Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 1 (May 1, 1931)

Railway Enterprise in Poverty Bay — Better Freight Facilities

page 61

Railway Enterprise in Poverty Bay
Better Freight Facilities.

The officials of the Railway Department in Poverty Bay are doing their utmost to meet the needs of the district, and as an evidence of the Department's enterprise a stationmaster and efficient staff have been appointed at Putorino, the present railhead (says the Poverty Bay Herald).

The facilities at Putorino include a fine goods-shed with an overhanging verandah which permits of the handling of freight under any reasonable weather conditions; sidings with accommodation for 55 cattle or sheep trucks; and the necessary ramps for loading stock and ordinary merchandise on to the trucks. The business at Putorino has increased substantially of late, and the Department has had to make arrangements for sending additional staff there to meet the demands of peak periods. In the near future, it is hoped, a permanent addition to the staff will be warranted by the volume of business developed under a scheme of road-and-rail freight service connecting Gisborne with Napier, and through that junction with the whole of the North Island railway system.

Under this scheme, lorries will be employed in conjunction with the railway facilities, and will keep Gisborne in close touch with Putorino. Farmers and business men will appreciate the fact that freights are to be based on through rates, and that in future bookings can be made from Gisborne to any station throughout New Zealand.

Arrangements have been made with the H.B. Motor Co. to take delivery of goods at Putorino for freighting to Wairoa and Gisborne, and also for accepting goods at Gisborne and Wairoa for dispatch to the railhead. The service should be of particular interest to farmers, and fruitgrowers will appreciate the opportunity offered them of getting soft fruits on to the Wellington market within thirty-six hours of picking. As an instance of what the new service is designed to do for the fruitgrower, it will be possible to lodge fruit with the local office of the motor company, with the assurance that it will leave for Wellington at 2 o'clock the following morning, connecting with the southward express at Napier, and reaching Wellington the same afternoon, for delivery the following morning at 8 o'clock. By the development of the road-and-rail service, the travelling time for freight between Gisborne and Napier is to be reduced to six hours.

Discussing the new service, Mr. L. L. E. Chapman, business agent for the Raildays Department, stated that the rates could compare with any other form of transport, even when sea traffic over a portion of a route is taken into account.