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The New Zealand Railways Magazine is delivered free to all employees in the service of the Railway Department, to the principal public libraries in the Dominion, and to the leading firms, shippers and traders doing business with the New Zealand Railways.
It is the officially recognised medium for maintaining contact between the Administration, the employees, and the public, and for the dissemination of knowledge bearing on matters of mutual interest and of educative value.
Employees and others interested are invited to forward to the Editor, the New Zealand Railways Magazine, Head Office, Railways, Wellington, articles bearing on Railway affairs, news items of staff interest, suitable short stories, poetry, photographs, pen and ink sketches, etc. The aim of contributors should be to supply interesting topical material tending generally towards the betterment of the Service.
Contributed articles should be signed. If to appear over a nom-de-plume this should be stated.
In all cases where the Administration makes announcements through the medium of this journal the fact will be clearly indicated.
The Department does not identify itself with any opinions which may be expressed in other portions of the publication, whether appearing over the author's name or under a nom-de-plume.
Comparative figures computed for the last two financial years of the New Zealand Railways show that an average loss of 5.29 days per employee oecurred through sickness and accident in 1925 as against 5.19 days in 1926. This reduction, amounting to an aggregate of 9,331 working days, represents to the employees and the Department a saving for the year just ended of £7,616 compared with the previous year's cost on account of sickness and accident amongst the staff. Certainly there have been improvements in equipment, yard lighting, etc., which would help to reduce the likelihood of mishap, but the main gain indicated above must be attributed to improved attention on the part of members to the observance of safety practices.
Surveying the whole field of safety endeavour, it should be noted that advances may be made in general health, in vigilance against accident, and in mechanical safety efficiency.
Regarding general fitness, if the ordinary rules of health—that are common knowledge to everyone—were constantly obeyed we would all be one hundred per cent. fit, would probably come through life without a scratch, and possibly live to the age of Methuselah. We know, for instance, that it is a good thing to gargle against infection, to keep reasonable hours, and to take healthful exercise; but do we keep these rules? Instead do we not rather take chances, constantly trusting to our good luck, our strong constitutions, our recuperative powers? We over-run the signals that stand on the margin of safety.
The type of boy is well known who follows a broken thumb with a sprained ankle and who, after recovery, fractures his ribs. Pure coincidence may account for the whole-hearted way in which he finds trouble, but a psychological examination would probably demonstrate that he suffers from an insufficiently developed safety instinct—the instinct which teaches one to make due allowance for the occasional perversity of both animate and inanimate creation.
Twenty-nine simple hints to protect employees against shunting accidents, etc.—hints compiled on the advice of experienced shunters—were recently printed and distributed to all concerned. In such matters as crossing over between fastmoving wagons, methods of applying wrakes, or working under stationary wagons—are the rules of safety being constantly obeyed? In general, are we perpetually on the alert against the unusual?
Safety in mechanism is the third means of avoiding accidents. Here every man engaged on train operations or in workshops has opportunity for observing where safety appliances might with advantage be introduced or other improvements effected, whilst the Department is ever ready to adopt suggestions likely to assist in preserving the margin of safety.
In modern business, statistics are being more and more used in attaining efficiency. Applied to safety practices they supply a useful measure and enable “budgeting” or “targeting” to be made effective. A special “safety section” in the United States has recently set out to obtain “a 35 per cent. reduction in casualties during a six year campaign.” This is certainly looking ahead. Is the movement in New Zealand to aim at—and accomplish—this, or something better? Let each employee ask himself, “Am I a safety man?” and on his conscientious answer to that question, shape his conduct.
Certainly improved training can do much, and adequate supervision more, to bring about a reduction in casualties. But
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A series of lectures of a very high order delivered under the auspices of the Railway Officers' Institute and open to all members of the service, has been given in Wellington this winter. Professor B. E. Murphy of Victoria College, led off with a brilliant outline of the History of Transportation. Going back to the earliest recorded means of travel and transit, he traced the gradual, almost imperceptible development which took place down to the time when steam was first applied to locomotion, and then showed how great a factor the steam engine has been during the last hundred years in the great advances made by modern civilisation. On the question of road versus rail as it has developed since the advent of the internal combustion engine, the Professor was non-committal, but he could see that, once the respective spheres in which each was most economically efficient had been decided by sustained experiment, there need be no antagonism between them. His picture of the future was very bright. He saw great strides in the conservation of power, enabling energy to be provided at a cost infinitely cheaper than at present, and if he is anywhere near the mark, the expression “free as the air” will become out of date, for the air will have to work very hard in the not too distant future, carrying man and all his requirements at high speed and in every direction. It was an address rich in historical facts strikingly presented and, as Mr. A. W. Mouat (the chairman) remarked, packed with food for thought.
The second lecture arose out of a visit recently paid to Australia by four New Zealand railwaymen. Mr. G. W. Wyles (Assistant Signal Engineer) and Mr. J. Sawers (Rates Officer) in a joint lecture, spoke on the question of “Train Control.” Both explained with great clearness this method of dealing with train operations as examined by them on their tour. The need for better telephone communication was particularly stressed. The large number of members present were greatly interested in the practical demonstration of improvements which could be made in our own system of train management by the adoption of some of the methods now in use on the island continent.
Professor Ian Sutherland, of Victoria University, delivered the third lecture, taking as his subject “Colour Vision or Optical Illusions.” Out of an apparently unattractive subject he made an exceptionally interesting lecture, illustrating with effective lantern slides, the optical defects which produce colour blindness, their results, and the illusions which even normal sight is subject to under certain conditions. The point made that one in every twenty-five men is colour blind while only one in a thousand women suffers from this defect, came as news to most, as did also the explanation why so many people go far through life without discovering the fact of their colour blindness. Professor Sutherland stressed the importance of children being tested for this defect before putting them into what might prove to be an unsuitable occupation and stated that at the University they had all the equipment necessary and would be glad to test anyone who cared to take advantage of the facility.
Lectures such as these are a most valuable aid towards the education of railwaymen, and show how profitable for practical railway purposes a University course could be if the already wide curriculum were extended by the institution of a Chair of Transportation.
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A scheme, which has for its object the more speedy transport of both outward and inward goods between the Frankton Junction and Hamilton stations, was recently put into operation by the Railway Department. These stations are only a mile apart, but as each has a heavy goods traffie, their proximity furnishes opportunity for trying out the economy of short haul motor service for less-than-wagon-load lots. Under the new scheme Hamilton goods for the Rotorua line (which hitherto went from Hamilton to Frankton by an afternoon shunt and were not despatched till the following day) are transhipped by the motor truck from Hamilton to Frankton, loaded into railway trucks along with other goods assembled there for similar stations and despatched that afternoon. There is thus a saving of twenty-four hours in the despatch of goods for stations along the Rotorua line. Similarly goods for the Thames and Cambridge sections are delivered much earlier. This innovation is likely to fully justify its introduction and be of value to consignors and consignees as well as to the Department.
This is the fifth issue of our Magazine and judged by the many flattering remarks as to its literary and artistic merits, we may feel fairly well satisfied with it.
While, however, literary and artistic excellence are very desirable and necessary, there are other elements required in a publication such as ours in order that it shall fulfil its object completely.
Of these other elements one, and perhaps the most important, is that our Magazine should convey a direct—a human—interest to as many individual members of the staff as possible.
