TRACK DAMAGED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 7

TRACK DAMAGED.

RAILWAY MISHAP. BAD ACCIDENT AVERTED. GUARD'S PROMPT ACTION. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) / NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. Only the prompt action of the guard, who slummed on the Westinghouse brakes and brought the train to a halt, prevented a serious railway accident in Xorth Taranaki this morning. The guard acted after looking out the window of his van and seeing a trail of dust and splintered sleepers stretching behind the train. As it was, rail traffic between Xew Plymouth and Inglewood was disorganised lor nearly four hours, and serious damage was done to more than a mile of track. The accident was caused when a pair of wheels of the leading truck of the train jumped the rails. The usual 8.25 a.m. Xew Plymouth-Wellington express did not pull out from Xew Plymouth station till 9.15 a.m., and passengers had to be transhipped at the scene of the accident. It is considered most fortunate that the Waiongona Stream bridge, over which the derailed truck travelled, escaped damage.

A priest at a wedding in old Babylonia used to take a thread from the garment of the bride and another from that of the bridegroom. He tied them together into a knot and presented the tie to the bride as a symbol of the binding nature of the union between her and her husband. Hence the expression "Tying the knot."