MAIL TRAINS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1919, Page 5

MAIL TRAINS.

MR. McVILLY ON SPEEDING UP. The question of the desirability of Bpecding up the New Plymouth-Welling-ton mail train was brought before the General Manager of Railways when in Hawera on Friday (says the Star). Mr. McVilly mentioned that the desire of the Department was to have faster mail services and fewer stopping places, but public opinion was a factor against this. Every little station wanted the mails to ptop there, and whilst the Department could resist isolated appeals it was a difficult matter when a combination of interests urged more frequent stoppages, and urged, too, that the railways existed for the development of the country and conveniences of the public. On this coast for example, the Department resisted for some years requests to stop at many stations, but were told that they did not know their business and were unduly obstinate, and so finally they gave way and granted the public many of their requests. He would point out that the Department put on mixed trains at great cost to endeavor to provide all possible travelling facilities, but if the mail trains had to stop at practically every station they might just as well discontinue the endeavor to make moderately fast mail trains and convert them all into mixed trains. Many people had the impression that whenever a request or a suggestion was made to the Department that the officials immediately sought for reasons to negative it. Exactly the contrary was the case; the Department first considered if it were at all possible to concede it, but every proposition had to be considered on a business basis. Many individual requests were made for concessions which in themselves were inconsiderable, and which would be granted immediately if such action had no further consequences. But the granting of on» such small request might create a precedent that ultimately would involve the Department in many thousands of pounds, ajid for that reason had to be declined. But the frequently did not realise this. The Department, whilst always most anxious to meet,the public convenience, had to conduct the business of the railways on sound business lines.

MIXED TRAINS. Some very interesting facts were given by the Cliief Engineer of Kailways in reply to a suggestion made to him by the president of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce that one "mixed" train north daily and one south might be . speeded up. He pointed out that it was his. responsibility to see that the "track" was made safe for trains running at certain speeds, and he always had to provider for faster travelling, by from five to ten miles per hour, by mixed trains than by the mail trains. Remarkable as this may seem to those who did not understand, the reason was easily explainable when they looked into the matter. A mixed train had to stop at practically every station, and probably do some shunting. When approaching a station the driver liftd to •decelerate." A stop of even a minute or two shunting %nd readjusting of Westinghouse brakes meant that on an average it involved a minimum of seven minutes' stoppage at each station. Then, too, a train could not gather way as quickly as a motor car, for example, and the result was that between stations they had to travel actually a, good deal faster than the general average of the mail trains. Consequently it was not possible to speed up mixed trains.