The one-big-family idea is worth encouraging. The spirit of friendliness helps greatly in the accomplishment of correlated work. There is a social as well as a business side to our relations with each other, and the cultivation of the human touch adds to the happiness and contentment of members when engaged in the performance of their multifarious duties. The Magazine furnishes an outlet for news of this nature.
On the first page of each issue there has appeared an invitation to send in contributions for publication, but although many members of the staff have responded to the invitation, as have also a number of the public the response has not been so widespread as could have been wished. The Board is, therefore, making this direct and personal appeal to all members of the service to display an active interest in the production of Our Magazine, one purpose of which is to enable us to disseminate our views, aims and aspirations, not only to the public, but to our fellow members in the service, and to develop the idea, and maintain it in our minds, that this is Our Magazine in which—within reasonable limits—we may express ourselves with freedom.
Movement of staff from one locality to another is unavoidable in such a service as ours, but invariably we maintain an interest in the doings of our old station and our friends there. We want to know whether the lectures or socials are still held; how the cricket or football club is getting on; and many other similar things, small in themselves, but in each case carrying a very direct and human interest to a number of our readers.
Nor do such items by any means exhaust the possibilities, for among our 17,000 members there must be many who feel the impulse to express themselves on some subject—not necessarily “shop”—which would be of sufficient interest to warrant its appearance in Our Magazine. There would be no difficulty in keeping the columns of the Magazine filled with technical and instructional articles, but the Board wishes it to grow in other directions also, and with this object in view very cordially asks the staff to assist in developing the “human interest” side by individually taking a direct and active part and by forwarding to the Editor contributions whether of personal, local or general interest.
This excellent little publication, which made its first appearance in May is full of good readable matter.—The Railway Gazette.
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Please accept my thanks for your courtesy in forwarding a copy of the first issue of the New Zealand Railways Magazine. It contains some excellent information which will be of assistance to us.—W. Nash, Secretary N.Z. Labour Party.
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May I congratulate you upon the excellence of this little volume. I read substantially all of the articles with a great deal of pleasure.—C. B. Sudborough, General Traffic Manager, The Pennsylvania Railroad.
It is a very good journal, and I have read it with interest.—W. J. Thorrowgood, Signal and Telegraph Superintendent, Southern Railway, England.
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The new publication is conceived on sound lines, and will do much to foster a spirit of understanding and goodwill between the administration, the users of the Railways, and the staff.
—The New Zealand Dairyman.
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We have rarely found the first issue of a Magazine so illuminatingly interesting……The special articles are interesting and instructive even to the lay-reader and the Magazine is a thing of typographic beauty.—Feilding Star.
During the term of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition held at Dunedin, the New Zealand Railways exhibits, including the “Ab” class locomotive “Passehendael,” the new sleeping car (both of which were constructed in the Department's workshops) and the advertising and general display, created unusual interest and won unstinted praise. A photograph of the special Diploma of Merit which the Exhibition authorities awarded for the sleeping car exhibit is reproduced above. Similar diplomas were awarded for the “Ab” locomotive and the advertising and general display.
A pleasant little gathering took place on the 23rd ultimo in the office of the Chief Engineer, when Mr. F. J. Jones was met by a number of the senior officers who had been associated with him in the Maintenance Branch. The occasion was the presentation to Mr. Jones of a life-sized portrait of himself to be hung in the Chief Engineer's room as a link in the series of portraits of men who in past years have controlled the Maintenance Branch. The portrait bears on back the inscription:—
Presented to Mr. F. J. Jones, M. Inst.C.E., by senior officers associated with him in the Maintenance Branch in token of their high appreciation of him as a man and as an Engineer.
The presentation was made by Mr. W. R. Davidson, Acting Chief Engineer, in a few well chosen words.
Mr. Jones in thanking the officers for the presentation expressed his pleasure at having his portrait hung in such illustrious company.
The collection of portraits comprises the following past Chief Engineers, N.Z.R.:—J. Henry Lowe, John Coom, J. Burnett, F. W. MacLean. F. J. Jones.
James Burnett 1908–1915
F. W. Maclean 1915–1924
F. J. Jones 1924
John Coom 1899–1908
John Henry Lowe 1888–1899
The following figures show the steady expansion in business between the east and west coasts of the South Island since the Otira tunnel, piercing the Southern Alps, was opened:
As one-third of the total tonnage is represented by the weight of trucks the net tonnage for the 12 months ended July last, was therefore 254,000 tons or approximately 1/30 of the total goods tonnage conveyed on the whole of the New Zealand Railways.
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To know what is right and fear to do it, this is cowardice.—Froude.
If any good is to come from the “Safety First” campaign recently inaugurated by the Department, it behoves everyone to do something towards making it a success. There is no doubt that in every wood working machine shop many safety devices could be with advantage installed that would cost but little to make. In fact many of these could be rigged up by the machinists themselves in the course of their work. The use of such devices would be the means of preventing many accidents that are not only very painful to the injured at the time, but may permanently impair his efficiency.
In bringing before you these two small devices (see illustrations) I do so with the idea that they might result in an exchange of similar ideas through the medium of the Magazine, and thus be beneficial to all users of wood working machinery throughout the service.
The pressure bar (illustration 1) I have used extensively and I found it to be a very serviceable and useful tool, conducive to better work, as it holds the work firmly down to the table thus ensuring a first class job and also acting as a guard against having the hand pulled back into the knives.
Looking at the illustration 1, A. is the shaper top or table, B. the pressure bar, C.C. the right and left hand spindles, and D. the timber being worked. The pressure bar itself consists of a piece of sound and tough wood, such as red beech, about 4 in. wide and 1 in. thick, long enough to project over each spindle a matter of 4 in. The plan of the bar at E. will give you the idea of the shape; one end is slotted just big enough to take the spindle, the other end is slotted large enough to pass freely over the small collars. At this end a curved piece (as shown) is screwed across the grain for additional strength—this piece is slightly rounded on the bottom edge so as to allow the work to pass freely underneath.
When this bar is fastened between two of the collars on the spindle not in use, any pressure that is required may be had by raising or lowering the idle spindle. This appliance, which can be made with an expenditure of an hour's time, will make the work not only easier and better, but much safer; for if the stock should be drawn back into the knives the operator's hand would be thrown clear by the rounded end of the bar.
If both spindles are required at the same time, then the bar can be secured to the table and the necessary pressure applied with thumb screws.
Figure F. gives us a variation of the same idea. This, however, is not so useful, as it is a guard only. It is about the same size as the other, the hole being large enough to pass over the small collars. It will rest upon the collar that is holding the knives, the outside edge being large enough to cover the projecting part of the knife. It is then fastened to the table with a thumb screw, and holes can be bored (as shown) if the operator wishes to obtain a clearer view of the work.
In case of a cross grained piece of timber breaking when this guard is in use, the operator's chance of getting his hand caught in the knives is considerably lessened.
“Planer Protection” is really a misnomer, for, after all, it is not protection for the planer that is required, but protection for the operator. In examining illustration 2, you will see that A.A. is the planer top, B. the fence, C. the work being jointed, D. and E. the cover for parts of the knives not in use; F1 and F2 are wing nuts, the former holding the guard to the top of the table, and the latter holding the two parts of the guard together.
The cover for the knives is a piece of tough wood two feet long by seven-eights of an inch thick, and wide enough to cover most of the mouth of the planer with a piece of 3–16 in.
There is no doubt that the use of some such guard as this, together with care on the part of the machinist, would diminish the danger and help to prevent accidents.
