MAIN TRUNK RUNAWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 223, 19 September 1919, Page 6

MAIN TRUNK RUNAWAY.

INQUIRY AT TAIHAPE. FAILURE OF THE BRAKES. ' (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") : TAIHAPE, Thursday. j An adjourned inquest into the circumetancee surrounding the death of Thomas Welsh, engine driver, killed in , the railway accident at Hihitalu, on May 15, was resumed to-day, the various parties 'being all represented by counsel, and Mr. Macassey acting for the ; [ Railway Department. , Arthur Hatty, guard on the train, . ' said he was notified by engine wJiistles , sounding wrong, and immediately ap- j plied the brakes, which failed to act. Hβ i then applied the hand brakes, but they had no effect on the speed of tbe train, • •which increased till the train suddenly i stopped. The train was travelling i sixty miles an hour. On going to tho • scene of the emaeJi he found the lire- ( ■man, McKenna, in a ipaddock. Mc- i kenna aeked for a drink. Witness took i McKenna to his van. He subsequently l found the driver (Welsh) in the cab of < the engine, pinned down with timber. ' Welsli wae conscious, though badly i ! scalded. Witness could not extricate ' i Welsh, and had to go to Ngaruakehu ! j for assistance. Welsh had not com- '• ' plained that the brakes were wrong. 1 I Witness bad no opinion why the brakes * ' refused to act. He first noticed only eight pounds pressure in the brake, and it should have been seventy or seventyfive. He had previously tested the brake, and found that it acted. He did ! a considerable amount of shunting at Hibitahi. The weight of the train was I 440 tons, and it included thirty-eight trucks. Daniel Thomas McKenna, fireman, i said ho first noticed something wrong j when leaving Hihitahi. The train was gathering speed. The driver Welsh remarked, '"'We're done." The brake air pressure was very low. He screwed the handbrakes on. If the Weetingliouse brakes 'were working then the handbrakes were unnecessary. The air-pump was not working. He tapped. , j but it did not start. Tic deceased !it would not work. Deceased made no I reply, but did his utmost to check the ' speed of the train. Deceased wae reliable and steady. B. E. Dew, engine-driver for fourteen years, stated in evidence tbat he drove j X 450 on the morning of tho accident. I T!hc brake -was defective. Tt was I booked as defective. The X J engine was more difficult to reverse tban others. No trial of tno brake was made after the accident, in accorI dance with an arrangement made between the engineers and staff. T3ic reason was that there was a defect in the governor.