FATAL TRAIN SMASH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 152, 29 June 1926, Page 7

FATAL TRAIN SMASH.

BRISBANE EXPRESS TRAGEDY. ANT-EATEN VIADUCT. SYDNEY, June 28. An inquest was opened to-day concerning the deaths of the victims of the Aberdeen railway smash on June 10. Police-Sergeant Grady stated in evidence that he examined the viaduct near the scene of the tragedy immediately after the accident. He found that the rails had spread at the spot where the train first left the line and that the sleepers were decayed. The wood of the viaduct was rotten and white ant-eaten. Other witnesses also stated that the viaduct was white ant-eaten and had been unsafe for months.

Portion of the ant-eaten viaduct.

Mr. E. Butcher, railway engineer for the Northern district, expressed the opinion that the derailment of the express was caused by the high speed at which it was travelling. This synchronised with the depression in the tracks.

Continuing, Mr. Butcher said he did not think the condition of the bridge or the piers contributed in any way to the accident. Even if the bridge hi*d been of steel the accident would possibly not have been averted.

Witness said the results were so serious because, after the derailment, the viaduct was in the way. before the train could be brought to a standstill. He suggested that the accident was caused by excessive speed.— (A. and N.Z.)

Miss Barbara Dalzell, of Rockhampton; Mr. H. C. White, of Canterbury; Mr. Simon Mansour, of Waterloo; and Mr. E. C. Hewitt, of Sydney, were killed, and over 30 others were hurt when an express train running from Sydney to Brisbane was derailed between Togan and Aberdeen, about 180 miles north of Sydney, shortly before midnight on June 10. The accident was alleged to have been due to the collapse of a wooden viaduct, but this was denied by railway officials. They said the train had passed the viaduct, which is about 400 ft from a steel bridge that spans the River Hunter, when it left the line and ploughed up the permanent way. The train consisted of two engines, a van and seven carriages. There were 143 passengers. The driver of the leading engine, who had a miraculous escape from death, said his engine would have fallen over, but the main engine pulled the drawbar right out of his engine, and although it lost its tender wheels the pilot engine never left the road. He addd that if the train had been composed of ordinary passenger cars there would have been hardly any survivors. As it was the special steel frame cars did not buckle, thus saving many lives.