I am sure that there are many such devices known to wood workers throughout the service, and that an exchange of ideas on these lines would aid in the adoption of some really good appliance leading to the reduction of accidents. If these were reduced by only one or two per cent, everyone concerned would be well repaid for any trouble taken.
Railway passengers on the main line southward of Christchurch are evincing much interest and curiosity regarding what appears to be a veritable sea of railway sidings, stretching from Addington to Middleton. These sidings have sprung into being in a very short space of time. They form part of the big railway sorting yard for Canterbury, which is making rapid progress under the organisation and methods of the District Engineer's staff. This yard will be worked on the hump system, the conformation of the site having proved very suitable for a hump layout. The large quantity of ballast required for the job will be obtained from the shingle deposits on the ground, obviating heavy railage charges. When completed the yard will contain about 11 miles of sidings and close on 100 turnouts, to which further additions can be made as business demands.
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The true philisophy is to retire within oneself, and listen to the voice of reason, amid the stillness of the passions.—Rousseau.
The forty-second annual meeting of the Hillside Railway Workshops' Library was recently held. The year's report indicated that the Library is in a sound position financially. The number of volumes approximates 16,000. The report continues:—“The subscribers as a whole are very considerate, and losses or mutilations of books are rarely reported. The Departmental officials have, as usual, met us in a generous spirit when we have approached them, and we are of the opinion that they, like ourselves, are proud of the institution.” The following motion was carried unanimously:—“That this meeting of subscribers of the Hillside Railway Workshops' Library wishes to place on record its satisfaction in the fact that the Department has seen fit to start technical classes for apprentices, and, as far as Library subscribers are concerned, they will do all in their power to assist the scheme by giving free use of their technical works, etc. A copy of this resolution is to be sent to the Chief Mechanical Engineer.”
We New Zealanders are a restless folk; we love to travel, and the thought of older lands, of great far cities, is a lure and a call to which our hearts long to respond. Perhaps it is part of our pioneer heritage, akin to the adventuring spirit that sent our fathers and mothers ten thousand miles across the seas to make their homes in a new, far land. Anyway, there it is, and there it was in my own heart when I waved a last goodbye to Auckland and set off down the travel-trail that leads by Pacific shores, and into the heart of the Golden West.
Three days later our ship steamed into Levuka, the little township on the shores of Ovalau. Here for the first time I saw the quaint sight of business-places, private houses, and even large trees, all firmly secured to the ground with heavy ropes and chains, so that the terrific hurricanes might not hurl them bodily into the sea. A flower-scented, lovely spot was Levuka, where native boys climbed the tall cocoanut palms and threw down nuts for us, beheading them afterwards with great knives, and offering us a cool, sweet drink, brimming to the top and delicious as the nectar of the gods after the heat of a walk under the tropic sun.
Then came long, hot days in the tropics, when not a breath of air stirred the oily surface of the ocean, blood-red sunsets and stars that flashed and shone like great silver flowers in the dark blue fields of the sky. After two weeks at sea, came a wonderful day in Honolulu, Paradise of the Pacific, where the natives threw about our shoulders ropes of frangipanni and hibiscus blooms and coaxed us to buy cats-eye necklets, postcards, fruit which we could not eat, hat-bands and girdles made of threaded seeds. Here I saw the most wonderful aquarium in the world, filled with fishes that were like an Arabian Nights dream come true. Some had faces like cats and dogs, others were grotesquely human; they floated about in trailing robes of pink and silver, scarlet and blue, green and gold, bits of splintered rainbow transformed into finny, flashing, living shapes.
A week later, our ship passed slowly down the fiord-like passage of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, through the Narrows, and into Vancouver Harbour. As we drew into the wharf, there floated out over the quiet water the sound of tolling bells, until I thought all Vancouver must be on its way to church……..And thus I came to the land where all the engines are fitted with bells.
For three days, the great C.P.R. and then the Southern Pacific train, bore me down the Pacific Coast, over the Canadian-American frontier at Sumas Junction, through Seattle, into Portland, “City of Roses,” and finally across the Sacramento River, where our train was divided into three sections and carried across the river on the largest ferry-boat in the world. So I came to journey's end in San Francisco, the beautiful light-hearted city that has risen triumphant from the dust and ashes of dire tragedy. Many a day I spent in Chinatown, the city of golden pagodas, little ladies in long silk trousers and sandalled feet, and Eastern restaurants (where one was served with chop-suey, beche-de-mer, birds' nest soup, fungus stew), a city very different
In the golden spring I came to know the Californian fields and forests, with their exquisite treasury of wild flowers. When spring comes to California, every field, every strip of wayside grass is ablaze with blue and golden lupins, poppies, and larkspurs blue as the sky, while in the great redwood forest, she spreads a carpet of wild violets, pansies, harebells, mission bells and trilliums. The wild lilac clothes the mountain sides in clouds of misty blue, and in the forest depths shines the glory of tiger-lilies and wild irises. Later on we gathered the ripe huckleberries, all warm and covered with rich purple bloom. For a whole month I camped in a tiny log cabin in a Santa Cruz redwood forest, washing for gold in the sands of the creek, tramping over the hills, swimming, riding the forest trails, and finding life very, very good……
Then at last I took my farewell glance at the city beyond the Golden Gates, bid good-bye to the bright North Star, and turned again to the long Ocean and the Land of the Southern Cross……But always in spring time my thoughts go back to the Golden West, its gracious beauty, its bright skies, and the scented glory of its springtime flowers.
The success of apprentice instruction in New Zealand is to a very large extent dependent on the co-operation of those men who come in daily contact with apprentices. That co-operation is of paramount importance and cannot be stressed too much.
An employer when he engages a boy for any trade is legally bound to teach the lad all branches of the particular trade for which he is indentured, so that the Railway Department, by pioneering a scheme of instruction for all trades in their workshops, is entitled to first place among employers of apprentices in this country. There are many difficulties in the initial stages of launching such a scheme, and the most critical and watchful eyes upon the progress of the classes will be among workshop staffs—and rightly so, provided it is a helpful and constructive interest. It must be understood that instructors can at most be masters of only one trade; but so many subjects and practices are general, that until there are records, and it is found exactly what is most helpful to the making of good, all round tradesmen, there is ample in which to instruct every apprentice. An interested apprentice is a good apprentice and, obviously, if that interest is maintained throughout his indentured period, not only will he make a better tradesman, but he will be a better student.
It remains for the men working with these boys, to take them, figuratively speaking, under their wings. For forty-one hours of the working week, boys are in the shops, so that if the instructors do not get the support of the shops' staff, then their work is going to be seriously hampered. I do not care what is the position of the man in the shop, he can impart sound advice to a boy and cultivate a feeling of respect which should be an important feature of a boy's apprenticeship. I would suggest that every man act towards, and advise, boys as they would expect men to act towards their own sons.
My point is—more shop discipline for the boys' sakes. At a later stage I intend to write something for apprentices dealing with their shop life and the advantages to be obtained from good discipline.
Within the last few weeks I have been asked what is going to be done for the present 4th and 5th year apprentices as the present arrangements include only boys up to their third year. Such inquiries give an indication of interest and are very gratifying. It is the intention of the Department, when the present classes have been placed on a good foundation, to provide suitable instruction for these boys also.
The accounts of the New Zealand Railways for the year ended 31st March, 1926, as published in the Annual Railway Statement are of special interest in that they set out the results of the first year's working under the financial reorganisation operating from 1st April, 1925.
