August 16, 1928, will long be remembered as a night of storm by Wellington residents. The wind blew with exceptional fury, and considerable damage was done to trees, fences, chimneys and roofs in certain localities. But the railway sea wall between Wellington and Petone suffered most, more than thirty breaches, some of them several chains in extent, were made by the wind-lashed tide in the early hours of the morning, and railway traffic over that portion of the railway through the Hutt Valley had to be suspended after 2.30 a.m. When morning broke the whole front presented a scene of desolation. Sections of line had been washed out, the track hanging in places in mid-air and in others lying down in the gaping gaps left by the encroaching tide. The outer set of rails suffered most, but there were several places where both sets were rendered quite unfit to carry traffic.

Maintenance gangs were quickly on the job and they worked heroically against the most severely adverse weather conditions to make the line once more capable of carrying traffic. So well did they do this that by 4 p.m. the following afternoon railway traffic was resumed on the inner line and a restricted timetable was put into operation.

Emergency Measures Necessary.

The occasion called for emergency measures to cope with the heavy suburban passenger traffic between Wellington and its most important suburban area—the Hutt Valley. And the weight of this work fell upon the Department's recently acquired fleet of road motor buses and the Railway's new motor branch generally.

The organisation to meet the position proved adequate to the occasion and gave general satisfaction to the public, who felt that the best possible was done in the circumstances.

Some particulars of the arrangements made should prove interesting to our readers, and the following details from the Bus Manager's report show how the matter was dealt with.

Great Work by Railway Buses.

On the morning of the 16th 128 trips were run and 32 out of a total of 37 buses were on the road. Approximately 2,400 passengers were carried into the city before 9 a.m.

In order to cope with the traffic and avoid delays to the travelling public special efforts were made by the Workshops staff, and at 3 p.m. every bus in the fleet of 37 was available for the road.

By special arrangement three buses (25 seaters) were hired from the City Tramways, and one bus (25 seater) from Mr. C. Bentley, of Petone. These vehicles were used to augment our own fleet in coping with the traffic offering. In addition to this, six Departmental motor lorries were also page 8 seated in the shops with a total carrying capacity of 30 each, and these were used to convey the Workshops employees between Petone and Wellington.

The result was that forty-one buses were available to handle the peak loading at 4 p.m. on the 16th, and at 5.45 p.m. 158 trips had been run and approximately 3,000 passengers had been transported from Wellington to the Lower Hutt and intermediate areas.

There was practically no delay, and at 6 p.m. the omnibus stand was clear and all passengers had been carried to their homes.

On the morning of the 16th 182 trips were run, motor lorries were again engaged in this traffic, and, with the loading offering steadily from 6.30 a.m., 160 trips were run between the Hutt area and the city. Thus approximately 2,565 persons were carried into the city, and 562 from the city to the suburbs, before 9 a.m.

Single line working on the line was restored about 4 p.m. on the 17th and from that time onwards the loading on the bus service was reduced, and passengers were handled without the aid of the lorries.

It is noteworthy that the lorries were pressed into this service at very short notice. They were fitted up with the seats which are used in the “Z” luggage vans for race and holiday traffic.

The temporary dislocation of the train service certainly provided an example of what it is possible to do in order to improvise a road service at short notice.

The Workshops Manager at Petone advises that fifty lorries (to seat 30 each) could be fitted up in the shops in eight hours.

Advantage of State Ownership.

The Department came in for some criticism regarding its action in charging all passengers by the bus service the ordinary fare, and refusing to accept Season and Workers’ Tickets on the Road Motors.

In this connection it is worth pointing out that the rights of the regular clients of the Bus Service had to be protected, Really, the State control of the Railway and Motor Services in this area proved to be in the best interest of all concerned.

It will be remembered that during the railway strike, when the buses were controlled by private owners, the public were charged 2/- single from Lower Hutt and Petone to Wellington, but with State ownership of both the transport services the traffic was handled with the minimum of delay and at the standard fare of 1/- single or 1/6 return. There was thus no exploitation of the travelling public by the Department.

Passengers who travelled in the seated lorries were charged 6d. single between Wellington and Petone, this being half the usual fare.

The outstanding feature of the whole event was the excellent team work shown by Maintenance, Traffic, Workshops and Bus staffs in coping with this difficult emergency.