SLOW TRAINS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 205, 27 February 1914, Page 3

SLOW TRAINS

The railway services have been exasI perating in their irregularity of late. On Tuesday the afternoon trains north and south were about half-an-hour behind schedule time. On the occasion of the lioyal Artillery Hand concert in New Plymouth, and again oil Wednesday, the traffic seemed to be beyond the capacity of the rolling stock, or else to have overtaxed the organising ability of those in charge. After the band concert the railway officials' estimate of the excursion traffic was proved at fault, a second train having to be sent out from Xew Plymouth at 6.40 p.m. to convey the passengers who were unable to travel on the six o'clock .train. Both of these trains had to stop wherever required, and between tliem they managed to disorganise the express train time-table. There may have been some excuse for that, as the excursion t.rallie was "undoubtedly heavy. But Wednesday's experience was far worse. The. ordinary 4.20 p.m. train was delayed to leave Xew Plymouth at six o'clock for the convenience of country people, visiting the agricultural show. ' Very few people travelled by the train. Probably there were not more than fifty passengers above the usual number curried. Yet that train took nearly three hours and a-half to reach Stratford—a distance of about thirty miles. One scarcely likes to think of what would have happened had the weather been fine enough on Wednesday morning to tempt people from their homes. The fact of the matter is that the engine was sadly over-taxed. One passenger declares that, on one stretch of the line the pace seemed barely to exceed five miles an hour on account of the big rake of , freight cars that the engine was asked 1 to move up the hill. Surely it is high time, that for the heavy goods traffic ' to be confined to goods trains, so that ! people may rely safely on the passenger service being run to schedule, or thereabouts. But three and a-half j hours to cover tliirtv miles. Whew!