It is very gratifying to note that after paying interest charges amounting to £1,913,311, providing fully for depreciation and transferring £58,000 to the Betterment Fund there was a net surplus for the year of £21,023.
It is proposed in this article to outline the the Accounting system and to give some details showing the method under which the many hundreds of thousands of financial transactions which are concentrated in the final figures are collected in the Chief Accountant's office, Wellington.
The accounts which are framed on commercial lines may be classified into seven general groups as follows:—
(1) Capital Expenditure.
(2) Betterments Expenditure.
(3) Operating Expenditure.
(4) Indirect or Suspense Expenditure.
(5) Recoverable Expenditure.
(6) Reserve and Equalisation Funds.
(7) Balance Sheet Accounts (Assets and liabilities).
(8) Revenue.
In dealing first with expenditure it is necessary to state that it is comprised of:—(a) Salaries and wages. (b) Stores and materials. (c) miscellaneous charges. These items will later be followed from their origin to the final accounts.
Capital expenditure on open lines is kept distinct from that on unopened lines. The construction of new lines is carried out by the Public Works Department out of moneys provided in the Public Works Fund and such expenditure is not brought into the railway accounts until the lines are handed over for working. Additions and improvements to open lines are carried out by the Railway Department out of moneys provided in the Public Works Fund or under the provisions of the Railway Improvement Authorisation Act.
Expenditure on minor improvements to existing assets is charged to the Betterments Fund, which is built up by appropriations from net revenue.
Operating expenditure is divided under the following headings each of which is represented by a control account:—(1) Maintenance of Way and Works. (2) Maintenance of Signals. (3) Maintenance of Rolling Stock. (4) Locomotive Transportation. (5) Traffic transportation. (6) Head Office and General Charges.
For purposes of showing details of expenditure-each of the operating expense headings is subdivided into primary accounts. For example: the expenditure under Traffic Transportation is classified under the following primary accounts.
General; District.
Supervision; Platform; Signalling; Shunting; Goods shed and yard; Wharves; Fuel and water; other miscellaneous expenses; Stationery.
Running; Cleaning; Sleeping cars.
Claims; Compensation; other traffic expenses.
The other control accounts are similarly subdivided by primary accounts to give suitable detailed information of the expenditure.
In order to keep the operating expenditure accounts pure, all subsidiary services are kept separate. These services are:—(1) Lake Wakatipu Steamers. (2) Refreshment Services. (3) Advertising Services. (4) Dwellings. (5) Refreshment Rooms, Bookstalls, etc., occupied by private lessees and Refreshment Service.
The accounts of each of these subsidiary services are kept on commercial lines. Interest, insurance and depreciation charges are debited in the accounts, and income and expenditure accounts are prepared four-weekly.
The principal item under this heading is stores. All stores and materials are under the control of the Stores Branch. No debits are made in the expenditure accounts for stores and materials until the actual goods are issued out of stores stocks, i.e., all stores purchased are debited to an Indirect or Suspense account and all issues are credited to this account. The debit balance is represented by actual stock on hand. Stores Branch expenses are distributed by means of a percentage commission on all stores issued. This ensures that the accounts record the correct cost of all stores and materials used.
Workshops expenditure also comes under this heading. The whole expenditure incurred in the workshops is debited to a shops clearing account which is credited with the value of the output.
Overhead charges including interest on the capital cost of shops and plant, depreciation and insurance, are distributed over the output by means of a percentage commission.
These accounts record the expenditure and receipts in respect of work carried out for other Government Departments and private parties, such as repairing privately owned locomotives and rolling stock, provision and maintenance of private sidings, etc.
To make provision for the depreciation and renewal of the assets and also for the equalising of expenditure arising out of slips, floods and accidents, special reserve funds have been created.
Working Expenditure and Revenue Account
Four Weeks Ended 21st August, 1926
Working expense accounts are debited each four-weekly period with amounts to cover these charges and the funds are credited. Renewal work or other expenditure for which these special provisions have been made is not charged to operating expenses but to the appropriate fund.
The operating expenditure accounts for each four-weekly period thus include proper provision for the depreciation and renewal of assets, etc., irrespective of the amount that is actually expended on renewal work.
As a result of the new policy distortions in the expenditure figures are avoided and substantial funds are now being built up for the specific purpose mentioned.
The Railway Department now carries its own fire insurance risks. All assets liable to destruction by fire come under the provision of the Fund.
As with the Depreciation and Equalisation funds operating expense accounts are debited each period with the premiums and the Fire Insurance Fund credited. Fire losses, the upkeep of Railway Fire Brigades, and fire appliances are charged to the Fund.
To cover payments under The Workers' Compensation Act all wages expenditure is loaded with a percentage which varies in the different branches in relation to the nature of the work. The total amount of the loading is credited to the Workers' Compensation Fund, from which all compensation payments are made.
These accounts record the fixed assets on which the capital of £47,608,676 has been spent, also the stocks of stores, Debtors and Creditors, Investments, Cash in hand, and Cash in the Working Railways Account.
The revenue is divided under main headings of operating, miscellaneous and subsidiary services. Operating revenue is further subdivided, to show revenue from passengers, ordinary and season tickets, parcels, luggage, mails, goods and demurrage, labour, etc. Miscellaneous revenue is also subdivided to show detailed information. The revenue from each subsidiary service is kept separate in the accounts.
A very considerable portion of the expenditure comes under the heading of salaries and wages, the actual amount for the year ended 31st March last being £4,610,662 or 60 per cent. of the total expenditure.
The method of dealing with wages expenditure is as under:—
Wages sheets are compiled by District Engineers, Stationmasters, Locomotive Foremen, Workshops Managers, etc., from time records. The compilations are carefully checked and the total expenditure appropriated to the various accounts provided for in the expenditure classification.
The amounts of money required at each banking station to meet wages payment is telegraphed to the Chief Accountant, who makes the necessary arrangements for credits with the bank.
Stationmasters, or other officers appointed for the purpose, are authorised to draw these amounts by cheque to meet wages payments. The receipted pay sheets are subsequently forwarded to the Chief Accountant to support the credit arranged with the bank. With each fortnight's pay sheets a wages schedule is prepared by certifying officers and a wages summary showing the wages expenditure classified to primary accounts is submitted four-weekly. These summaries form the journal from which entries are made to the primary accounts in the expenditure ledgers.
The total debits to each control account are also extracted and entered into the classified expenditure journal for posting to the control ledger, but whilst the primary account is necessarily kept for each separate district and section, the control ledger accounts apply to the whole system. By this means the control accounts form an effective check on the totals of the primary accounts in the expenditure ledgers without the necessity of keeping detailed information in the control ledger.
Stores required for use are obtained by means of a requisition on the Stores Branch. The requisition form must be signed by an authorised officer, and must give the number of the account to which the charges are to be debited.
Each four weekly period the Stores Branch prepares summarised stores debit sheets showing total charge to each primary account. These summarised sheets form the journal for posting to the expenditure ledgers.
The total debit for each control account is also extracted and entered in the classified expenditure journal for posting to the control ledger. Here again the control account entries provide an effective check on the stores debits in the expenditure ledgers without burdening the control ledger with unnecessary detail.
The total stores issues for year ended March 31st, 1926, amounted to £2,327,126, or 30 per cent. of the total expenditure.
