RAILWAY BLOCKED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 212, 8 September 1941, Page 8

RAILWAY BLOCKED

FOURTEEN TRUCKS DERAILED

SOME BADLY SMASHED

(P.A.) TIMARU, Sunday. Rail traffic was considerably delayed yesterday as a result of the derailment of a number of wagons of a goods train at the Seadown station, about seven miles north of Timaru.

The train, which was coming from the north, had reached the vicinity of Seadown at 7 a.m., when one wagon left the track and travelled off the rails a distance of three-quarters of a mile, pulling following wagons with it. Altogether 14 wagons were derailed, including seven trucks laden with coal, which were telescoped, causing a blockage of the main line over a distance of 20 yards.

A breakdown gang was soon on the spot from Timaru, while good work was done by a privately-owned bulldozer in pushing the smashed wagons and heaps of coal clear. The down express was held at Ashburton and reached Timaru five and a half hours late.

The damage to the permanent way was not great, but the main task was shifting the telescoped wagons, which were badly smashed.

As a result of the hold-up the Rangatira was two hours, late in leaving Lyttelton for Wellington.