SHUNTING MISHAP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 111, 13 May 1938, Page 3

SHUNTING MISHAP.

WAGONS DERAILED.

BUFFER BLOCK SHIFTED.

INCIDENT AT ROTORUA. (By Telegrapr..—Own Correspondent.) ROTORUA. tins clay. Three unarms were derailed, a large concrete buffer block was rooted out of the ground and moved for a distance of about 10 yards, and a large section of galvanised iron fencing was torn down, when a shunting accident occurred in the Rotonia railway yards this morning shortly before 10 o'clock.

Owing to the spell of fine weather, there has been an exceptionally heavy output of timber posts and nulling props from mills in the Rotorua district during the past week, and when the accident happened to-day an A.B. engine was shunting a rake of about 30 trucks, all of which were heavily laden with timber, coal and miscellaneous poods.

The wapons were being shunted down a blind line, and at the usual place the driver of the engine applied the brakes. Jt is understood, however, that the weight of the engine and the rake of trucks, estimated at about .~>!l(J tons, was too great to stop, and this, combined with the particularly greasy rails following a hard frost, resulted in three wagons overshooting the end of the line. The final truck, which was loaded with coal, was completely overturned, while the second wagon, carrying a load of bricks, was left at a dangerous angle. A third closed-in wagon, containing furniture, also left the rails. The two last mentioned trucks will be able to be jacked back on to the line, but it is thought that it will be necessary to bring a travelling crane to Rotorua to adjust the other wagon.