Miscellaneous charges consist mainly of voucher payments for water, light, personal expenses and small sundry items of expenditure. Each certifying officer schedules all vouchers passed to the Chief Accountant weekly and also submits a summary at the end of each fourweekly period of voucher schedules showing the total debit to each primary account. The same procedure is followed as that outlined for wages schedule summaries. The importance of avoiding any unnecessary duplication or repetition of entries in books where the original entries could be used for posting purposes was kept constantly in mind in framing the present system.
To provide a posting medium for Renewals, Insurance, and Equalisation Fund contributions, a special columnar journal which shows the debit for each primary account in respect of each class of asset with further subdivisions for each distriet or shops debit is used.
The Working Railways Account within the Public Account is so far as the Railways Department is concerned a bank account, into which all receipts are paid and from which all disbursements including interest on capital are made. The balance in this account is watched closely from day to day and full advantage is taken of the authority given under the legislation passed in 1925, for the investment of surplus funds in the Working Railways account. The Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 1926, shows that £175,000 was so invested at that date.
This concludes a brief summary of the expenditure of the accounting system. The Traffic Transportation portion of the “step-ladder” statement showing the method of presenting the final figures each four weekly period is reproduced in this issue. The complete “step-ladder” shows details of expenditure under each main heading, and is compiled for each section as well as for the whole system.
It is proposed to deal with the revenue side of the Accounting System in a later issue.
The Railway Board has decided to erect a Social Hall at Taumarunui for the convenience of members of the Service. The hall will be available for meetings, educational classes, and social gatherings.
The need for something of the kind has been felt for many years, and in May last representative railwaymen interviewed the Prime Minister on the matter.
Letters of thanks have now been received from Mr. R. C. Dobble, Local Secretary of the New Zealand Locomotive Enginedrivers, Firemen and Cleaners' Association, and Railway Social Club expressing their appreciation.
* * *
Understanding is the first great need in all human relations.—Ibsen.
After the war, when Mackechnie came back to Inverell station to his old job as a porter, wearing the ribbon of a D.S.O., the rest of the staff, from the office boy to the Station-master, were very proud of him, and made so much of him that Jock, to put it in his own heathen lingo, “begoud to mak' nae sma' swats o' himsel'.” After a bit, however, the thing began to pall on us all, and we would refer to the porter as “the blanky ‘D.S.O.,’” till Mackechnie, in disgust, took the ribbon off his breast and laid it away in his “wee kist” with his medals, to be worn, like them, only on high days and holidays.
That, by way of introduction. While Mackechnie was away beating the Germans, we had a “medically unfit” reject added to the staff at the station, and some of us soon found to our cost that it wasn't for any deficiency in “cheek,” or thinness of “hide,” that he was rejected for service abroad. Of all the coves to borrow he was the very dizzy limit of my thirty odd years' railway experience— and of these same the “service” can show some most excellently seasoned samples. But “Slippy,” as we nicknamed him, could give points to any of those I had ever met, and then beat them some. Well, some weeks after Mackechnie had resumed duty, “Slippy” confessed to his cobber that he was in a tight corner and sorely in need of a loan of five quid to put him even. “Sorry, old chap,” was the reply to the delicately insinuated request, “but I haven't a bean. Rent too high an' tucker too dear to have anything left over out of a porter's wages these times. Indeed, speaking only for your own private ear, ‘Slippy,’ I've mortgaged our next rise for twelve months to keep things going as it is.” Then an idea seemed to strike him, “But I say,” he added, “why not ‘put the nips’ into the blanky ‘D.S.O.,’—Mackechnie, you know? He got a tidy lump sum on coming home, an' he doesn't smoke, nor bet, an' his wife won't let him taste the boose. He's a good chap, is Mac., an' if you ‘gentle’ him nicely he'll part up with a smile, I know he will, for before he went away, Mac. was often ‘our refuge an' our help in time of trouble,’ as Shakespeare or some other poetic bloke says. Try ‘im!”
Now, the truth was that Mackechnie, except when he was in the way of “takin' a tot,” as he called it, was as close as—a—as close as a—Scot……and what could be closer? But “Slippy” didn't know this—not just yet. So, full of hope, as he was of cheek, he bowled down the platform an' breasted up to Jock. After a little preliminary palaver, he quite casually, like, remarked, “Oh, Mac., would you lend me five quid for a week, old man?”
“I dinna ken,” replied Jock. “Ye'd better tell the weak auld man to understudy John Alden, an' speak for hissel'.”
Jock's literary allusion was completely lost on “Slippy,” who, quite unabashed, explain-atorily replied, “You don't seem to understand me, Mac. I said ‘week,’ w-e-e-k, not w-e-a-k, but ‘week,’ meaning the length of time.”
“But, gin he is only a bit ‘week auld,’ hoo cam' ye to ca' him a ‘man?’” asked Jock, suspiciously.
“Dear, dear, dear!” exclaimed the somewhat confused “Slippy,” a little irritably: “the ‘old man’ applied to you.”
“Ye're a dagont leear!” rapped out Jock, apparently losing his “wool.” “He did naethin' o' the kin.' I dinna ken him; never saw him—the auld buffer!”
“Grapes an' gooseberries!” cried “Slippy,” in a final despairing effort to get that bone-head of a close-fisted Scot to comprehend. “I mean you are the ‘old man.’ See?”
“Ay, of coorse, I see!” snapped Mackechnie, aggressively. “Did ye kid yersel' I was blin'? A' the same, if I'm the ‘auld man,’ I canna for the life o' me see whit wey ye're sae anxious to get me to len' mysel' five pounds. I dinna want five pounds—that is, I hinna got it, an' gin I had it I wadnae want it. Naw, naw, naw! I mean I wadnae need it. Naw! no' that aither, I wad need it; but I wad ha'e nae need to ha'e you gang roun' sketchin' for it for me. D'ye get me?” he concluded almost biting the point off of “Slippy's” too inquisitive proboscis.
“Cheese an' Crust!” muttered “Slippy,” as he turned away dejectedly, “‘get’ him? I ‘get’ him right enough; but it wasn't him I wanted. It was his five flamin' flimsies!”
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Great men are meteors that consume themselves to light the earth.—Thomas Hardy.
There are two things that men should never weary of—goodness and humility.
In pursuanee of the Railway Department's policy regarding Instruction Classes for Apprentices employed at Railway Workshops, a commencement was made on 26th July of what is probably the first apprentice class to start under the Department's scheme. The members of the first class to start at 8 a.m. on 26th July were Apprentices C. A. McDowell, R. F. Marriott, J. F. Olsen, A. E. Davies and B. T. Maedonald. Mr. D. J. Sherriff is Apprentice Instructor and the classes are being held in the meantime in the Hillside Railway Social Hall. All the apprentices are eager to learn and appreciate the Department's effort to improve their knowledge. The scheme promises to be of great future benefit, both to the lads who are being taught a trade and to the Department which will reap the reward of more efficient service.
One of the largest trees in the world—if not the largest—is in the bush at Waihou, Hokianga, New Zealand. It is a kauri tree, the vast trunk of which rises to a height of 75 feet before being broken by the first branch, and measures 22 feet in diameter, or approximately one chain in girth. It is estimated that the tree contains over 195,000 feet of timber, sufficient to build three double storied houses of 20 rooms each from floor to ceiling. This remarkable tree should be zealously guarded from destruction, and preserved to show future generations what the lordly kauri was at its best. From a marketable point of view it would be impossible to fell it, much less to break it down, for no mill possesses saws large enough to tackle it. Its age is estimated at 2,000 years at least, and carefully conserved, it should have another thousand years before it.
