CABLE CAR'S BREAKAWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 214, 10 September 1928, Page 11

CABLE CAR'S BREAKAWAY.

CAUSE NOT YET KNOWN. FIRST MISHAP FOR 20 YEARS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. The breakaway of a Roslyn cable car on Saturday morning was the first accident that has occurred on the line for about 20 years. The car left the tram sheds at 8.13 a.m. for the city. The only passengers were Miss Mildred Walker and three men. In the short run from the car 'top to the steep hill, which has a gradient of 1 in 4J, the car was being hauled at considerable speed, and although the rails were greasy, everything went well until the car commenced to slow up when half-way up the hill-_ Almost before the gripman realised what was wrong, the car was travelling backward with rapidly increasing momentum. The gripman endeavoured to apply the brakes, while two of the men passengers jumped off. The brakes acted just as the car swung round the small curve which takes the rails across the main road toward the sheds. The sudden jerk caused the grip rail to give way a little, and as the car was brought to a standstill it toppled over on its side at an angle of about 25 degrees. > Miss Walker was removed to the hospital in an ambulance, and it was found that her head was injured. The cause of the mishap is not known, as when the car was examined by the engineers it was found that the grip and the rope were in excellent order. °