRESOME DELAYS. A Correspondent Complains Of Discourtesy. (To the Editor.) Sir, —For downright discourtesy the, Railway Department’s [traincrews take the bun at Stratford’s level crossings, whatever the undue courtesy of the Stratford Chamber of Commerce may lead it to declare to the contrary. One realises- that residents must put up with the results of having two level crossings in the centre of the town, but the delays are sometimes out of all reason, or are totally unnecessary. Let me quote two instances.

The first was a few weeks ago. About 10 a.nt. one bright day, ten or twelve cars were held up in Fenton Street while an engine shunted backwards and forwards dispatching trucks to different lines in the yard. | It would have been the simplest act to have moved the whole train off the road for 30 seconds after 5 minutes’ delay, but no; the process went on for a full 15 minutes, very leisurely. One motorist then lost his patience and spoke to the engine driver. The reply was to the effect that “there was another crossing up there and one down there and plenty more along the line.” The engine driver then said, “Get out!” and ignored the motors!, his downright rudeness giving rise to a chorus of indignant tooting. The second instance occurred last night after 6 p.m. The engine of the goods train for the south had been shunting, and backed 6 or 7 trucks across thd street to pull up at the water-tank near the signal box. There was no visible reason why. the engine could not have moved across the roadway to fill its tender from the tank in the station yard. It did this eventually, but not until the traffic had been thoughtlessly held up for five minutes. The Chamber of Commerce has apparently been too concerned about being “nice” to one of its honorary members, the representative of the railway department. Until that government service can learn better manners' and a inodicium of consideration for users of the road, I for one will be content to avoid patronage of a service which, one feels, maybe equally dsinterested in other aspects of its duty. I am, etc., PEDESTRO-MOTORIST. Stratford, .Dec. 19.