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Discretion of speech is more than eloquence. —Bacon.
At the recent sixty-fifth anniversary dinner of the United Kingdom Railway Officers' and Servants' Association, Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield, the President, referred in the course of a speech to the responsibilities from which railway men are never freed in carrying out their daily duties. “There are few people” said Sir Charles, “who have more lives depending upon them day by day, than the driver of a long distance express train. To the child, the engine driver is the hero, and certainly his duties are onerous enough. But there are many others in a modern railway service who share his grave responsibilities and I think it unfortunate that so few people realise the vital importance of the duties that fall upon many not highly-paid railway officers and servants.” He went on to say that upon the railways the price of safety was eternal vigilance. Not many of those who chafed at a two-minute signal stop outside some busy junction appreciated the fact that a moment's relaxation of their watchfulness and care, on the part of any one of a dozen or more railway officials would mean certain danger and possible death to hundreds of passengers. The extraordinarily high average of safety that obtained upon British railways had always been very justly a matter of pride in the railway world. The motto “Safety First” had a modern flavour, but upon the railways for generations there had been this watchword—“The Safety of the Public First!”
During the year 1924 (says “The Engineer”) there were 371 more accidents to railway servants on the Great Western Railway than in 1923. Special efforts, were, therefore, made in 1925 to effect an improvement, and so successful were they that the total was 114 less than in 1924. Had the 1924 figures been maintained in 1925 the number of accidents would have been 3,370. Instead it was 2,832, and the “Great Western Railway Magazine” thinks it fair to estimate that the difference of 538 has been prevented by the co-operative efforts of the staff.
Committee Four of the United States Chamber of Commerce reported recently that the great sphere of operation of the motor trucks as related to steam railroads was in terminal work, store door delivery and in short haul zones within which the motor truck is pre-eminently fitted for service. The American experience in this respect is similar to our own. All attempts to compete with the railway over long distances have broken down. Now it but remains for the Administration to round off their work of transportation by arranging a complete system of door to door deliveries, using motor trucks as adjuncts to our own service in order to supply the modern demand for through service.
Here is what the D.T. and I. Railroad News considers that one scoopful of coal will do:—
In British Thermal Units it totals 187,000.
Foot pounds amount to 145,000,000.
It represents 73 horse-power hours.
This amount of energy if applied without loss would:
Lift a Ford coupe vertically 15 miles.
Light a 40-watt lamp for 1,360 hours. Evaporate 221 pounds of water (at 180 pounds pressure per square inch).
Lift a 3-ton elevator 4.6 miles.
Heat 1,040 pounds of water from freezing to boiling point.
Melt 1,300 lbs. of ice.
It is equivalent to 1.7 gallons of gasoline and as such would:
Drive a Ford car 34 miles
.
Plough 2.6 acres of land.
Drive a 33-foot racing yacht 2 4/3 miles at 60 miles an hour.
Propel a hand power car 340 miles. With its energy released in a boiler it will:
Move 128 gross tons miles.
Blow a locomotive whistle 42 seconds.
To promote scientific research in the universities and industries of the United States, the Engineering Foundation of New York is conducting a drive for a £20,000,000 Endowment Fund.
The smallest railway in the world is located in Cumberland, in the North of England, and connects the villages of Eskdale, Beckfoot and Boot with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at Ravenglass. The line is seven miles long, of 15 inch gauge and is known as “The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.” As originally laid down in 1876 as a 3 ft. gauge mineral railway to carry ironstone from the mines at Boot, it was a success. When the value of the ore, in later years, began to deteriorate, the receipts from the traffic carried over the railway also fell in sympathy, and about 1902 the goods and passenger services were discontinued and the line was abandoned.
During 1915 several gentlemen who had gained experience with various minature pleasure railways in parks at Rhyl, Geneva, Southport and elsewhere, conceived the idea of purchasing the railway lock, stock, and barrel, and converting it to the 15 inch gauge. The scheme intended was to run the line with scale model locomotives quarter full size types, but, recently, owing to the great increase in traffic larger locomotives approximately one third full size prototypes have been adopted.
In 1916 the main line was completed and passenger and goods trains commenced to run. The great supporter of the railway is the holiday traffic, but a small service is also maintained during the winter months. From the first, the success of the novel railway was assured. The seven mile journey, in small open cars drawn by realistic working models of modern express engines, has proved a fascination for children of all ages, and the advantage of viewing the magnificent mountain and lake scenery in such a novel manner has served only to heighten the popularity of this little line.
On public holidays, upwards of 1,200 passengers have visited Boot and travelled over this unique railway in one day. Taking the average train load as 100 passengers this would mean 24 trains have had to be run over the seven mile journey, and over a single line possessing only very primitive signalling arrangements and inadequate crossing facilities.
In fact it is not an uncommon thing during the summer months for a main line train to arrive at the London, Midland and Scottish Railway station with over 500 passengers all anxious to proceed by the first train to Boot, on the Eskdale line. As the line only possesses four engines, the largest of which barely weighs 8 tons in working order, it is an extraordinary matter how such a line can deal expeditiously with such comparatively large
Of course it is quite true that the passengers could be handled in far greater numbers if the gauge was altered to the standard and proper full sized trains run, instead of the diminutive rolling stock now used, but the circumstance is generally overlooked that it is chiefly the size and novelty of the railway in this case which draws all the traffic. It would, therefore, be poor business on the part of the management to convert the 15 inch gauge to the standard.
The grades on the line are not all easy. There are several stretches of 1 in 40, and 1 in 50, with a short piece at 1 in 34. As the trains frequently reach the equivalent of 500
The engines, as previously mentioned, are one-third size models; the first type, the “Atlantic,” named “Sanspareil,” shown in the accompanying photo, has already travelled over 100,000 miles in the course of its career. Perhaps a few of the leading dimensions will interest our locomotive friends: cylinders 4 1/8in, by 6 4/3in.; driving wheels 20 inch diameter;— tender holds 60 gallons of water and 2 cwt. of fuel; total weight, engine and tender, 2 tons 5 cwt.
A later development is the 4-6-2 “Pacific” type with almost identical dimensions as the foregoing type, with the exception of a larger boiler. The respective adhesion weights on the coupled wheels are however 2,800 lbs. for the “Atlantic” and 3,800 lbs. for the “Pacific.” The latter engine is very fast and has done the seven miles in under 20 minutes, equalling 21 m.p.h.
Both these types have now given place to the pride of the line, a “monster” one-third full size 2-8-2 goods engine named “River Esk.” If it were a full sized engine it would be the largest goods engine in the British Isles, and also the only one with that wheel arrangement known as 2-8-2 (two leading wheels, eight drivers and two trailing). Another novelty is the employment of a patent valve gear using poppet valves, similar to those employed on a motor car. The engine has proved a success, and the London and North Eastern Railway have since equipped one of their locomotives experimentally with a valve gear of the same type.
The cab is very roomy, and the driver and a companion (none of the engines carry a fireman) can shelter in the cab in wet weather or in winter. The locomotive is capable of working, with ease, a 30 ton stone train, or a heavy passenger train of 220 passengers. It can perform the entire journey of seven miles without the fire having to be once touched. This is because a large wide “Wootten” firebox is fitted, and this engine like all the others on the railway burns the finest grade
A rather humourous provision in the timetable—at least to a railwayman accustomed to full sized trains—is the remark that the “down” non-stop express will slip two coaches at Irton Road for passengers desirous of alighting at that station.
