THE MAIN TRUNK SMASH.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14993, 13 June 1914, Page 12

THE MAIN TRUNK SMASH.

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST.

THE STATE OF THE SIGNAL. (niXSe ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, June 12. At tho inquest on the victims of the Main Trunk railway disaster, Robert Dell, railway clerk, who took charge of affairs at Whangamarino after the accident, said the signal worked very well on the 27th. aft«r he had adjusted it. He found, ou testing tho signal, that tho tension was uot correct. The arm would not drop properly, nor would it return to daugei fully. Hβ altered tho tension, and then the signal worked perfectly. At 10.30 the same night, ho found the signal working well. Shortly after midnight a porter reported that he could not see tho back light of the south signal. It was found showing full green, whereas it should have been at danger. Witness concluded that the contraction of the wire by cold weather was such that it was impossible to work the signal. William Johnston, tablet porter, -who was sent to relievo Donaldson at Whangainarino, gave evidence corroborative of that given by tho previous witness. He explained that the best the light would do was to show half red and half green. Mr McMahon: And was your back light obscured the whole time? Witness: Well, I could see a light there, but I found afterwards that it was not the back light, but was just tho reflection of tho big bull's-oye. Could you see this light from the station—Oh, no; I had to go about half-way down before I saw it. The Coroner—;-Could you by any possibility liavo mistaken this reflected light for your back light? Witness—No. Witness proceeded to say that on the night of May 28th he resumed duty at ll) o'clock, and between 11 and 12.30 p.m. he found that the south, signal was again working defectively, showing about half red and half green. He accordingly sent a telegram to tho mana- ' ger, got out the fog-signaller, and took other precautions. About 2.30 a,m. he received instructions from tho manager to give all trains from the south the hand-signal, and meanwhile not to in- j terfero with the mechanism of the signal. About 3 a-m. a signal-adjuster < arrived by a goods train, and he was • about to examine the signal and the i wire when witness informed him of the j instructions. The adjuster , replied that those instructions were - only for him (Johnston), but witness j telegraphed again for re-instructions, and received a reply confirming the y first message, so nothing was <ione till between 5 and 7 in the morning, when , the adjuster and another man attended " to the signal, putting a few more links • in the chain at the platform, and so < loosening tho wire. After this the sig- J nal worked all right. ! To Mr Mays—Neither Mr Bell nor he t himself had done anything to endanger the public while conducting their tests. c Every precaution was taken. . i To Mr Martin —He had seen occa- a sions when, at night-time, the wire of T signals had had to bo slackened out by 1 altering the weights, but ho had never experienced or heard of anything like * what had happened at Whangamarino.. John Cruickshanks, signal adjuster, i stationed at Frankton Junction, stated * that he arrived at Whangamarino about x 11.30 on the morning of Thursday, May V 28th, to examine the south stick. Hβ did not interfere with < anything, but -b examined the wire and signal, and P found everything to be correct. He b caught the Thames express back to a Frankfcon- - .o Tho Chief Detective: You made, then, d no alterations or repairs of any!kind? si Witness: No, I wished everything to k be left as it was, untouched. si And. did you return?— Yes, about a 3 o'clock next morning. I waited till g Mr Cheeseman arrived by the Wei-tington-Auckland express, and men we g tested the signal. pulled over the & lever yrhilS 3ir Cheeseman was up at the stick. * hen I put the lever back [ could not see the back light. ; Mr Oheeseman then came down, and told mc that the semaphore went back to "danger," but not sufficiently to eho.w bhe back light, so we put in three links jf chain in front of the platform to oosen the wire. That would give from C }J to 4in more play to th'e wire. We ilso removed the ..201b weight at the balance lever, and replaced it with, a oi H)lb weight. It was by this time about A jreaking day, and I could see the semaihoro. Upon another test she worked el yelL Mr Cheeseman took the temwrature, which, at 5 o'clock was 30 legrees, ' Mr McMahon: To your Trnowiedge, rore any wheels replaced at the signals ;hat day? . Witness: No: there were not on that oe lay. About six months prior to the iccident an additional wheel was placed of here. 1Q At what point?— Well ,two wheels fl rare taken out and three put in. They ' rare taken out about fou r chains down mi be line, and pat in about opposite 211 ho signal. Hi Wero tho wheels put in of the same lameter as those taken out?—No I ?v rat raa 12in flat wheel and a 10in i ■ertical wheel in place of two 12in tw lat wheels, and I added a running 10----ertical of an inch and a half in dia- ** neter at the top of tho bank where' ] ii er u P rovio «sly been no wheel at c Ol 11, the wire running directly on to the ?& .^* continuing, stated that he Ca isited Whangamarino again on May Ist, and found that the IJin reel had on ' een replaced by anSin wheel. The S l eason for the change would be to I 3 ause less friction. £* Mr McMahon: Do yon say that the Mt 5m wheel caused too much friction to ftn How the signal to work satisfactorily? Pi] Witness: No, I do not. It worked Bl^ v r l g * lt> for s,x mon tks* tnt an Sin i ;neel wouhl certainly cause less frfe- mi To ~Mr Mays: Witness admitted that lOa »stead of reporting the alteration 7lb aoe at Wliangamarino in the ordinary St J 'Tirnal, he should have made a Koeci&l sport on tho matter. Ho agreed that TZ •iction on a small inch and a lialf reel ould be considerable in cold weather. Da it the balance on the platform level 9st ould adjust that. Aβ far as he could Ep ;11, the signal worked just as easily 10 ter the alteration, which was in No:mber last, as before it. . *** Frazer: Have yon ever seen a one riv id a half inch reel permanently i n situation? Wtitnees: No, I have not. but it was 1 I had at the time. - Replying to Mr Mays, witness eaid nc^ at he examined the a fortnight tT° fore the accident, and received no c , mplaint from the tablet porters. Bel To Mr Martin: He was a carpenter • trade and. except for his instruction the s:<mal adjusting, he had no know- off. Ise of mechanics. • an< The Coroner: Do I take it-that it was the breach of your regular instructions to oxa ye undertaken this alteration at the lat< quest of the permanent way inspector 1 thout notifying your own superior? - j^ Witness: Yes, I* should have notified Ep S y own snperior before beginning' the n >rk. Witness added that he had {„,„ ver done work similar to that before thout notifj'ins the inspector, and as • as he knew, the signal mepector £. 1 not see the work afterwards. -He S? g mitfed that the alteration did not £ or mply with the circular stating that lte f ne "other than standard materials are raid be used in alterations. 6po Sir Mays called Henry John Wynn, en *' nailing and electrical engineer for P°r j,New Zealand Railways since r.faroh, J noil X).' Witness explained the working I eacl

