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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 3 (July 1, 1930)

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page 41

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A Builder of Model Railways.

Sir Henry Segrave, holder of the world's speed record on land and water, whose tragic death occurred a few weeks ago in the capsize, on Lake Windermere, of his speedboat, Miss England II., was a railway model enthusiast. He had, on his estate near London, one of the most elaborate toy railways in the world. An American friend recently presented him with a miniature locomotive which cost about £500, thus bringing his total of locomotives to fourteen. He had a large supply of coaches, sleeping cars and freight cars, many of which he built himself. Sir Henry Segrave spent fourteen years assembling his railway system and the machinery with which to run it.

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A Railway Cartoon.

“If you don't let the railway carry you, you will have to carry the railway.” And not only that, but the engines, carriages, vans, trucks, workshops, stations and other buildings as well. The cleverly designed advertisement of the N.Z.R. delivers an eloquent sermon that should make one and all think seriously. It's akin to Atlas carrying the world on his back. The colossal sum of sixty million pounds sterling is invested in our railway system, and in return for that huge total we have a transport service second to none in the world, unsurpassed in comfort and unequalled in safety. There is one particularly outstanding fact in connection with our railways that we should remember: that all our State-given advantages—postal, educational, manual, agricultural, commercial, etc.—are due to and dependent upon an efficient railroad system, without which the advantages named could not have been developed. Our railways are the Alpha and Omega of all that is necessary and desirable in our national life, and if they are not adequately supported by the mass of the people the numerous other State blessings we enjoy must inevitably be curtailed.—(From the New Zealand Sportsman.)

A Big Trucking Job.

To handle the trucking arrangements necessary for the despatching of 6,007 head of ewes and rams offered at the recent annual fair conducted by the Canterbury A. and P. Association was no light task, since most of the sheep were brought in small lots, and often a truck was required for a single sheep. “The Railway Department placed a special band of men on the job at the Addington Show Grounds, and they trucked the sheep so efficiently that more than one person expressed his appreciation of their work” (says the Christchurch “Sun”). All the sheep contained in the 180 trucks which came forward on the day preceding the sale were cleared by 6 a.m. the following morning. The sale started at 10.30 a.m., and re-trucking was commenced shortly afterwards, with the result that, by 7 p.m. the same day, 103 wagons had been loaded.

The Auctioneers' Association provided a band of men who brought the sheep up to the trucking stage, and there the Railway Department's men, who numbered five, took charge. Consignments of sheep went as far north as Auckland and as far south as the Bluff.

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Sorting Out 7,000,000 Tickets.

There was recently completed, says the London Daily News, the work associated with the London Underground's annual “clip,” and the task of sorting out the 7,000,000 tickets.

Uniformed men were in the subways of the Underground stations, giving a special clip to the tickets of passengers. One hundred and fifty different-shaped punches were employed, among them being a heart, a spade, a diamond, a club, a shield, a square, and a circle.

The object of the test was to discover how passengers are using the Underground for travelling from point to point.

“We are able to find out,” said an official, “if people are going by the shortest routes. It assists us to cater more efficiently for the public by ascertaining their requirements.