Recently a granite quarry has been opened at Bedfoot and a considerable stone traffic is now carried by this diminutive railway all the year round. The new heavy goods locomotive is largely used on this duty. Its larger cylinders 51/4 in. × 81/2 in. and eight coupled wheels give plenty of power; also, having a large bogie tender holding 1,700 gallons of water and 5 cwt. of coke, it is superior to the earlier type with a tender capacity of sixty gallons of water and only two cwt. of fuel, and capable of more trips without returning to the shed to re-fuel and water.
The rolling stock is all four wheeled with the exception of bogie covered cars used in the winter months. It is naturally very important to keep the tare-load as light as possible, and this is demonstrated by the fact that the tare-load is only one hundredweight per passenger for the four wheeled open coaches. The rails are twenty-four pound flat-bottomed type spiked to heavy standard railway sleepers cut into three pieces. This interesting little line, besides carrying passengers and goods, also delivers the mail regularly to the main line trains at Ravenglass. In the early days shortage of locomotives necessitated the use of a tiny wheel propelled by a 4-h.p. Douglas motor cycle engine—very similar to the motor jiggers of the four-wheeled type as used by the Public Works Department.
Now a “Ford” on rail wheels has been purchased and is used for miscellaneous duties, shunting, etc., and it is rumoured that the fame of the “Smallest Railway in the World” is increasing yearly to such an extent that a further increase in the locomotive stock will soon have to be considered to deal with the ever growing demands of the summer passenger traffic.
Perhaps because of the great success of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Miniature Railway, similar railways are now being constructed elsewhere.
A line to be known as the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Light Railway is now almost completed in the South-East corner of England. It is of 15 inch gauge and will be worked by one-third full size “Pacific” class locomotives having three cylinders. Huge model locomotives of the 4-8-2 type may be built later on. Some of the engineering difficulties encountered in making the line, include crossing forty-three streams or dykes and two tunnels under main roads, the longest being 36 feet. Standard semaphore signals will be used in conjunction with telephone train operation and most of the station buildings will be very substantially built in reinforced concrete, and conforming to the most modern methods of building in this material. Strange to say the line has a strong road motor service to compete against.
It is interesting to speculate at this stage whether we will ever see a similar kind of light railway in New Zealand. Rotorua, with its thousands of tourists who visit Whakarewarewa, Wairoa, etc., in the summer season offers a great field for private or Government enterprise in this direction. The climate is also far more congenial to “open air” travel than the average holiday maker in England usually experiences.
However, “Coming events cast their shadows before,” and from what the writer has heard there exists at least a possibility of a miniature railway of this type being built in Auckland in the future.
We, as railwaymen, are face to face with ever growing road competition and competition which may mean a great deal to us in the way of less business, perhaps less wages. We are faced with a situation which is found to be acute and only our loyal co-operation and team work will enable the men at the helm to pull through. Therefore, we must put our heart and soul into the work and “play the game” for the good of the Service.
Let us consider the incentive, the mainspring which must actuate a body of men who would make good. The men in the railway are sometimes called upon to do things infinitely more difficult than anything civilian life can put forward, without hope of reward, financial or otherwise. Sometimes they make good; sometimes they fail. Why? Of what does the soul of the railways consist?
To express it in a single word or a phrase is well-nigh impossible; the nearest approach one can make is to say that it is the desire to “play the game.”
The first great principle involved, therefore, is the principle of “playing for the side.” The Railways are just a team—a team of men who are training for a certain work. The harder the work the harder the training, and in our work the stakes are more business for the railways. In cricket, in football, unless a player is prepared to sacrifice his chance of individual glory on occasion that his side may benefit, he
Unselfishness is one of the great essentials. The selfish player can never feel the soul of sport. With him his performance is all that matters Everyone knows the selfish three-quarter, the man who will not pass while he sees even the faintest chance of getting over the line himself though the man next to him has a clear run in. When he does pass it is generally too late. To the spectators it has been a brilliant run, a fine attempt, a very near thing, but the players know it was just selfishness. The good captain, the good leader, replaces him by a less brilliant, less spectacular, less selfish player, because, to the good leader, it is only the side that counts.
It is this ideal of unselfishness, of team work in the highest sense, which a man must follow before he can be of value to his side in any game; it is the religion which a railwayman must learn before he can give of his best. Like all religions it helps the man who has acquired it, when he feels the need of something outside himself to help him, when he has reached the breaking point and can stand no longer alone. It is a religion of to-day, to a certain extent, perhaps, a material religion invented by men for men, yet I venture to think it takes its believer a little nearer to the heart of things than he would have reached by any other means.
Last year the Stores Branch of the Railway Department issued for use material which cost over two million pounds to purchase. That's real money. If you owned that yourself, I'll bet you would think so! You can also bet your sweet life that if you owned it you would take a whole lot of precautions to see that you didn't waste it and to see that nobody else lost what you paid for. You wouldn't leave it around haphazardly; nor would you put it in a box with a hole in it.
It is a very good way to get the true perspective of a situation, by putting yourself in the other fellow's place. Scattered all over our railway system, in yards, sheds, workshons and depots, of all kinds, are stocks of material Material is money in less negotiable form, with this difference—that a sum of say £1,000 in the bank for a year earns interest, becomes bigger, whereas £1,000 worth of material if not used, if not taken care of, or if not really wanted, gets smaller, it wastes, and we might even lose it entirely.
If any one of us borrows £1,000 to build a house, we have to pay interest for it. Similarly, if we carry over one million pounds worth of material in stock, and we do, we lose the interest on that amount of money while it is in stock, and it doesn't earn us a penny in return until we use it, until we make it do its work.
What I am getting at is this. On the operating side of the railway we hear:—
“The Stores don't keep it in stock.”
“Stock run out.”
“Big stock but of the wrong sort and size.”
“We ought to keep our own stock,” etc., etc. That's the viewpoint of the man who wants material, and while it sounds like a growl all the time, it indicates his zeal for the progress of the work, and disappointment that it is held up. Foremen want material, and they expect the Stores to have it on hand when they are ready for it, so that their output will not be interfered with.
The storekeeper's problems—the other side of the story—are not easy. He must keep in stock regular requirements. He must also look ahead. He must give prompt service, and for financial reasons he:—
1. Must keep his stock down to a minimum, because it costs money to hold.
2. He must get as quick a turnover as possible of his stock consistent with service required.
The success of the re-organisation of the Stores Branch is going to be largely dependent on everyone properly understanding what is aimed at, and everybody working to the one end. Prior to this re-organisation, which is now in progress, there were innumerable stocks of material in every shop and depot, also in cupboards in every corner of the railway, materials which had been paid for in hard cash and were being held by the working staff and not by the storekeeper at all. Storekeepers were often chasing merchants for material for one leading hand, whereas the same material unknown to them was often in another leading hand's cupboard, in the same shop. Everybody was trying to play safe against his probable needs and building up stocks that from a business point of view could only, at best, be described as a poor investment.
I don't suppose any single one of these odd stocks was really satisfactory. It was always a “hand to mouth” proposition, bolstered up by rush orders to the stores, which meant high cost through buying in small lots. The idea now is to concentrate in particular places, properly equipped and properly stocked, stocks of material under the control of the Stores Branch. All the little stocks must be turned into these main stores so that a really useful stock is available for everybody. We have to understand what the Stores Branch is stocking and to assist them in making provision for us, we must tell the Stores our requirements. At first there will be some trouble through items not being in stock, or overlooked; but, eventually, the storekeeper,
The system being adopted under the re-organisation scheme is a standard one throughout the world in big business concerns. Ours is the biggest industry in this country.