1 --fe ...... of m semaphore fixed signal system "fSftat Whangamarino. and throughout th *£oininion. Ho said that on Friday, J J"*K> sth, ho examined tho signal gear Y'Whaugainarino. Both signals were then working in perfect order. .He ca,J sed the south signal and connexions to .'ba put in exactly tho same condi- *"°** as thov were in on the night of t** accident. On testing its working, the signal would neithor come right off n « go right back to "danger." When the lever was pulled back sharply, it right off. When put back sharply, it did nor go right back to "danger." Subsequently a workman tried it, and ifc went right back to "danger." Tho lead of tho wire and tho fittings on the signal post wero in good order. .At the signal post he observed a small reel fitted at tho top of tho bank 12ft away. He then signalled to tho man ho had loft back at the lever to pull off the ! signals, meantime watching the working of tho chain over this small reel. This "**orkod in a, v**ry erratic manner, and sometimes the reel seemed to catch and the chain went over with a jerk. Tho reason, in witness's opinion, was that the reel was too small to allow the chain to work over it properly. He j could find nothing elso wrong with the j

I signals or any other connexions. In further examination Mr Wynn said that when the reel was put in the wire must have been moro tightly drawn than would ordinarily have been required. This would necessarily reduce the amount of adjustment availablo to overcome the contraction. His Department had no notice of tho alteration made to tho gear, and the small reel put in was not up to standard requirements. Until the alteration was* made the signal had always worked satisfactorily. Assuming the highest average temperature fn the daytime to be 65 degrees, and between midnight and early morning 30 degreea (Fab..), he would say that tho failure of the signal was decidedly not due to contraction alone. In his experience he had never known of a signal pulling onto "Clear" position from contraction alone. In witness's opinion the failuro was due to the wire being set too tight. The contraction of tho wire would then be bound to pull tho signal. Gruickshanks's action in putting in tbo small reel was attributed by witness to tho fact that he used the only material he had at the moment. It might havo been his intention to have replaced it with proper gear afterwards, and he might have forgotten to do so. Tho only other explanation was that' in witness's opinion ? Cruickshanks „n_iitted an error of judgment. Continuing his evidence, Mr Wynn said tho tablet system in force neither contributed to, nor could have prevented, tho accident. It was the first accident that had ever happened iv New Zealand owing to signal defects. There were no moans of absolutely eliminating the.human element from the working of a railway ag__ling system. Donaldson's only fault,' from the railway point of view, was that he failed to see that his signal was properly at "Danger" by observation of the back light.

Replying to Mr Mays, witness said the Department was as quickly as possible, making long loops at different stations as nearly approximating a double line as possible. The system of crossing trains, as at Whangamarind on the night of the accident, was in accordance with the best railway practice for thesingle-linesystem. ,

Cecil Robert Bell, who was in charge of the relief operations" at Whangamarino, re-called, detailed tlie assistance rendered to the ! injured. There was, he said, no '.'red-tape" delay", no lack of initiative, nor any want of appreciation of the true position. To Mr Stewart: There was no truth in the statements that had been mado that the dead were callously treated. The injured received attention with the utmost despatch. Walter Bowles, Traffic Manager at Auckland, gave the result of the Departmental enquiry as to the steps taken by all members of. the railway staff to afford the earliest possible, medical -and other aid to the injured in the accident. -The witness described ; the • meai. snres taken to secure debtors at Piikekohe and Tuakau, and the time necessarily taken in so doing. Before the arrival of .the doctors, the nurses did good work with the ample ambulart'io material available in the guards' vans giving the injured immediate and skill-; ed attention as they were removed.from the wreckage.