Scope for Imagination, Ingenuity, Drive, and Skill

There's no monotonous grind in railway engineering. Rarely are any two jobs entirely alike. Railway engineering — civil, mechanical signal, or electrical — offers scope for talents in both the technological and administrative fields. The principal openings for university graduates in the Railways Department are in the engineering profession, although greater interest is now being taken in university qualifications for those who will concentrate on the administrative and operational side of transport. The Railways Department is concerned with transport of all kinds—rail, road, air, and sea—and those who aspire to managerial positions will find it essential to grow up with the organisation, gaining as wide an experience as possible in its various aspects.

With the present rapid pace of technological development, the Railways Department constantly needs trained engineers. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, the chal[unclear: lenge] of the changing pattern of transport demands the progressive modernisation of rail and road transport facilities and equipment.

The introduction of new and improved forms of motive power, the [unclear: relocation] and strengthening of [unclear: track] and bridges, the design of modern marshalling yards, attractive new station buildings and offices, and neat, functional goods sheds and workshops, and the provision of the most modern electrical signalling and telecommunications equipment: all these are just some of the developments with which railway engineers are associated. With this increasing technological progress, New Zealand Railways—the nation's largest undertaking, with a staff of 24,000—has much to offer in the way of rewarding and satisfying careers.

Railway Civil Engineering

Among the many different types of vocation offered by the railways in its various branches is that of the Railway Civil Engineer, a career of endless variety with a scope and magnitude of which few people areaware.

The railway civil engineer is responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of a wide variety of structures over and past which the railway runs. The track itself is maintained under his control as arethe bridges, viaducts and tunnels.

There are55 miles of railway bridges in New Zealand, ranging from the mile-long structure over the Rakaia River, down to those of a few feet spanning little wayside streams. In height they reach a climax in the grandeur of the Mohaka Viaduct, 318 feet above the river. Some of these 2,600 bridges and viaducts were designed and built, and all are maintained, by railway civil engineers.

The 53 miles of New Zealand railway tunnels—189 of them—are under the care of the railway civil engineer, as are station yards, buildings and goods sheds and the staff dwellings and hut settlements. His work is to be seen in the attractive modern designs of the newer station buildings, as at Roto[unclear: rua], Christchurch, Silverstream, New Plymouth, Napier, Te Awamutu.

Railway Mechanical Engineering

Responsibility for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of railway locomotives and rolling stock, and of the associated workshops, falls upon the shoulders of the railway mechanical engineers. Steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, multiple-unit electric trains, diesel railcars, and passenger and freight vehicles of all kinds come under their care.

A major transformation in this field in recent years, and still taking place, is the steady changeover from steam to diesel traction. With both human, technological, and financial problems involved, this is no light task.

The mechanical loading traversers—the first of their kind in the world — used to facilitate cargon loading of the New Zealand Railways-controlled inter-island air freight service were designed by railway mechanical engineers. Recently, too, they designed, in conjunction with the suppliers of the electronic equipment used, an electronic Rail-Air weighbridge which shows the weight of each cargon and whether the load is correctly distributed over the cargon to maintain aircraft trim. The development and improvement of workshop techniques applied in the nine New Zealand Railways Workshops is yet another aspect of the railway mechanical engineer's versatility.

As with the civil engineering branch, this branch offers wide scope for engineers with initiative and drive.

Railway Electrical Engineering

Railway Electrical Engineers are employed in both the civil and mechanical engineering branches.

In the former branch the electrical engineer is mainly engaged in signal and communications work. The great extension in recent years of electric colour-light signalling, interlocking, and Centralised Traffic Control has made the electrical engineer's role of increasing importance.

Apart from the national Post Office telegraph service, the Railways Department owns, operated and maintains the largest telecommunication network in New Zealand. For engineers whose interests lie in the realm of electricity and electronics and its application to communications, this branch offers first-class career prospects.

In the mechanical engineering branch, the electrical engineer deals with railway traction and power. His responsibilities include electric and diesel-electric locomotives, the bulk supply of power to electrified sections of railway and to the larger station yards in electric traction areas, and all the electrical work associated with the four main workshops.

The electrical engineer working on diesel-electric locomotives prepares specifications for new locomotives, checks and tests them when they arrive and solves any problems that may arise when they are first put into service.

The steadily increasing use of diesel-electric locomotives, which has already resulted in more than 50 per cent of all the goods traffic in the North Island being handled by diesel traction, continues to widen the scope offering to electrical engineers in search of a rewarding career.

Railway Bursaries Available

At the end of each school year the Railways Department appoints a number of young men to its staff as cadets (either civil, electrical, or mechanical) and at its own expense sends them to a University for four years to enable them to obtain appropriate degrees. In return for the Department's investment in his education, each person selected is required to enter into a bond to serve the Department for at least five years subsequent to graduation.

The minimum educational requirement for appointees is Higher School Certificate, but naturally those with higher qualifications have a better chance of selection. For further information about rates of pay and automatic annual increases, and other details, any of the railway officers listed below will gladly advise.

Chief Civil Engineer, N.Z. Railways, Wellington; District Engineer, N.Z. Railways, Wellington; Chief Mechanical Engineer, N.Z. Railways, Wellington; District Mechanical Engineer, N.Z. Railways, Wellington. New Zealand Railways offer you an Engineering Career with a Future.