RATANA RAILWAY INQUIRY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22392, 4 May 1938, Page 9

RATANA RAILWAY INQUIRY

GUARD'S EVIDENCE OF

SPEED

THEORY OF THIRD PERSON ON FOOTPLATE MAN SEEN AT PALMERSTON NORTH IDENTIFIED (PBBBB ASiOCIATIOH TBL»GRAH.) WELLINGTON, May 3. riving evidence to-day before the Boa dof inquiry set up to investigate the cause of the Ratana railway disaster on March 26, the guard of the fratn T H White, the speed was not excesSve. The train reached about Tn miles an hour on the Ratana Flat, tut the dr"ver made an ordinary apnUcatVon o the Westinghouse brakes, Sd reduced to about 25 miles an hour before the curve. In the opinion o witness the locomotive left the rails S a speed of from 20 to 25 miles an Mr F C. Aickin, railway law officer, intimated in the morning that it had been definitely establish edtha thihird man seen on the lootpiaie »i Palmerston North was a youth who £fi harried the driver a train advice. SS?SSSSS?3Id before the adjourntrTont latp this afternoon that ne Sought te identity of the man known as 'Mac" might also be established. had not been confirmed. The man bailee? "Ted" had made a statement, to the police! and would be called to give will be resumed at 2.15 IFi;StsssTKi sJsrss faged on "he inquiry had a number ot offer tffi! SETS: & preSf fe the in",)rv .„„<, completed, it mtgnt nave iu qb S€fwlSrdarwa^F J r^ ?d£K d a f'aveSd ortht engine from Wellington. Witness said thlt he w as w ith other apprentices ™thV station at Wellington and before the tran" departure, saw a young S" tn „ the engine foot-plate talking Sthi. driver Taylor went to his carriage He dW not know the youth was a cadet and he presumed. he would have" an opportunity of leaving the engine before the train started. Taylor said that he dozed on and off to Palmerston .North, and was asleep «rh«»n the tram arrived there- «e walked to the engine. Witness's seat wa the first cfrriage three persons in the cab, the driver, the fireman, and a man who appeared

like a person who •worked about the track. If the third person had grey trousers on, he would have npticed it. Train Advice for Driver

Mr Aickin (for the Railway Department) announced at this point that he had ascertained from Palmerston North station that a lad with grey trousers and a brown coat delivered a train advice to the driver at the station. It was necessary for him to wait some time in the cab until the driver cleaned his hands. He submitted that this disposed of yesterday's evidence. To further questions, witness said that the third person in the cab at Palmerston North was not the youth he saw in the cab at Wellington. The person at Palmerston North looked like a train examiner, but witness did not get a good view of him. Taylor denied making any statement that there was a railway cadet in the cab who travelled from Wellington. What he said was that he thought there was a junior stoker, or a cleaner out of the running shed. To the chairman (Sir Francis Frazer): Taylor said that at the time of the accident, he did not know it waF a breach of the regulations for a third person to be in the cab of an engine. Guard's Evidence The guard, Thomas Henry While giving evidence, said that after the train examiner at Paimerston told him the train was right, he went up to the engine. The fireman was on top to assist with taking in water. The driver came out of the cab and said that a man from Fordell had asked him to stop and the driver asked witness whether he should. Witness said, "No, right on to Aramoho; we have no authority to stop." White added thnt he went into the first carriage, and checked tickets. By the time he finished, the train was pasl Turakina. He had also to count the passengers. Answering a question by Mr Aickin. White said that if the train passed Turakina at 2.2 a.m., it would be three minutes late on its schedule. In answer to another query, White said that the train picked up three to four minutes in the distance between Marton and Turakina.

Mr Aickin: To do that, the train could not crawl?— No.

I put it to you that it would require to travel fairly quickly to do that. —Yes. At a fair speed. You must have some recollection of the trip between Marton and Turakina?—l have a recollection of the work I did between Marton and Turakina, but aoart from that I do not recollect anything particular about it. Witness said he felt nothing out of the ordinary in the running of the train. If the train had been travelling fast round some of the curves he thought ho would have noticed the lurching of the carriages. Witness said he did not remember thf» train passing Ratana, but he remembered the accident, of course. Mr Aickin: The accident must have caused you some thinking afterwards. Witness said it had, although immediately after the derailment his concern was for the passengers. He did not spend any time thinking of the cause of the accident until some time afterwards.

"A Fair Speed"

Coming down the straight before enlering the curve the train was doing a fair speed. There was an ordinary application of the brakes before the curve The speed increased from the top of the Turakina grade. In the opinion of witness, the driver took hold of the train near the cutting in order to enable him to proceed round the curve at the proper speed. He estimated that when the engine left the road the train was doing 20 to 25 miles an hour. Over the Ratana flat, before the application of the brakes, ihe speed was about 40 miles an hour. Witness added that he often rode on Ihe Limited, and was accustomed to high speed. Fifty miles an hour on n straight good track was a comfortable speed. The application of the brakes was fully transmitted, right through to the van. When the brakes

were applied he was in the van, making out the running sheet. He con- | tinued writing, and felt the brakes released. He had no experience of a jolt until the crash came. "She seemed to leave the rails immediately he let the brakes go," said witness. "There was one bump before she stopped. I am satisfied that the brakes were not on at that time. I did not hear a crash.'.' Witness added that in his opinion the whistle was not sounded. He heard a peculiar sound as if steam pipes had burst, and thought this could have been mistaken for a whistle by the passengers. He lost no time in leaving the van, and half-way out looked at his watch. The time was 2.18, and this was entered in his book. He was not above making an error under such a predicament; but the reading of his watch was 2.18. Questioned about an alteration to the figures in his book, witness said he was quite sure that, after looking at his watch, three figures were entered. The figure 8 was probably faint, and he may have gone over it again. A mistake in the time could have been possible. To reach the scene of the derailment by 2.18 seemed slow running. Time of Accident To Mr Aickin: If the train control officer in Wanganui was called at 2.25 a.m., and if Hare and another witness did not leave the scene of the accident until 10 minutes after it had occurred, and took a further three minutes to reach the telephone and open it, the time of the accident could be fixed at 2.12 a.m. He did not see any fog when he left the van. While at Marton he was close enough to the locomotive to see if a third man had been in the cab. He did not detect any smell of liquor on the driver, who was perfectly sober. ■ n _ ,„ . Cross-examined by Mr G. O. Watson, witness said he had not seen or spoken to the driver of the train since the accident. Mr Watson: You have said you may possibly have made a mistake in your book?— Yes. I suppose you did not know, until told this afternoon, that though it was 2.13, you were still within a reasonable speed?— No. . You checked your watch in Wanganui, subsequently, and it was a minute slow?—lt was a minute out, one way or another. There was no possibility of anybody getting in the cab at Marton without your seeing them, unless they jumped up on the blind side?— Yes. Did you hear any statement after the accident about a third man on the engine?—l did not hear any such statement. I saw no sign of a man in dungarees with one ooot on. Did you have any difficulty in writing in the guard's van just before the accident?— No. I would have had difficulty if the train had been travelling exceedingly fast. Was the application of the brake effective in bringing the speed down to 25 miles an hour?— Yes. You never applied the emergency air brake, or the hand brake?— No. Witness added that when he went back to the telephone some time afttr the accident, he noticed fog south of the cutting. This fog was of varying intensity. „ , To Mr Aickin: On a good track, a train could do 50 miles an hour without the carriages swaying.