A Railway Train on Fire.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 149, 23 June 1894, Page 12

A Railway Train on Fire.

Gallant Driver and Fireman.

A telegram dated Rotterdam, May 3rd, says:—The railway accident which occurred near Barendrechk in the late hours of Tuesday night, was of a very serious character. Although there was no loss of life, the passengers by the Paris express had an exeremely narrow escape. The goods train, which consisted of three tank cars containing 11,400 kilogrammes of petroleum oil and several tracks laden wish empty oil barrels, wa3 in the act of crossing some points when the Paris express dashed into the midst of it ab great speed, striking; it obliquely. The petroloum tanks exploded instantly with a tremendous report, and in a moment flames spread over the whole longth of both trains, towering op to a height of 50ft to 60ft>. The burning petroleum poured in a torrent over the line and into the canals which run along both sides, and the water was soon alight with the flaming oil on ita surface. The express did nob leave the line, and the engine-driver, who behaved most gallantly, turned off the steam and put on the brakes. When the flames rushed along the carriages there was a complete sauve-qui-pent, the passengers, who numbered about fifty, leaping through the encompassing tiro to the ground. Seven persona sustained burns, some of a seve.ro naturef. Two or three English ladies' wero in the train. One of them,, a Mies Warburton, was injured by* fire, and also sustained a severe cut on the forehead from the broken glass of a

window. The injured were eventually taken in a goods- truck to Rotterdam. The engine driver and fireman did not leave their posts, although their clothes were ablaze, until they had dose what was necessary to prevent an explosion of the boilers. They then threw themselves into the canal to extinguish their burning clothes. The engine-driver of the express states that the signals were clear.

The responsibility for the accident to believed to rest with a young pointsman, who hail only been a few days on duty.