In regard to motor haulage competition some home thrusts were made by Mr. H. Welsh, Railway Business Agent for the Auckland District, in a recent address to the Hamilton business men and carriers. “I wonder” said he, “if it has ever struck the merchants making use of motor transport from Auckland that the lorries were breaking up the roads to such an extent that farmers, who formerly made Hamilton their centre, were now shopping elsewhere, because of the danger of damaging their cars?” And again, “Those making use of the lorries jeopardised the developmental rates given by the Railways, incidentally retarding the progress of Hamilton. They helped to smash up the farmers' roads and widened the breach between town and country by giving the famers just ground for complaint against the business men in the towns.”
The Chairman, Mr. A. M. Bisley, said “They should get right down to business and eliminate the opposition by supporting the Railways alone.” A resolution urging all those making use of transport to give effect to this principle was carried unanimously.
Smoke and grime and ugliness are not necessarily associated with the railways (says the Wellington “Evening Post”). In Great Britain and elsewhere it has been possible to hide the ugliness with shrubs and flowers and trim lawns; and many of the stations are delightful spots and pleasing to the eye. There is no reason why similar beautification should not be undertaken in New Zealand, and it will be if railway servants and the public pay attention to the suggestions made by the “N.Z. Railways Magazine.” In some places beautification may be extremely difficult. Wellington's two stations certainly present rather hopeless propositions. They have not even the restful charm that one associates with old age. But many of the provincial towns are not under the same handicap. This may be regarded as a trifling matter. “What nonsense to talk about flowers,” someone may say. “We want quicker trains.” But the railway station is the main entrance to many towns, and what business man would think of depositing a litter of old iron and junk before his front-shop, or of leaving his front garden to be overgrown with weeds? Yet many provincial towns of great beauty and attractiveness are entered through a station which is as bare and ugly as it could be made.
Definition.—These yards, as their title indicates, are constructed for the purposes of concentrating wagons converging from predetermined areas and directions; marshalling them into groups according to requirements; sorting them into order of destination, and finally despatching them to that destination.
A progressive country, such as this, is ever demanding more efficient and more expeditious rail transportation and it is incumbent upon us to see that we do not fail in meeting that demand. The introduction of more comprehensive statistics has enabled those responsible to gauge the position correctly and to show whether increased facilities are necessary and what economies would be effected by the installation of more modern methods. Until recently the traffic on New Zealand Railways has not been sufficiently dense to warrant the introduction of special shunting yards. The time has now arrived, however, when their construction in certain localities is justified, and two such yards are now being constructed, one at Middleton (Christchurch) in the South Island and one at Palmerston North in the North Island. It might be of interest, therefore, to discuss in some detail the general question of marshalling yards, their location, dimensions, general arrangement and the latest inventions for facilitating the shunting of wagons in modern yards.
Location.—The first and most important question to decide before planning a marshalling yard is “Where it is to be?” i.e., “Which is the most convenient point, having regard to traffic requirements, ground formation, land available, and other essentials?”
In the case of the two yards under construction, Palmerston North was not difficult to decide upon. Here is one of the main junction and concentration points of the North Island. It is growing in importance every year and one can safely assume that it will always remain an important junction and transhipping station whatever the change in the flow of traffic and whatever additional facilities may be provided at other junctions as the net-work of railways increases. Fortunately there is ample space at Palmerston North for this new yard and the natural formation of the ground lends itself to economic shunting operations.
The position of a marshalling yard to serve Lyttelton and Christchurch was, however, a more difficult proposition to decide. Accommodation was available at two points, one
Frankton Junction is obviously another point where, in the near future, a marshalling yard will be necessary.
Having decided on the location, geographically speaking, and taking it as an axiom that the yard must run parallel to the running lines, consideration must then be given to where the main line or lines should pass.
(1) Through the centre of the yard thus separating up and down traffic.
(2) To one side of the yard, if so, which side.
(3) Round the yard, that is in the case of duplicated main lines.
As regards No. 1 (through the centre of the yard) this is an expensive method which restricts flexibility in the use of shunting engines and staff and is only desirable where the traffic in one direction is independent of that in the other, or, where the movement is so continuous as to preclude any possibility of inter-change of engines and yard staff from one portion of the yard to the other, to meet fluctuations in traffic. If, however, there is a considerable “return” movement, constant inter-changing of wagons from one yard to the other has to take place over the main lines in order to get wagons on to trains going in the required direction, and if the yard happens to be the end of a Locomotive Division there is a possibility of considerable delay to train engines passing to and from the Loco. Depot. It frequently occurs, of course, that sufficient space is not obtainable to handle all the traffic on one side of the main line and the only solution then is to split the yard. In many cases it has been found more economical to free the main lines by building either “burrowing” or “fly over” junctions which enables communication to be made between the two yards without fouling the main lines.
Illustration 1 shows a yard with the main lines running through the centre.
As regards No. 2 (to one side of the yard) this is the most common practice and it has the advantage from the purely yard operating point of view of enabling closer supervision of the various co-ordinating movements and also permits of more flexibility of staff, and engines can be shifted at a moment's notice according to traffic requirements. Interference with the main line is reduced to a minimum if the yard is placed according to the Traffic Officer's recommendations. These recommendations must be based on data indicating the exact flow and nature of the traffic. Some of the matters to be considered are:—(1) In what direction or directions is the flow of goods traffic? (2) Periods over which maximum density of passenger and goods traffic is maintained (both directions separately) on all lines entering the yard? (3) How far does passenger traffic interfere with goods traffic at the period
In short, it is a question of deciding which side of the line will cause the least disturbance to main line operation. Where the main lines are duplicated and the flow of traffic in one direction is considerably in excess of that in the other direction, or the nature of the traffic is such that in one direction trains can more conveniently proceed to another yard further along the line, and that in the other direction numerous junctions, private sidings, etc., necessitate the splitting up of trains, the question of which side the yard shall be is easily determined. Unfortunately, however, it is rare in these days for the operating officers to be in the happy position of being able to decide the location of a yard from their point of view. Geographical and topographical features, the price of land and available space, etc., usually decide the issue. There is always the possibility, of course, of delay to main line traffic becoming acute by reason of the continual crossing over of trains arriving and leaving the yard. Where engineering difficulties do not prevent it, either the “burrowing” or “fly over” junction is then the only remedy, particularly where the main line is made up of four roads, i.e., two passenger and two goods. It might be argued that as regards
No. 3 (round the yard, that is, in the case of duplicated lines). This is a practice most extensively used in America and has much to commend it particularly where a frequent passenger service is run either on the same roads as the goods trains or on separate fast traffic roads. As regards main line occupation the movements are all forward as all changes of traffic from one direction to the other is done in the yard. “Burrowing” and “fly over” junctions are avoided and the occupation of the main lines for goods traffic working in and out of the yard is reduced to a minimum.
In this type of yard a great deal depends on location. A modern yard can spread over three miles or more so that if the locality requires a station anywhere within the yard area separation of the main lines is not practicable. It is usually found that townships grow up around these yards and there is always a possibility of a station being required half way between the extreme ends of the yard. This together with the fact that expansion is usually limited are the only drawbacks in this type of layout, and are not really serious when one considers the economic advantages of having direct ingress and egress together with a complete “two d